Over the past two summers, I worked at the concert hall where I went to school, the Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center (SPAC). I worked as a cashier, selling food and drinks to customers at ridiculously high prices. At some concerts, they charged $15 – $18 dollars per beer, but we still sold them. The demand was high enough that people still bought the beer and subsequently came back to buy overpriced food as well. In the process of selling these overpriced beers to people for six to seven hours at a time, I learned a few things about how to sell more of each product, and how to get more tips.

1. Find a Way to Relate 

I found that if you relate to the person you are trying to sell something to they respond better. I was taught that you should never judge a book by its cover, but everyone gathers information about you from the way you look and how you behave, even in the time span of a few seconds. When a customer pulls up next in line, you have a few seconds to gather information about them and make a choice of how to compose yourself to get the best response, either in product sales or personal tips. There are a few things that I would do in order to quickly ingratiate myself with the customer. One thing I would do is try to subtly emulate their body language and tone of voice because this is well known to help. Another thing I would do is look for a place to give a genuine compliment, and if there is one, look them in the eye, smile, and say it. The last thing I would do is ask them to explain something to me if I get the chance. Not anything long or complicated, but just asking for their beer preferences and why or something like that. People love to talk about themselves, and people also love to feel smart, so by asking them to explain something to me I can get information about them and make them more likely to come back to me instead of the cashier next to me.

2. Stand your ground, it will earn you Respect 

Many times, because it was a concert hall that was selling drinks, people would be a little more than pushy about getting a free beer or making jokes with us about manipulating the customer service practices we have to get things for free. I would never give in, and keep joking back with them about the whole process until they left it alone. On multiple occasions, I got huge tips from those customers and they came back repeatedly. I didn’t really understand why until one very aggressive customer kept pushing and pushing, and I just calmly stated back that I couldn’t give him five free beers because I would lose my job. He seemed to calm down and bought his beer. A few minutes later he came back, gave me a tip, and said that he respected my patience and resolve, which thoroughly surprised me.

3. Always go the extra mile and a half

Customers would often ask for cups, ice, or tastes of the food or beer. Because of our policies, we would never be able to give these things out to the customers. Even so, I would still go and pretend to ask my manager every time, just to make the person feel like I had done everything I could possibly do before turning them down. If a customer asks if there are gluten-free food options, instead of replying with “I don’t know”, go find out. This way they are bound to remember you in a slightly positive light. If they come back for a second round they often come back to my line instead of the person next to me because they knew that I was going to do everything I could. This would always turn out well for me, even if they only gave a dollar fifty in tips every time, that number builds quickly.

These things don’t only apply to sell beer and food to concertgoers. I try to implement these kinds of attitudes and practices in my daily relationships with people because it leads to robust and long-lasting friendships. Often some of my customers would be interesting people that I now have made connections with.