We are in April. The smell of the wisteria is mixed with that, a bit more sour, the anxiety from the pre-season. While the calendars are filled, the mantra in the lobby of the hotel and among the tables of the restaurants is always the same: #SellSellSell. But let's tell the truth, to sell not just a software upselling or a smile of plastic. Need an alchemy rare between the two figures that, too often, they seem to speak different languages: the Contributor Proactive and l’Entrepreneur.
To the Employee: You have to go over the “What do you want?”
If you think that the work of the receptionist is to deliver the keys or one of the waiter bringing dishes, have you been to 1994. The collaborator modern is a consultant experience.
- The Receptionist proactive do not expect the host to ask for the boat tour; law of the customer, understands the desire and “sell” l’emotion of the sunset before the check-in is finished.
- The Waiter strategist it is not a plate, but a storyteller that knows how to transform a mineral water in a glass of reserve local, simply because he understands the value of what you need.
But be careful: the proactivity do not buy at the supermarket. It is a muscle that must be trained and, above all, fed.
To the Entrepreneur: The stop call them “Cost”?
Here falls the ass (and often for sales). Dear entrepreneur, if you are looking for a talent, but offer a salary that just need to pay l’Netflix subscription and l’rent of a studio shared with six other people, the problem is not the “the market which lacks young people”.
To make a true #SellSellSell, l’the entrepreneur must be the first to invest:
- Pays worthy: Aligned to the cost of the life of 2026, not to that of the times of the “it was better when it was worse”.
- Decent: To provide accommodation for a maximum of two people is not a luxury, it is civilization. Sleep in a loft at 40°C in three does not stimulate the sales of champagne in the evening.
- The power of “Thank you” (and Bonus): Gratitude is a great start, but the production bonus is a best ending. If my waiter sells a bottle of wine, acknowledging, for example, 0,50 € for each cap uncorked it is not a cost, it is a commission on sales. Is the difference between an employee “it” and a partner that “sell”.
Conclusion: GET (if you can)
If you are missing any of these two pillars, the structure does not sell: survives. And survival, in tourism today, it is the antechamber of the closure.
In mare magnum research in personnel and companies, with the hope that we both for this season, 2026 is quite romantic: you may find yourself. Entrepreneurs capable of gratify and employees capable of inspiring. To all the others, all that remains is to enjoy the stress of a season that started with the foot (and your wallet) wrong.
And you, on that side of the fence are you? Have you ever implemented a system of bonus payments for cap or for upselling at the reception? Or, as co-workers, what you could sell that “quid” in the most?