My post for this week has to do with the people that often stand outside of restaurants in Vina, and ask passing strangers if they would like to eat at the establishment that they work for. I think that in such a subtle job, there are many different questions that could be asked. For example: What kind of people will these workers target most often? If three foreigners walk by will they do more to try and lure them in, or less as they figure it will be very difficult to convince somebody in another language. In addition what sort of tactics do these people use once they have got somebody speaking with them about the restaurant. Two nights ago I went around and spoke with two different people selling their restaurants outside and tried to listen to what they said to convince me to eat. Each time went a bit slow because I could not understand everything that they were saying, even though they were able to repeat the same things in some broken English. The first person that I spoke to was outside of a Mexican style restaurant. She was young, dressed-up and good looking obviously put in that position because of her youth. When I approached, she flashed a big smile and immediately motioned for me to head inside. When I began to ask about the menu, she quickly went through some of the specials and then again asked if I would go inside. It was interesting to me that she took such a direct approach, essentially assuming that I was going to go in. When I inquired further about the menu and showed a bit of disdain about the prices, she moved to offer a free pisco sour with my meal if I ate there. This "free drink" policy must be a commonplace thing for restaurants here, as it has happened an additional two times since I arrived to Chile. When I said "Sorry, but thank you", she flashed a short frown and then moved on. I am assuming that she must go through rejections dozens of times a night. She also seemed to have formed a script on what to say to potential customers in order to make here job a bit easier. After leaving her, I watched three more groups of Chileans walk by. The woman only mentioned something to one of the groups, whom consisted of a younger working class generation, and left the other two be. After time in that job, one probably learns which groups most often eat there and which to target most frequently.
The other restaurant that I went to had a man working outside the front door. He was very similar to the girl, in that he was young and dressed well. In addition he presented a very similar script of asking me to enter immediately, and when I asked about the menu he rushed through the items and asked if I would go in again. However, he did not offer a free drink. This second place was more of a hole-in-the-wall and thus probably could not afford to give many free drinks away with meals. Overall I thought that this sector of marketing was very interesting and often overlooked. There were many small sales tactics that the people engaged in and it was very clear that they selected passerby's carefully. Anybody looking to further their career in sales should look into getting this job as rejections come a dime-a-dozen and convincing people to choose your specific restaurant takes a careful marketing negotiation.
