厨师变成顾问利用他的烹饪专业知识
经过Marilee Crocker/
彼得·鲁宾(Peter Rubin)更喜欢为分享他对高级餐饮热爱的客户计划旅行更好。实际上,当客户不分享这种爱时,这实际上使他有些难过。但是,专业厨师转身豪华旅行顾问了解到,并非所有旅行者都同样痴迷于食物。
他说:“我喜欢非常高端的美食,但是很多人,如果您把他们放在三星级的米其林餐厅里,将会非常不舒服。”这不是财富的问题;一些高端客户只是喜欢更轻松,真实的用餐体验。鲁宾承认,甚至还有一些人,他们只是吃着“维持能量继续进入下一个项目”。
Rubin is co-owner, with his wife Lauren Rubin, of About Going Places, a small storefront agency in suburban Atlanta. The couple purchased the agency from Lauren’s mother about eight years ago, soon after learning their young family was in for a big change.
Rubin, a French Culinary Institute graduate, had just been offered a coveted job as executive chef at a top Atlanta restaurant when Lauren learned she would be giving birth to twins while their firstborn was still a young toddler. Peter knew that the chef’s lifestyle, with its 15- and 16-hour workdays, didn’t fit with having three children in diapers, so he traded in his chef’s toque for a career in travel.
今天,他和他的妻子是育儿和旅行业务的平等伙伴。去年,在三名兼职助理和一名独立承包商的帮助下,他们的销售额最高365万美元。
找到他的立足点
鲁宾(Rubin)在30年代中期,当时他留下了厨师的生活,从事旅行职业。过渡并不总是平稳。一方面,经过15年的多任务处理和以“高强度速度”和餐饮的“高强度速度”工作后,他必须放慢脚步,以专注于关键细节,例如客户名称,出生日期和旅行日期。他说:“我真的不得不重新学习如何工作。”
它还花了一些时间来弄清楚如何利用他的烹饪专业知识。鲁宾告诉旅行市场报告,“一开始,我很难找到自己的声音。”beplay客服。
Soon enough, he found that rolling out his culinary bona fides to position himself as a food expert had its advantages. With clients, sharing his background helps him gain trust when recommending a restaurant or hotel for its food.
与供应商一起,鲁宾利用他的资格来阐明他对烹饪经验的期望。“我让目的地管理公司知道我是一名受到法国培训的厨师,这对我很重要,我希望我的客户有更高层次的体验。”
他说,例如,他宁愿他的客户经历由当地厨师餐厅的领导的美食之旅,而不是由普通向导。“作为购买者进入市场有些不同;真是不可思议。我希望我的客户让餐馆老板带走。”
与客户一起深入奖励
Rubin spends a lot of time getting to know his clients, and not just around food preferences. “It’s about having a deep qualifying process, really listening and paying attention.”
Doing that well sometimes yields higher-priced bookings. He recalled a customer who had traveled to Switzerland and Lake Como many years earlier on a trip arranged by Rubin’s mother-in-law. “He walked in saying, ‘I loved the trip – she had a limo take us to the hotel in Como.’ He was so stoked to have somebody pick him up and drive him for a distance.”
Noticing this, Rubin suggested a private guided tour of Italy. When the client balked at the expense, Rubin pointed out that he had exclaimed about the private limo on his previous trip, not the hotels or any other experiences. “I said, ‘Let me provide that to you, and this is how I’m doing that.
“I’m not upselling him for the sake of more money,” Rubin added. “I’m providing this experience they’ve never had before, and it’s going to knock their socks off.”
Qualifying clients around food
在与新客户的每次合格对话中的某个时候,鲁宾问他们是否关心食物和葡萄酒。“通常有人要么持续20分钟,要么像是,‘嗯,我们喜欢吃饭,或者,‘我们不是真正的葡萄酒,我知道这些不是以美食为中心的客户。”
当客户确实表明美食或葡萄酒是当务之急时,他会询问他们以前的优质用餐体验,以评估他们的兴趣程度以及他们的口味和消费习惯。他说,他的目标是“定义人们正在寻找什么样的烹饪体验,并帮助他们获得顶级体验。”
On those occasions when he suggests a three-star Michelin restaurant to someone, he does so with utmost care. “That’s a $1,000 meal, you don’t just throw that out there,” he said. It’s not just the expense; he wants to make sure that clients new to such rarified dining experiences know what to expect.
When the fit is right, Rubin loves nothing more than opening the eyes of first-timers to a world he loves. “It’s like, this dining experience can change the way you see food; you’re going to think differently about food and service and restaurants.” And that, he indicated with his characteristic intensity, makes him very happy.