JJASBE

Director, Solutions Sales

Catalyst

Valued Contributor

Opinionated

Who here has either waited tables or bartended in a previous life?

Pure curiosity here.

I waited tables/bartended for a LONG time before falling into a more official sales role.

My first real sales job, I noticed there were about 7 of us with that background.

Much like sports participation, I began to wonder if that background fared favorably across the board for a career in formal sales.

Any of you notice a similar trend, or count yourself among contributors to such a trend?

🤝 Networking

74 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

The first summer out of school I worked in a boiler room job by day and bartended nights/weekends. Made more on average at the bar than I did selling equipment capital products in a down market...but I stuck it out and got into SaaS.

I learned a lot about connecting with people, conflict resolution, how to spot nightmare customers from a mile, etc, all those nights behind a bar selling cheap beer and keno tickets.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Yes! So much learning goes on in service industries, particular restaurant/bar. I probably also picked up at least half my 'read the room' skills in that field.

Santipodero

Politicker

Sanix

lo que más se aprende es a socializar y conectar con varias personas.
Felicidades!

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

I've bussed tables before. Same general rules apply for sales. Be polite, courteous, attentive, etc.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

True indeed. In that work, you also have to deal with a bunch of different personalities well.

Santipodero

Politicker

Sanix

you meet different types of personalities which makes it difficult to understand each other and have a good relationship

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

I've worked in hospitality for pretty much my entire adult life until I got into sales. I 100% believe the skills I learned serving are the foundations of what have made me successful in sales so far. If you can convince a table of strangers to spend more money than they planned, you can kill it on a cold call. It is very easy to strike up a conversation with prospects and it feels so natural for me.

So, thanks hospitality but also fuck you I never want to go back!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Ex bartender and beer cart beyotch 🥳

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Theory still holding strong!

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

I was a barback for less than a year between army contracts. I was underage so the access to beer, hanging out with the smoking hot bartenders and collecting a share of the tips were all perks.

The actual job was shit though and made me feel like I was throwing my life away while seeing people waving cash like it didn't matter. I also grew tired of being one of the only sober people day after day. Drunk people are assholes, and we lived in a well-off area.

I ended up quitting when they asked me to clean the most disgusting toilet I had ever seen, walked out that night and went back to the army for a couple of years before leaving that and going into sales.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

There was definitely a 'culture' associated with my time in the industry. It felt sort of like the underground music scene. We'd all hang out after hours when and where only those in the industry were in the know about. At the same time, having to clean a toilet that should just be burned down is enough to make one pivot lol

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

I worked as a waitress for several years. Lots of translatable skills. Working under pressure, working in a high stress environment, dealing with many types of people, building rapport, working as part of a team (often with people you don't really like,) even a little bit of upselling.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Absolutely! That's what I'm getting at. It seems like there are so many skills that are picked up in the industry. I don't hear of many sales leaders scouting talent in the restaurants of their cities. I wonder if meals are reimbursable if eaten in service of filling positions on teams :)

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

They really should start scouting in the hospitality industry...I feel a lot of sales orgs scout for entry level talent in colleges, but college grads often lack the real life experience and grit required in sales whereas hospo people have it in spades. If you hire a successful server/bartender, you know that at the very least that person is comfortable talking to strangers, has hustle, has a personality people respond well to, and can deal with a lot of pressure. Whether they can sell and enjoy selling is TBD but I think the odds are a lot higher with them than with someone who's never worked a real job at all and has been coddled by academia for years lol.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

I 100% agree with this. I think there should be a recruitment strategy launched in the hospitality space as well. I wonder if I can get that drummed up in our company (*thinks deeply)

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

I dishwashed and cooked in highschool, then cooked in college and moved into bartending when I turned 21. Service def helped prepare me for sales

Worf

Politicker

SDR

I worked as a waiter before college. It helped me get rid of face time face jitters.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

It'll do that effectively, every time. I think it's a great way to learn how to make asks too.

TheRealPezDog

Notable Contributor

Account Manager

My first job was a waiter, such awful work for such little pay but I'll tell you what, it teaches you a lot about sales, I think maybe the fact that you can tell a lot about someone by the food they order and how they treat you (the waitstaff)...

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

I worked restaurants for ten years before jumping in to tech sales. Honestly it was way harder work but also so much less pressure. A $50 steak vs a $500k deal was easier to close 😂

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

I concur lol. I can upsell you on dessert with much more ease on that license expansion lol

Prizrak

Politicker

Disruptor of worlds

I tended bar and cooked.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

And the trend continues! I'm almost settled on going into more restaurants and recruiting the best I encounter into SaaS sales :)

Prizrak

Politicker

Disruptor of worlds

I always maintained that anyone who worked in a restaurant would become successful. You learn how to deal with assholes. You learn empathy for the working class. You work your ass off. I went from kitchens to smb sales. To corporate sales. Back to kitchens. I worked wayyy harder in a kitchen than I ever did in corporate sales. And no angry welshman threw ladles at me in corporate sales.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Facts.

stanrym

Valued Contributor

CEO

I was an ex-pro Olympic athlete, not sure if this counts.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

super counts lol

aiko

Politicker

Sr. Account Executive

Waiters can make the best sellers. Good waiters will up sell sides and deserts because that will equal higher tip in the end.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

This is a fact lol. I would always tell a colleague exactly what drink and dessert I was gonna sell to my next table. It was a great game to play for me.

Thebaldingeagle

Contributor

Senior BDR

I worked as a bartender for 4 years in a pub in Ireland. No doubt the biggest influence on me as a seller, just learning how people interact with each other when drunk (The most honest version of themselves).

The biggest benefit of this to me is that working in a bar gives you confidence to build trust with people you’ve never met before.

Also as it was a historic pub we had a lot of US customers which as an Irish person now selling into the US and beyond is golden.

I never thought that the little random facts I learned on the job about the US and Ireland would be so good for building good relationships with clients.

Current favourite is name the only US president of the 21st century without Irish heritage (answer is Trump).

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Yes! Irish pubs rock. I spent a week there and we visited a pub at (believe it or not) 11AM, and there was a regular in there with a Guinness and everyone knew him. It was so awesome. Plus, it gave me a pass to morning drink LOL

heatunit

Sales Manager

Start of every great sales career. Those that get it get the big tips.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

I told my son the same thing. There was a period in my early 20's when I made over $1k a week, which back then was awesome. 22 year old thousandaire.

heatunit

Sales Manager

Got me through college and I had a solid cushion to move out to San Diego and start my sales career. I see you're from Richmond, VA. I grew up in Virginia Beach, VA..... #virginiagentlemen

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

7 years in nyc and it made me able to deal with all the daily bs like it’s nothing.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

That's the intangible that gets picked up, and is easily transferrable. I wish more applicants who did that work would tell the story that goes with it. Tying those experiences to sales would impact hire rates among the hospitality workers, I surmise.

iSell

Opinionated

ADR

I think every single person should wait tables. Built a lot of character

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Agreed!

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

Was a barback for a little before getting into sales

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Annnnnd, another one! We have a certified trend here!

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

Didn't wait tables but sweeped floors of a lab. Does that count?

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Service is service, to some degree. The distinction might be the necessity of dealing with hundreds of different personalities per day sometimes.

Ace

Arsonist

CEO

True. I don't know if I'd be good at waiting tables either lol

SaaSguy

Tycoon

Account Executive

Bartending here. I think it teaches you how to deal with people (occasionally uncooperative drunk people) and keep your composure in high stress situations.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Yes. Bartending definitely shaped me in a lot of ways. Baristas of the Bourbon made crazy money, and developed the thickest of skins.

WenWest15

Valued Contributor

Principal Business Development Manager

At a rugby pub in England when I was in college, under the table... eek!

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

ha! under the table. taxation is theft, so there's that.

ChiefGreef45

Catalyst

Account Executive

I have heard a few people mention this actually. One VP mentioned on a podcast how he took a chance on hiring a bartender to become an SDR, and how she is now killing it in a management role. You know how to deal with all types people and have real conversations. It's the same premise, just at a larger magnitude when the customer is a business.

My grandpa owned a restaurant and I remember seeing him walking around, making sure everyone was having a good time and enjoying their meal. It did not hit me till later that I'm doing something very similar, just different topics.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Exactly right. It teaches empathy, and also eq before it was a thing. You learn to read people, and it's a short distance to validation of the theories you construct about those you meet.

overheard_sales

Politicker

CEO - Overheard_Sales

Catering babyyyyy

sahil

Notable Contributor

Deepak Chopra of Sales

Bartended for a long time too - teaches you a LOT about humans. and sales.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

A tremendous amount!

salesyperson

Opinionated

Account Executive

both lol

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Which did you prefer? I enjoyed getting from behind the bar to move around, but I also made more behind the bar.

Riss

Opinionated

I don’t even know anymore 🤪

Never bar tended or served, but I did always do those fundraisers where I had to sell candy bars in front the grocery store. That was hard...plus then door to door fundraising for teams + sports.

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

Anything door to door is very hard, agreed. In front of stores is harder, because you continually have to look at the people who tell you no, twice. On their way in, and on their way out. It seems like it'd be quite awkward.

whathaveyousoldtomorrow

Opinionated

sales

every year in college - high end steak house - I called it 'stripper money'

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

haha! Lots of dollar bills at the end of the night, huh? Seems legit lol

BCD

Politicker

BDR

ive noticed many people from the hospitality industry as a whole end up in sales

JJASBE

Catalyst

Director, Solutions Sales

It's a trend I'm not sure gets enough attention. I wonder if there are waiter/bartender conferences or similar, where sales recruiters could go and explore talent. Grassroots, company-paid restaurant visits should be a budget line item for orgs.

zacstein

Director of Partnerships

For ten years. I've done basically all FoH positions.

vidalSaaSoon

Big Shot

Account Executive

I have! I worked at a restaurant for three days. Wasn’t for me - I couldn’t memorize the menu for the life of me and the chef was a chode.

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JJASBE

Who here has either waited tables or bartended in a previous life?

74 comments

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