The EASIEST Way To Evaluate Tech - A Note From Restaurants to Vendors

As we get around Labor Day, into the fall and trade show season, everybody is going to get back into growth mode. That includes both restaurants AND the vendors we partner with.

If you are a restaurant, below is a very simple, easy way to assess new technology.

If you are a vendor, take note, these are the best ways to talk to restaurants about your product and pitfalls to avoid in the sales process.

VENDORS:

1. If you didn’t research the restaurant, don’t expect to make a sale.

If it’s worth our buying your product and your time to reach out to us, it’s worth you taking the five minutes to see what we’re working on and including something personal in the first sentence of your email.

You could talk about accomplishments of the restaurant, you could complement menu items and promotions or you can say something very personal about the person you’re reaching out to. This is relationship business. How about you help us to start one.

2. What’s my priority?

If you don’t know it, then you should ask about it. I understand that your priority is selling to me, but that’s not my priority. My priority may align with your solution, but how would you know if you don’t ask?

3. Talk to me in the language I already use.

Understand relatability. This plays out in a number of ways. If you reach out to me using a bunch of technobabble, gobbledygook or words that are not in my day-to-day vernacular, that will cause confusion .. and a confused mind always says no!

If I’m an independent operator and you reach out to me using McDonald’s as a comparison, you didn’t read number one or number two above. There’s no way I can relate to it!

If I’m McDonald’s and you primarily work with full-service restaurants ... see the last sentence I wrote.

4. Know when to ask when.

If I ghost you or I don’t respond, go ahead and POLITELY follow up with me. A good question to ask is when would be a good time to follow up.

Try offering three options; one right away, one not so far away and one that tells you whether this is a priority or not.

5. What's important?

Here is what every single restaurant cares about:

• What does it do?
• How does it work?
• If an integration is needed, what does that look like?
• How long will onboarding look like?
• What is the customer success plan like?
• What does it cost?
• What other restaurants, like mine have you had success with?

If you can’t answer these questions, don’t even pick up the phone or push send on the email.

RESTAURANTS:

Did I nail it above? If you see anything that needs an edit, please let me know.

And now here is my five point system for evaluating new solutions:

• Does this save me money / time?
• Does this make me money / time?
• Does this integrate with non-negotiables?
• Does this enhance the guest experience?
• Does this ease the team experience?

Each question is worth 1 point. The questions are easy to answer and the more points you get, the more it makes sense to get the solution.

1. = maybe
2. = Maybe
3. = yes
4. = Yes!
5. = YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

This formula works for ALL restaurants!

PS Would you be interested in seeing my evaluation on both good and bad cold emails in a public forum like this?

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If you have any questions, or need help, reply to this email!!

- Rev Ciancio

WHAT DOES REV DO?

*I help restaurants to build guest marketing programs.

*I help hospitality tech companies with lead generation and content marketing.