At 16 I worked at McDonald’s on Window 1 of the drive-thru. I used the same method of ‘getting good at my job’ that I use today. Here it is…
Understand. To get things done you have to know what is expected of you. At McDonald’s, my manager wanted accurate order taking and friendly customer service. When not serving, part of the job involved washing up dirty equipment in what was known as ‘the dive’. Upselling products was a huge plus and was tracked on a server by server basis. Mystery diners would also come by once every few weeks and report back to the franchise owner.
Identify. All roles have a ‘Game Changer’ task: something difficult to do that is highly valued by the business, in addition to your day-to-day work. Identify what that is. A good rule of thumb is ‘will this be positively mentioned beyond my direct team’. Upselling was the Game Changer at McDonald’s.
Iterate. There is usually a reason why the Game Changer task is difficult to complete. As with most things in life, the path to success is via iteration. Try different methods. When you receive an indicator that your current method is working, double down. After trying about 30 different unsuccessful ways to upsell I landed on “the Chicken Selects are popular right now, would you like some too?”. Asking that exact line at the end of an order had a 50% success rate, way higher than any of my other failed, usually embarrassing attempts.
Allocate. Once you figure out what works, allocate a significant portion of time to fine tuning your Game Changer. At some point you will be in a position where you add value that can’t be easily replicated by others. After 3 months, I consistently sold enough Chicken Selects, Milkshakes and other ‘upsell’ items that the secondary job of washing up was given to someone else.
I didn’t stay long enough to achieve the coveted star on my badge. But at least I didn’t have to wash up!
