Applying for a Restaurant Job Taught Me Two Important Lessons About B2B Marketing

To supplement my modest income as a young public high school teacher, I went looking for a part-time job as a waiter at a popular steak restaurant. Early one Saturday morning, without an appointment I showed up at the restaurant, where I found the manager in his office enjoying a coffee and reading the sports pages of the local paper.

He told me there were no waiter positions available, but said I was welcome to fill out an application. I spent the next 30 minutes listing many of the part-time jobs I had worked at during my high school and college years, none of which involved working in a restaurant.

I mentioned my lack of experience as a waiter when I handed the manager my application. He smiled and told me, “No problem. I’ll keep your application on file and will give you a call if there’s an opening.” I was encouraged by his positive response, thanked him, and as I walked out his office, I saw him place my application on what looked like a 6-inch pile of completed applications in the out box on his desk.

I thought about what that meant as I walked toward the front door. Then I turned around and walked back into the manager’s office. Surprised to see me, he asked, “Do you forget something?” I said, “Can I ask you a quick question? He nodded. “Is that the pile of applications for waiter jobs?, I asked, pointing at the big pile on his desk. “Yes it is,” he said, without looking at the pile.

“So...if you have that many waiter applications, how do you pick which person to call in for an interview?” I asked. He laughed. “That’s easy. I just pick whichever application is on the top of the pile.”

I thought about that for a few seconds, then asked, “Are you looking for any busboys?”

He laughed again. “I’m always looking for busboys. No one wants that lousy job.”

Without thinking about it, I said, “What if we make a deal? I’ll work as a busboy for as long as I have to, if you promise to give me the first waiter position that becomes available.”

He held out his hand. “We have a deal, if you can start tonight.” We shook hands, and my career as a busboy started that night and lasted about a month before I got my first job as a waiter, where I earned about as much money in tips as my take home pay as a teacher.

Much later in life, with my wait staff job and several other jobs under my belt, I came to appreciate the two marketing lessons that B2B firms can learn from my job-hunting experience:

Lesson #1: You Need to Be at the Top of Your Prospects' Pile

Your B2B firm will always be one of many providers knocking on the same doors for business. And just like the restaurant manager, when they have a need, many businesses will respond only to solicitations from the B2B firms that are top-of-mind.

Research consistently shows that – regardless of the B2B service or product you offer – only around 5% of your target audience is “in play” at any time. This means that your B2B strategy must include an internal discipline to provide prospects with relevant, helpful information...ideally on a quarterly basis. Not sales pitches, canned newsletters, or other self-serving content. Information that will be remembered.

Lesson #2: You Need to Give Your Prospects a Reason to Respond

To solve his busboy shortage, the restaurant manager in my story might have come up with the solution I offered on his own. He could have established a “busboy-to-waiter career transition” as part of his hiring process. Perhaps he was more interested in reading the sports pages. For different reasons, companies can also fail to recognize opportunities or can have difficulties addressing challenges. They may be too busy or too siloed to identify or address an important issue.

This presents an opportunity for B2B firms to hijack the buyer’s journey, by proactively pitching their ability to help address a problem or opportunity that prospects have not yet identified or acted on. This approach not only shortens the sales cycle; it also can eliminate competitors and RFPs.

Most B2B firms understand Lesson #1, but fall down on consistency of contact and / or the quality of content they send out. With Lesson #2, few B2B firms are willing to proactively sell their ability to help prospects address a specific problem or opportunity; most often based on fear of failure and an inability to acknowledge that sales is a percentage game.

The irony is that an intelligent solicitation, even when declined, is one of the most effective ways to drive top-of-mind awareness with prospects.