A good salesperson can sell anything!
OK, we don’t exactly want for our train crews to be able to “sell anything”. Nevertheless, through our approach for training crews, LSG Sky Chefs aims to develop educated – and successful! – crew members.
In the train sector, crew members are both LSG Sky Chefs employees and a direct interface with the train customers. The only way to manage this double requirement is to create a strong corporate culture, build a robust training program and establish clever incentive schemes adapted to each individual business case.
This three-step approach – incentives, training and corporate culture – is reflected in LSG Sky Chefs’ crew trainings. Crew members need to have a clear understanding of the business case – from the operational logistics and back office work to the actual serving of the customers. So, together with the crew, we visit our units to show and explain the whole operational process.
The next step is sales training. It is a well-known fact that a crew member needs to be customer-oriented. However, this person also needs to acquire commercial reflexes and be able to sell products. Besides classical sales training modules, such as food safety, grooming or “brand promotion”, an additional focus in our trainings is on knowledge sharing. In order to achieve this, managers and senior crew members join our training programs to share and discuss their past experiences with the new staff members.
LSG Sky Chefs wants educated crew members and we believe that this is one of our key success factors. We want to share with the crew members the benefit of a win-win sales relationship. So, in this spirit, the construction of transparent incentive schemes and recognition programs is also a must for us.
Training crew members for trains is a complex and exciting challenge. It involves lots of personal engagement and dedication. But it is fun! I just love getting to know our new and motivated crew members and encouraging them to be equipped and prepared in regards to sales on-board trains.
Kind regards
Philippe Tomatis
Philippe Tomatis was formerly Human Resources Director for the Accor group and joined LSG Sky Chefs in 2011 as “Train Specialist”. He is responsible for all human resources related topics, including crew management and crew training programs.