How do you get customers to relax and enjoy a dining experience? Well, obviously, you chat with them, be friendly, and go out of your way to engage them. That’s why British restaurant chain Pizza Express has hired a professional actor to train workers in the art of flirting. Karl James is a classically-trained actor who runs The Dialogue Project, a specialist school that helps people master the art of conversation. In addition to Pizza Express, James’s other clients include Unilever and the BBC, so he’s a professional at this sort of forced friendliness.
Said a company mole to the Telegraph: “With social media and texting reducing our face-to-face interaction, Pizza Express has enlisted the help of a conversational expert who is incorporating flirting and unique conversation techniques … into its new staff training scheme to help completely redefine the restaurant experience for customers.”
The goal is to get the most out of every customer interaction, and if that means a little eyelash-batting and a little coyness to loosen pocketbooks, then so be it. The challenge is to flirt, yet not go over the line and make it too overt. I imagine it’ll be about as useful as every other corporate culture and customer service seminar I’ve ever been to (not at all).
Tags: flirting instruction, flirting training, Pizza Express, employees get flirting training, employees trained to flirt with customers, Karl James, The Dialogue Project, conversation training, Pizza Express training staff to flirt