Barman Bulges Tips With One Coin Trick

A festive diversion. Every so often I see a retail sales tactic that has a sibling in our realm.

One Cape Town bar, untouched in years, has two sets of drinkers. A few diehard locals mingle with preloading backpackers from next door.

The cheapest drink costs 21 in the local peso bean.

The young son of the owner has developed a routine with the travellers that take this option.

They pull out a twenty note. Struggling for the extra coin in change, he makes great play of producing a ‘one’ from his own pocket. Theatrics which clearly leave their mark.

He insists most people he does this for then go on to give him regular tips throughout their stay. Not only rare for such a budget conscious customer, but also his total earnings have jumped massively. When pushed, he came up with a figure of eight times more. Quite a jump indeed.

This translates into complex sales surely by going that extra mile. Whilst we do not truly have a means of offering our own commission to a corporate buyer, we do have the ‘gift’ of our time.

Use this powerful tool wisely. It can be precious. It can yield great returns.

One further bonus point gleaned from this darkened glue pot, are the spoons. Pictured, they dangle from a wire on the ceiling.

A passing street vendor got lucky. The owner bought a clutch (or is that rather, a “whirlpool”?).

Whenever he feels someone earns their stripes as a regular, their nickname is written up in thick pen. Even with extras. One barfly even has an associated toy smurf tied to his handle.

The locals love this. Really.

A great reminder that there’s always another method of loyalty recognition that keeps your paying punters in your fold.