It’s easy for a wine shop or a restaurant to be average. Have average products for average people, give average service, and try to compete on price. It’s lazy, but plenty of businesses out there survive with this premise. I also think it’s easy to be genuinely exceptional. To have fantastic wines for amazing customers, Read More…
Ideas: How wine retailers can generate more revenue the last six weeks of the year
Once we get to mid-November, it’s like running the last mile of the marathon. You’re exhausted, but the adrenaline carries you forward. The group around you, the runners in front of you, and the runners behind you make for energy that pushes you towards the finish line. Nobody gives up the marathon in the last Read More…
The main hack for beverage sales rep: embrace being Professional
As a follow-up for sales training seminars that I lead, I like to ping select reps a few months down the line to see how they’re doing and if they need any advice. Lately, consistently, I’m being asked for a great ‘hack’ … as if there is one magic formula to make sales go up. Read More…
The power of unmeasurable generosity
As we become more measurable in our jobs and lives, there is more room for unmeasurable generosity. If a friend works a job with unreasonable quotas and driving trackers so their boss can oversee their every movement, be the one that gives some love and an ear over a little happy hour bump. If you Read More…
Some thoughts on leadership vs. management in wine and spirits sales
Wine and spirits distributors have salespeople. And the one “in charge” of them (quotes intentional, as you’ll read) is the sales manager. The role of the salesperson is to sell. To connect customers to the stories they tell. To service accounts with professionalism, consistency, and accuracy. A good salesperson is a storyteller, someone who is Read More…
On being a professional (or not)
A professional shows up and does the work, and if they’re good, they do it better than most in their profession along with having a good attitude. A professional eye surgeon shows up and does the work they do, even if she is having a bad day or is tired. A professional chess player practices Read More…
“Get some chalk on your boots”
I’m a big fan of “real football,” otherwise known in America as soccer. (The story of why it’s called soccer in America is quite interesting.) There’s a beautiful phrase in the sport that can easily translate into the business of selling, “Get some chalk on your boots.” It refers to the need to spread the Read More…
SOND 2022 is on … what are your plans?
Welcome to September! Start that countdown. We’re only 121 days away from the end of the year. Wholesale reps Open your calendar. Mark the evenings you want off, no questions asked. Family evening, concerts, commitments, downtime, you name it. Your job is a daytime job, and any hours you put in the evening should be Read More…
What is missing?
Late August is a unique time in the wine sales and retail game. It’s a moment for a pause, a final vacation, a little breath before September rolls in. It’s also a great time to ask what is missing and start to work to fix it before the busy season hits. For a sales rep, Read More…
Being in, or out of, alignment (who do you play ball with?)
There is more to business relationships than numbers and sales. There is often friendship (though not always). There is often judgement (spoken or otherwise). There are often pressures on each side that the other doesn’t understand (very common). But in the end, every business relationship needs some form of mutual respect. This respect can be Read More…
Which customers are at the top?
Your best customers are worth ten to a hundred times more than your average customers. Do you know who they are? How do you define best? And what are you doing for them that is different than how you treat the average customer? This is where marketing begins.
Selling wine during a recession
The word RECESSION is being bantered about far more now than in over ten years. All signs are pointing toward an economic recession on the horizon (and the truth is, it’s always on the horizon … but we can never tell where the horizon is). As always, nobody knows anything, so don’t be surprised if Read More…
Today is different than tomorrow (end of a quarter)
Today is the last day of Q1. It’s a much different day than tomorrow, the start of Q2. What do you do today vs. tomorrow as a wine sales rep, restaurant owner/manager, or retailer? Today, you work super hard. You push for the final sprint ahead of the finish line. You make that extra sales Read More…
Connection points (you never know who you just met)
Here’s a quick puzzle for you. Read carefully but don’t look ahead to the answer at the bottom. See if you can figure it out. David meets Jenny. Jenny introduces David to Mike and Tom, and Tom in turn introduces David to Samantha. Samantha also knows Mike, and through Mike and Samantha, David learns that Read More…
A work fast (not a vacation): The goal of a fresh perspective
I recently had surgery and it was awesome. Not the surgery itself, mind you. That wasn’t fun, and the recovery has taken a couple of weeks. (It was gastro-intestinal, so everything from what I consumed to the simple art of sitting up had to be addressed.) The recovery forced bed rest. But I had things Read More…