There’s always somebody cheaper. And somebody more expensive. There’s always somebody smaller moving faster, and somebody bigger moving slower. There’s always the cool kid, always the brainiac, the shiny new things, and the pretty ones. Who is your real competition? Most of the time it’s not more than 20% of who you can choose from Read More…
Month: May 2016
Happy Memorial Day. Now get to work.
Wine retailers, most of them anyway, can’t look forward to Memorial Day and Labor Day as long weekends of relaxation. The store has to be open. Customers want beer and wine to enjoy around the grill. Can’t ring up sales if you’re home grilling some food. Which of course means for many wholesale reps, Memorial Day and Read More…
Don’t assume anything
I went to test drive a new car a few years ago. They copied my license, handed me the key fob, and said “have a good test drive.” Getting into the car and looking at the fob I couldn’t figure it out. There was no place to put a key, and there wasn’t a start Read More…
Fighting for change (in the right ways)
If you work for a winery, importer, brand, or wholesaler that continues to do things “the way we’ve always done it” then maybe you’re the one fighting for change. Change is a big word, and a scary word to many. It threatens the status quo. It puts those that have been in the decision making Read More…
Wine Descriptions: A Challenge
For one day or for one week, try this: every wine that you have to describe to a client or customer, only talk in terms of music. It’s a fun challenge. What wines are like old school rap? What wines are like opera? What wines are like Led Zeppelin live? Can one wine be the Read More…
Package size first, price second
Two quotes. Same math. Different presentation. “It’s $180. It’s a six pack.” and “It’s a six pack for $180.” The way you present the price can have big impact. Be careful to always say the package size first, price second. Nobody likes to find out the wine is actually $30 a bottle after thinking, just Read More…
A Challenge: Make Something
Don’t do the same old thing this week. Don’t call the same accounts and pitch the same products and get back in the car or on the phone and do the same thing again and again. I challenge you to make something. Make something you can hand to people or email to them. Maybe it’s Read More…
Is Your Business Model Distinctive?
The Harvard Business Review recently published a quick read called Your Whole Business Needs to be Distinctive, Not Just Your Product. In it they cite the normal line up of Apple and IKEA when it comes to something distinctive. “The most effective companies don’t rely on distinctive products, services or brand for differentiation; instead, they focus Read More…
High Impact Staff Training, Nine Ideas
When training the service staff at restaurants about wine, here are some things to keep in mind: Some of the people in the crowd are probably 21 years old. This might be the first wine they have ever had. Nobody is born knowing what a good wine is or a bad wine. They just know Read More…
Leadership and Management, very different things
Below is one of the best little videos featuring Seth Godin that you can find. The meat and potatoes of it (as it pertains to this post) is in the first 1:15. I know you have an extra minute and fifteen seconds, so please watch it. The application of what he’s saying onto every aspect of Read More…
Points of Contact
As a wine wholesale rep, how many times a week do you touch your customers? You can’t count when they call you. That’s the wrong direction. You call them. You email them. You connect to them through social media. You of course meet with them face to face, sometimes twice a week. These are all Read More…
The danger of being a horrible winery rep
If your job is to travel the country, meet with wholesalers, and most importantly get into the car with sales reps to see accounts in their territory, then you better be good at what you do. It’s one of the hardest jobs out there. You have to add to their conversations. You have to give Read More…
1 x 26 does not equal 26
Big distributors like to make big drops, for it makes for big numbers and the stack of wine has big presence in the store. But to sell 26 cases of a wine in one shot is very different than selling one case a week of a wine for 26 weeks. To drip it out, to Read More…
What if they don’t like the wine?
It’s the trap of our business. You cut the foil while telling the story. You pop the cork. You pour the glass. They lift it to their nose then take a sip. They reject the wine. “Nope!” “Crap!” “What the hell did you just pour me?” The trap is that you can’t help but be tainted Read More…
The magic words: No and Sorry
“Can I make a reservation for next Friday night at 7pm?” No, sorry, we are fully booked. “Can I buy more of that awesome rosé you had in the store last week?” No, sorry, it sold out and there’s no more until next year. “Hey! Send me five cases of that Sauvignon Blanc that I Read More…
The race to the middle tells you nothing
The explosion of personal wine tracking apps such as Vivino and Delectable have enabled the average consumer to have a quick and easy way to track and catalog what they enjoy. Those apps serve that function very well, both of them. But the problem comes when you, as a wine marketer (and being in the Read More…
Are you pulling down or pulling up?
You have a trusted group of followers, customers, clients, and associates. We all do. They call you when they need advice, they seek you out for options, they trust you with information. These people are the core of your business life. The insiders. Ask yourself a key question: when they communicate with you is it Read More…
The Dishwasher Salesman’s Trick
When wine reps present their wines to a buyer, they’re often (as in 99.999% of the time) presented from white to red, least expensive to most expensive. It’s what we’ve been taught to do. Successful dishwasher salespeople do the opposite. They find out what the customer wants first. Then they present an even better dishwasher than Read More…
Why people drink wine
Sometimes it’s to examine the terroir. Sometimes it’s to pair perfectly with a particular dish. Sometimes it’s because it was suggested to them by a friend, reviewer, or server. Sometimes it’s to celebrate a special occasion. But it’s always with the intention of having a good time. Don’t confuse the sometimes with the always. Wine Read More…
Above average is not the goal
To be above average only means you’re above the 51% threshold. To have a goal to be above average only means you understand how sad it would be to be below average. And often, when people use the term “above average” it’s referring to things that are either measured too simply, or things that can’t Read More…
Where is your focus?
The sales rep that is looking at a year long projection and goal, and has a plan to try to get there by December 31st, is going to sell wine in a much different way than a rep with a quota on a brand for a week or a month. A wine shop owner that Read More…
Momentum
The scientific formula for momentum says it all. Momentum = Mass x Velocity. In other words, you have a choice of how to grow. It’s multiplication, so if one metric stays the same, while the other grows, then greater momentum is the result. No matter where you are in the wine sales chain, the formula Read More…
How to (not) break into the hot new restaurant
It’s the place everybody is buzzing about. It’s the place to see and be seen. It’s the hot new place, and you have no wines on the list. What not to do: 1) Call and ask who the wine buyer is and then ask to speak to her. (She’s busy enough already.) 2) Show up Read More…