Here is a good example of how to not sell wine. “You let me know when you need something. I’ll stay out of your way until then.” Some reps seem to pride themselves on being “the softest of soft sell reps.” But there is a difference between soft selling and non-selling. The quote above is Read More…
Month: October 2017
The Uber driver mentality of some wine reps
What makes for a great Uber driver? Somebody who shows up. Somebody who does not crash. Somebody who is not obnoxious. Silence is golden. That’s really it. And some wine sales reps define the job they are doing by defending themselves this way: “Hey, I show up to all my accounts when I’m supposed to!” “Hey, Read More…
Then you have a brand
Two scenarios. A company assembles 100 carefully chosen wine consumers. They enter a room and taste and rank five whites and five reds. Then they leave. The statisticians come in. They analyze the numbers. They discover the one white and one red the crowd liked the most. They speculate why. The scientists come in and Read More…
Words matter
If you are a wine retailer, the words that you attach to products matter. These are the words your staff says when suggesting wines (you are training them on what to say about certain wines, right?). These are the words that are on your hand written shelftalkers that show your endorsement of a product (which you Read More…
Hey wine reps: What do you do on Thursday?
The wine sales cycle on the wholesale end is pretty predictable. See accounts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Then maybe have a sales meeting on Friday, run some will calls (that are always disruptive and problematic), and do an in-store tasting that night. Week after week. Month after month. You know who your accounts are Read More…
Ignoring the to-do list
The daily “things I have to do” list is familiar to every single one of us. It’s about urgency. What has to happen TODAY. What has to happen NOW. It’s about checking off boxes and crossing things off that list, and that feels good and triggers a little endorphin rush in the brain and makes Read More…
More Wines, More Distributors (what is competition?)
Every major metro area in the United States is seeing an explosion of new wine distributors. Most are small. Some are mid sized. All are passionate and carry wines that were usually not in that market before they came around. The first to complain about this? The established distributors. “More competition! How can our market Read More…
The portfolio quandary
The problem with having a huge portfolio of great wines is that you have to constantly pop bottles to remind people of your products. But you then risk popping too many, looking desperate or without vision and direction. The problem with a small and finely tuned portfolio is that once you pop a bottle and the buyer Read More…
Some wine buyers …
… are in it for the juice. It’s all about the wine. You have to leave them alone while they taste it, eyes closed and covering one ear, ala Miles in Sideways. … are in it for the story. They want the history, the background, the links to other wineries, the hero’s journey. … are Read More…
It’s your job
If you are a sales rep, it’s your job: to have a current catalog at hand to have current pricing sheets at the ready to have your phone charged up for the day to have extra time built into your schedule to handle last second needs of your customers to know how best to communicate Read More…
The overthinkers
I was once part of a wholesale company that produced the most confusing and convoluted incentive program ever. It involved eighteen wines from four different suppliers. Under one case retail placements counted as a point. Solid case retail counted as five points. Multiple case retailer placements had an added bonus level of points, scaled based Read More…
Sales technique vs. Selling structure
There is too much energy put into sales techniques, especially at the largest of wholesalers. How to walk into an account. How to stand in front of the buyers. How to say what you need to say. How to hit all of your bullet points. How to smile and laugh, and mirror. And of course, how Read More…