Rarely does a customer tell you a story just for entertainment. In fact, it’s incredibly rare. Stories are told to tell you the reason or justification why an account is doing something. Or, if that’s not the case, they are asking for something without asking it directly. Stories about other sales reps screwing up? It’s an Read More…
Category: Ideas
When do you ask for help?
Most experienced wine sales reps live an independent life during the day. See the right accounts, keep selling wine, keep the bosses happy (i.e. not being too involved in your sales business), then head home. That naturally leads to an assumption on both sides (management and sales): if the boss isn’t hearing of any problems from Read More…
A simple formula
Here’s the simple formula for success: Exceed expectations. Again and again and again and again and again. There. Done. Simple as that. (Moral of the story: you don’t have to complicate things to achieve success in business.)
Plus five percent
Teachers in West Virginia are back to work this week after a torturous nine day strike that grabbed media attention nationally. Traditionally one of the lowest pay states for teachers, they saw no option other than to walk out on the job to get the attention they deserved. Fighting tooth and nail, they got what Read More…
Spring Training
It’s March, and all the baseball teams are in sunny locations getting ready for opening day, happening in about a month. Spring Training is the time to loosen up the joints, play some casual games, let the coach get a feel for the team, let the team get a feel for each other, all the Read More…
The number one complaint (you can do better than that)
Let’s start with the truth: retailers and restauranteurs have it tough. They work in a small box, and live a life of interruption. Vendors, customers, sales people, employees with complaints or issues constantly pulling at them. Trying to structure a day for creative thinking, personal development, or with the goal of flow can be difficult Read More…
The Playbook: Losing a brand
Every wine wholesaler needs a series of playbooks. These are plans and protocols that you pull out when the inevitable happens. When you lose a sales rep, when you hire a new sales rep, when you bring on a new brand, and of course when you lose an important brand. Here’s a quick outline for Read More…
Sometimes, there is no answer
“How can we sell more expensive wine to more retailers?” “How do we break into the hot new restaurant?” “How can I make my sales reps more efficient and responsive?” “How can we get more market share in this increasingly tight and competitive wine scene?” There is no answer to these questions. If there were Read More…
The simple way to do an annual review
With 99% certainty here is what every one of your retail and restaurant customers does NOT know. They don’t know how much wine they bought from you this past year (dollars and cases). They don’t know how much wine they bought from you the year before that (dollars and cases). They don’t know the percentage difference Read More…
Who pulled you up in 2017?
Who singlehandedly made the difference for you this past year? Was it a particular customer? Or a particular buyer? Maybe it was somebody outside of the industry that gave you particularly good advice. Or a winery rep who climbed into your car and made for the perfect day, full of sales, insight, and education? Was Read More…
Selling Champagne
There are a few fundamental differences between selling Champagne (and I’m only talking about real deal Champagne here) and other wine categories. Consumers tend to buy it one bottle at a time. And thus, without another glass next to it for comparison and assuming it’s served quite cold, it’s hard to make a call on Read More…
December is not about selling wine
There is a difference between selling and shipping. In December you ship. You take orders. You make sure the wines get where they belong. You make sure the machine of orders and delivery works perfectly. You correct mistakes instantly. Your job is to make the retailer’s job easier during this busy time, which often means staying out Read More…
Natural Wines, Something Different, and Group Categorization
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the ‘natural wines’ movement lately (highly recommended is Isabelle Legeron’s new book). Not so much about how they taste or if they are good. I’m more interested in the marketing of the wines and the creation of the category. Those of you that have been in the business Read More…
Why Black Friday works
It works because everybody is involved. Black Friday would be an uneventful day indeed if only a few stores participated. But the collective mass builds the excitement, which leads more to join the mass (both retailers and consumers) making it a self-fulfiling prophecy. So what might happen if wine retailers got together for Local Wine Read More…
Leadership, actions, culture, and company development
Leadership is about actions, not words. And to be a leader you don’t need to be a manager or a “C Level.” Anybody in the employment chain can be a leader. A sales rep, a secretary, a delivery driver … anybody. Leadership can be defined many ways but for this example we’ll go with “One who Read More…