Designing a wine by the glass list does not have to be rocket science and it does not need to be frustrating. Here is a straightforward formula and a few tips to make sure you cover all the bases. The Formula for a good by the glass list 50% or more of the wine list Read More…
Category: Restaurants
The slow build to the big payoff
It’s February, so here’s a little challenge for everybody: What wine or wines can you place in a shop, or on a list, in front of customers right now, which you might hope to sell two bottles a week? Maybe three on a good week. Not a big seller. Nothing that will set the spreadsheet on fire. Read More…
Four tips for a perfect wine staff training
A staff training, getting in front of the people that will actually enact and conduct the transaction that leads to larger sales of your product, is an incredible opportunity. It’s an opportunity to instill confidence and excitement, and also an opportunity to screw up royally. Here are four tips for a perfect staff training. Announce Read More…
Find the customers that embrace the New and Unknown
If you do what you did yesterday, you’re doing okay, right? If you buy the brands you have found and like, and they do their job, you’re okay, right? Most people are satisfied with most things, and this applies to wine. Most people buy what they know and are comfortable with. Most people want things Read More…
We are all salespeople
Servers at restaurants are salespeople. Hosts who answer phones and take reservations and greet customers and say goodnight to them are salespeople. Bartenders are salespeople. Retailers that put wine the hands of a customer and earn their trust are salespeople. The ones that ring up the order at a wine shop are salespeople. The delivery crew at Read More…
Success, and the people around you
Congratulations, you are a successful restaurant owner/operator (or artist, or musician, or sales rep, or wine retailer)! You watch your P&L statements like a hawk. You pay your employees fairly and on time. Your vendors appreciate their relationship with you for the same reason. You open multiple locations, each building more success for the other. Read More…
The Reactive Rut
I had a great conversation last night with a local wine retailer. Her shop is small, based on convenience for the neighborhood, and with more and more competition moving in she’s having a hard time standing out and growing her business. The backbone of her business is reacting to the needs of her customers on Read More…
Your emergency kit is empowerment
What happens when … … your delivery driver drops the wrong case of wine at the wrong account? A case of wine very important to an event that evening. … one of your servers spills wine all over an impeccably dressed guest out for a night on the town with her friends? … the very Read More…
Sharing vision
Sharing vision is one of the most important aspects of any of our wine jobs. It shapes the meetings, sets the stage, outlines the expectations, and points out the differentiations between you and rest of the world (otherwise known as “them”). To share a vision you first have to have a vision. A vision is different Read More…
The trouble with robots
Robots are kind of awesome and fascinating. They work fast, they work hard, they don’t complain, they are masters of efficiency. The problem with robots is that they do or say the same things over and over (and over and over and over and over). What many people fail to realize is that being a Read More…
The goal of inducing curiosity (via a Coravin)
It’s one of the most effective but overlooked sales techniques. It’s the key to success for many legendary brands, but can easily be replicated into our industries. It’s curiosity. One of my wine consulting contracts is for a successful privately held restaurant group. Three locations, over $1 million in wine sales. They specialize in burgers (really Read More…
The power of loss over the power of gain (Loss Aversion)
If you’re traveling and looking for a place to eat, where do you turn for advice? Many of us whip out the phone and look at Yelp. And when we look at Yelp, and as scroll through the reviews, what jumps out? It’s not the four and five star reviews, because there are so many Read More…
A day of planning, a day of pause
Welcome to Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving is always a strange one. Shoppers pack the stores, movie theaters are busy, many restaurants open early to catch the breakfast and brunch crowd, quite a few people simply stay at home and eat leftovers and watch TV. Wine shops are busy but not overrun (nothing compared Read More…
A great use for Thanksgiving Eve
What are you doing today? If you are a wine sales rep or a wholesale manager, here’s a little secret: today is one of the best days of the year to visit unsold or unopened restaurant accounts. Why? Because today the retailers are so busy they don’t want to see you. And your solid on-premise Read More…
The problem with choices …
… is that most people second guess their decision. When faced with a huge number of choices in front of them, most people will fret and fuss and debate and contemplate until the frustration leads to simply grabbing something that they hope will work and going for it. It’s the video store syndrome. Remember those Read More…