“But I have to …” is the core message I hear from many in the wine industry when they are privately complaining about their job. It might not be those exact words, but the essence is that there is no choice for them in the matter. Three examples: The wholesale rep who has to do Read More…
Category: Wholesale
Some Wine Math You Should Know
Fun stuff to think about: One standard wine barrel = 60 gallons 60 gallons = 25 cases 25 cases = 300 bottles If that barrel costs $1000 then each bottle costs $3.33 more just to pay for that barrel (assuming that a winery is trying to recoup the costs in one vintage, which most do Read More…
What the customer needs
Your customer needs new ideas, fresh thoughts, new information, and a sense of confidence from you. In other words, new challenges. A server at a restaurant should be able to explain a strange ingredient on the menu, or talk for at least a few seconds about the Godello vs. the Garganega. A wine retailer should Read More…
“They’ll do you right”
As a wholesaler, it’s often best to not have a monopoly on a wine list. Majority, yes. Monopoly, no. There is a draw that the owner/buyer at the restaurant will feel toward to question of “I wonder what working with other companies is like?” There is no magic number, for it’s based on the size Read More…
What, really, is your job?
This is a question for the wholesale wine reps. When looking back at your past month, what was your job? Be honest. Were you an order taker? Were you a problem solver? Were you a teacher? Were you a delivery person? Were you a counselor? Were you a business partner? Were you a designer? Were Read More…
Wine sales strategy
A question for wine wholesale reps. Pick one of your customers, any customer. What is your strategy with them? I’m not asking “what do you normally do when you see them?” No, I’m talking about strategy. Strategy needs both short term and long term goals. Strategy considers all objections and obstacles to achieve the those goals. Strategy Read More…
Monday Assignment: Thank you
Starting today, every Monday morning will be the “Monday Assignment” … a gentle kick in the butt in a certain direction to achieve a certain goal. This week: say thank you. Not to everybody, and not to the obvious. I’m aiming at the middle, the ones that don’t hear it often from anybody, including you. Read More…
Sometimes there is no good reason
A major point of frustration for many wholesale wine reps is when they see a competitor’s (usually declared inferior) product get a prime spot in a wine shop, or a new by the glass slot at the restaurant they have been working on for months. Why did that wine get in? Often there is a great Read More…
The high price of sunk costs for wine sales reps
In economics, the term Sunk Cost refers to a cost that has been incurred and cannot be recovered. Businesses of all types, when evaluating the profit and loss statement and evaluating operating expenses, are sensitive to sunk costs for good reason. Wine sales reps have sunk costs as well. The money you spent on a customer for Read More…
Formula 1 and NASCAR … and wine
Both are about cars going fast. Both are about driving a set path. Both are about engines, technology, and momentum. Both have sponsors, for they are incredibly expensive sports to participate in. The big difference? The audience. NASCAR advertising leans toward energy drinks, tools, viagra, Wal-Mart, chewing tobacco, and low cost website hosting. Formula 1 Read More…
Think before you text
There are four main types of current/modern one-on-one communication. The first is the email, the most common form of transferring information from one person to another. It’s passive, and sending an email implies less urgency, usually, knowing that the recipient will see it at some point and will respond at some point. Also good for Read More…
How to …
How to get into an unsold account: Show up. Ask questions. Network. Show up. Ask questions. Network. Repeat. Repeat. Don’t stop. It takes work, it takes time, and there are no shortcuts. How to advance in the wine industry: Show up. Ask questions. Network. Show up. Ask questions. Network. Repeat. Repeat. Don’t stop. It takes work, Read More…
A quiz about wine wholesalers
Question: Which of the following is the most successful model? A wholesaler that expands their portfolio, directly resulting in more sales and greater revenue. A wholesaler that expands their customer base, directly resulting in more sales and greater revenue. A wholesaler that shrinks their portfolio and their customer base, yet show growth in sales and Read More…
Appreciation of circumstance
No job is perfect. There are plusses and minuses to all work situations. Consider yourself lucky if you’re working at a restaurant that has continuous staff wine training (beyond sales pitches by sales reps), and encourages or invests in outside education. Consider yourself lucky if you’re working at a retailer that encourages the whole staff Read More…
Never assume you know how a restaurant will do
No stars. Zero. “Poor,” the lowest rating possible, was the New York Times review in October of 2005 of the newly opened New York City restaurant Ninja. Frank Bruni’s review has even made the Ten Most Scathing New York Times Restaurant Reviews of All Time list. Referring to a choice of routes to your table (one Read More…
Your wine list is a bonus, not a primary reason (and that’s a problem)
People got out to eat for many reasons, and they choose which restaurant to patronize for many reasons. Primary reasons for choosing certain restaurants: buzz or anticipation, reputation, location, price, quality of product and service. If a restaurant doesn’t have most of those figured out, then it’s going to be a tough go for them. Bonus Read More…
The glass debate (and I’m not talking about Riedel)
I’m talking about optimism vs. pessimism. Here’s a new take on it for you. Take a (wine) glass and fill it up halfway with something good. Now ask yourself the common question, is it half empty or half full? Are you looking toward possibility or are you thinking negatively? Now dump that liquid into a larger Read More…
I finished, now what?
This is a brilliant idea from the floor of Barnes and Noble, where I’m writing this. To my left is a table of books. A variety, and I don’t know any of them. Above them is a sign. “I finished Twilight. Now what?” Books, like wine, can be intimidating. Plus there’s an investment of time Read More…
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…
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…
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…