A critical question to ask at the start of your sales day is this: Why am I selling wine?

Making money is one reason. This is your living. “Bad salespeople have hungry kids” is the old (old, old) saying. You have to convert sales to make dollars and keep your lights on. Pretty simple.

For the love of wine is another reason. This stuff is just plain fun. Beautiful places, great food, wonderful history, tons of stories. Of course, the love of the fermented grape juice is a key reason to sell. Name almost any other product in the world and I guarantee it’s probably not as interesting as wine. (Okay, ancient artifacts might come close. And Jackson Pollak paintings.)

But what should be on the top of the list for why you sell wine?

Problem-solving.

Give me a sales rep with hustle to problem solve, any day.

A problem-solving sales rep seeks to ease the pain.

The pain of profitability, of variety, of knowledge, of staff interest, of logistics … the list goes on and on.

Solve your customer’s problems and they will reward you grandly.

So what are your customer’s problems?