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 robot in the world of wine sales, hospitality, or wine retail is a choice they have made. It’s a choice to not change your personality or presentation depending on who you talk to. It’s a choice to go on auto-pilot when describing (for the millionth time) what spaghetti carbonara is, or what pinot noir smells like, or what that little winery on the hill looks like. It’s a choice to say exactly what you said before. We’ve all done it.

To be remarkable is to be flexible. To be flexible demands changing and shaping your presentation to those that you are talking to. It’s hard work, but only through hard work do we get better. Only through hard work do we step closer to being remarkable.

What matters is the audience, and in order to do your job better than all others recognize when you’re turning into a robot. Then choose to change.