Thoughts on Selling Wine to Stores and Restaurants
by
Gerald Weisl
wine merchant

Selling wine to shops and restaurants is not rocket science.

In fact, you need not know THAT much about wine to be able to sell it successfully, but a few "smarts" in the sales department are certainly helpful!

We have a few customers who shop here regularly that are employed by NASA.  And we've asked them, "Do you guys ever look at each other and say, 'You know, this isn't wine sales!' ?"

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LEARNING SOMETHING ABOUT WINE

It can be helpful to a sales rep if they actually KNOW something about the products they are selling.  They might actually be able to sell more if they have good product knowledge.

We have seen, however, the sales rep who is knowledgeable and passionate about wine has become a thing of the past.  Many of the sales reps for the large distributors don't even drink wine on a regular basis.

The best way to learn about wine is by tasting it.  Some sales reps routinely congregate and participate in blind-tastings.  Some of them even come to our little tasting sessions, seeking to learn more about wine.

Living in Northern California affords people the opportunity to go visit wineries and, hopefully, to taste at the source.

There are plenty of good books that are clearly written and can be very helpful to those looking for fountains of wine knowledge.

Here are some suggestions:

Kevin Zraly's book is updated regularly and was written to educate staffers in the Windows on the World restaurant in New York.  It is very basic, but well done.


Hugh Johnson's World Atlas of Wine has great wine region maps and tons of good information.  You can get a good over-view of every major wine-producing area, as well as lots of minor locales.

Hugh Johnson also did a wonderful series of videos called "VINTAGE."   This is also worth your time to view.


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Most distributors and brokers are either not interested in training staff members about wine, or they simply cannot afford to do so.

Even more sadly, not many reps are schooled in "sales."

A rep from one distributor blamed her lack of skills using a corkscrew with the fact that the wine she'd brought in for us to taste was the "first bottle" she's "had to open for tasting with a customer" in her three years of employment!


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SHOWING UP IS ONE MAJOR KEY TO SUCCESS

You may have heard that "Showing up is 80% of success."  It's been said for sales reps in general, not necessarily wine reps, that you have to visit an account about eight or ten times before you can expect to make a sale!

The large firms expect their reps to call on most accounts on a "regular" basis.   Some reps consider a "regular" basis to be once a month or every other month.  If you need to make ten visits before taking an order, you're in for nearly a year without a commission!

If you're serious about your job, you ought to consider calling on accounts on a weekly basis until you get a sense of the account.  This gets you "known" to the buyer and staff members.  
Believe it or not, if staff members see you're serious about selling your products, they become more serious about suggesting them to customers!

After two or three months (and your first few sales), you ought to have a handle on the frequency of sales calls required.  It's been said that "success breeds success."  One bigwig with a large distributor pointed out that sales reps tend to spend more time in accounts where they're doing well.  There are reasons to do this, certainly, but a rep might find it a good idea to keep "planting seeds" in barren ground because you never know when some business might start to sprout and blossom into something equally successful.

A successful sales rep suggested knowing the "rhythm" of the account.  He points out calling on a place every week, when they don't require that much service is not efficient.  I concur with this rep, but also would say that each and every sales call doesn't have to have an order as part of the equation for the visit to be successful.  Sometimes  when you're not taking an order, you might show the account new products in hopes of planting seeds for future business.

When you first get your sales job, you should contact the buyer.
Doing this in person is a good idea, as it will take the buyer several visits before they even remember your name and what company you are affiliated with.


We received a call from a rep who introduced herself on the phone, taking over from the previous guy.  He made but one call here and made a nice sale, too.  His predecessor was one who never showed up with great regularity and it, apparently, hasn't dawned on this guy that 75% of his visits resulted in an order and that more frequent stops might have generated more business for him (he shows up every three to six months, typically).  Three weeks after the "new" rep has phoned, we still have not met her face-to-face.  She sent along a fax telling about some promotional pricing.  We called to ask if she was planning to stop by.  She was and arrived a few hours later.  Busy working on a project, I was summoned by the staff here to meet the new rep.  It took me several minutes (about 4 or 5) to finish my project and when I arrived on the sales floor, I found this lady sitting on a wine box playing with the box of Lego's we have out front for kids to play with while Mom and Dad are shopping for wine.  This made a wonderful impression.

One fellow shows up sporadically.  One year he did not pay a single visit to our account during the Christmas holidays.  When queried he said "Parking is such a hassle during the holidays, so I try to stay at home!"  Needless to say, his sales suffered.  (Parenthetically, during the course of the 2003 holiday season, this same rep was more difficult to find than Osama Bin Laden.)  During the 2004 Christmas season, this fellow was, as usual, nowhere to be found.  He sent a note saying he's on vacation from December 22 until the 29th.  Given that we haven't seen him since well before Thanksgiving, I'd say he's on vacation for pretty much all of December!

A new sales rep was dragged in by the "boss" of a small distributorship or brokerage.  They have all kinds of expensive wines masquerading as something special or exclusive.  He handed us a current catalogue and we expressed interest in a handful of items.
"I'll try to come by in a couple of weeks." he told us.
A good sales rep would not wait a couple of weeks, fearing the buyer might find someone else's products for their racks or display!
This fellow DID finally show up.  Four weeks later and we were busy with a marketing seminar for some students from France.  He told our associate "I'll try to stop back by one day when I am next in the area."
We won't be holding our breath!

Don't visit the account and take up valuable customer parking!
We often see sales reps driving up to our front door and availing themselves of a vacant parking space.  If you are parked there, where does a paying customer park?  If the customers can't get to the place, the store or restaurant will not need your products, will they?  We are often viewed with disdain by sales reps when we ask them to be more considerate of our customers.

One sales rep from a large, liquor-oriented house did not make sales calls for several weeks.  We politely asked him "How was your vacation?" as we figured he was either on holiday or in the hospital.  "It was wonderful!" he exclaimed.  He might have done well to tell us he was leaving for vacation and with whom to place orders during his absence.  Of course, this is crediting the fellow with more smarts than he possesses!

I noticed a sales rep in the doorway one busy day and was glad to see him, since we needed a few of his wines.  Much later in the day we realized we had not caught up with this fellow and so we called.  He explained that we "looked kind of busy and I didn't want to wait, so I left."

We received an invitation to one of 4 dining opportunities from a small import company rep.  His boss was coming to town and they wanted to showcase their wines in the company of good food.  We were unable to attend any of these events (they're rarely a chance to have a clear 'look' at the wines, for one thing).  We had not heard from the sales rep for nearly three weeks and when he finally called, we asked where he'd been.  It seems his week with the boss was an adequate excuse for not stopping by or even picking up the phone (as he usually does anyway) to see if we need to replenish any of his products.  One of his floor-stacks has since been taken over by a competitor's wine.

One rep with a spotty attendance record took an 18 case order on day.  We had some of his wines in our newsletter.  He did not show up to see the buyer for more than a month when we sent his firm an e-mail suggesting "regular" sales calls, either weekly or every-other-week.
The manager of the firm wrote back saying "I'll discuss this with the rep."  A week went by and we still had not heard from this fellow.
In an attempt to gently spur him into regular sales calls, we put his picture on the side of a milk carton.

Happily this guy has a good sense of humor and got a chuckle out his his new-found notoriety.

One sales rep has a routine litany of excuses as to why he cannot make his weekly sales call.
We have been told he has "car trouble," "back trouble" (this, I suspect, is due to his boss kicking him in the butt on a routine basis, but I don't know for sure) or "the wine I was bringing to show you today is corked."
Having noted these three excuses, I have noticed he seems to usually cite on of these cases about once a month.
One day I was intending to survey the staff to elicit their "bets" as to whether or not one of these would come into play that week.  But before I could ask them, the fellow phoned to say he was having car trouble and wouldn't be able to make it by the shop.
His boss was amused by the frequent citation of "corked wine" as a reason not to come by, saying "Gee, half the sample bottles I just gave him have screw caps!"

We don't have "appointments," since we're a small shop and, in our mind, customers come first.
But some buyers DO have appointments.  I spoke with a restaurateur who had made an appointment with a sales rep, but the rep didn't show up.  The rep did not call, either.  Since then, this fellow has not purchased, nor will he purchase, any wines from that particular winery.
In fairness, however, it must be pointed out that many restaurant buyers have the notion they are "God's Gift to the wine industry" and routinely do not keep appointments they have made with sales people.  This is equally rude, of course.  One salesman tells of making a trip to a particular "corner" of his territory for a restaurateur who is notoriously missing-in-action for her "appointments."  When he's traveled 30 to 60 minutes to be there for an appointment and the buyer is suddenly "AWOL," you can imagine the frustration on the part of the sales rep.

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SIZE UP THE ACCOUNT.

You should peruse the shop or wine list.
See what wines they sell.

Do they feature mainstream, run-of-the-mill wines or do they have a varied selection?
Where do your wines fit in?

Watch how the store operates!  Do sales clerks sit behind the cash register or watch TV or are they actively stocking the displays and speaking to customers?

Is the shop one that relies upon "canned" point-of-sale materials (signs, reviews, numerical point scores, medals, etc.) or are they passionate about the wines they feature because THEY LIKE THEM?

Some stores expect the sales people to do virtually ALL the work.  Stock the bins.  Keep the bottles polished and, while you're at it, sweep the floor.

Our shop is a wine specialty place.  Some accounts in a sales rep's territory are grocery stores, liquor stores or convenience stores.  Yet distributorships routinely send out their reps to try to sell us items we don't have a prayer of successfully selling as though every account is identical.

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SURVEY YOUR PRODUCTS !!!

When you arrive in a shop or restaurant, a good sales rep should attempt to make the easiest sale possible: the repeat sale!

This means you ought to cruise around to see how the wines they already have from your firm are selling.  Have they sold out?  Are they in need of a re-order? 

You ought to have a list of what wines they have of yours and survey the place to see what items are "low" in stock.

Is the display filled?  Is it neat and orderly?

Years ago, one firm used to arm its sales reps with a feather duster.  We don't see this any longer, but having the bottles clean and presentable to customers is a great idea.  Bottles with several layers of dirt or dust on them are less likely to be brought to the cash register.

One sales rep came in and set her briefcase on top of an empty display box.  The floorstack featured a wine in her portfolio.  But she never would look around the shop to see if any of her wines were prominently displayed.  She asked, "Need anything?" and walked out without ever noticing her empty stack of wine boxes!

Some stores have newsletters, newspaper ads or websites, yet few sales reps think to ask how to get their merchandise positioned or featured in these venues.

We conduct sit-down blind-tastings.  Yet it's only one or two sharp sales reps who even inquire if we'd consider including their wines in these competitive tastings!  Nobody even looks to see what events we're organizing.  Should a wine win a tasting and be priced within reason to attract customers, future sales can be made!

One sales rep determined that since we would not be "tasting" any new wines for the holiday season, there was virtually no reason to stop by the shop from Thanksgiving through New Years!  It seems the concept of our re-ordering wines already in the store, is a foreign one.

One rep, whom we had not seen in more than three weeks, finally stopped by.  She thanked us for making her "Sales Rep of the Year" for two different items in her firm's portfolio.
We are amused by this, since she doesn't stop by with any regularity, nor does she routinely bring in new wines for the staff to taste.
Apparently, she's not able to "connect the dots" and think to have more floor-stacked items in our shop.
The same rep now has a rather good Champagne to sell.  We've even purchased some from her.  She might make note on her calendar as to when New Year's is celebrated, as the week before this rather active Champagne-selling date, the rep neglected to call or stop by.  We would have ordered a few boxes from her had she done so.
Finally, her company gave the account to another, more capable sales rep.

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DON'T ASK THE CUSTOMER "WHAT'S NEW?"
You're the one who's there to sell!

What new items do you have to "Show & Tell"?

While a large number of places make buying decisions based upon numerical point scores and reviews from various journals, it's certainly a good idea to pull the cork on some bottles and show the buyer some new items.   This allows the buyer (who probably also works on the sales floor) to suggest a wine with greater confidence having tasted it for himself or herself.

Some of the distributors have several thousand wines in their catalogues.  Others have but a hundred or so.

Yet we see many sales reps who show up "without a bat in their hands," yet they expect to take a few "swings."  Barry Bonds doesn't come to the plate empty-handed!

You ought to have a small "cellar" in your sales wagon, complete with insulated cooler.  If you don't bring in anything new to show, how do you expect to make new placements???

Some of the distributors in California have thousands of different wines to offer.  One firm's rep arrives on a weekly basis and yet almost never has even a single bottle to show.  This individual presumes I know everything in their portfolio and since I attend their annual trade tasting, what more could I possibly be interested in?   Even though the catalogue is printed every month or two, showcasing NEW items, this lady never thinks to bring bottles by the shop for "show & tell."  The same can be said for a fellow who works for a smaller importer...they have new arrivals highlighted every MONTH in their price list, but it's a rare day he even asks if we would like to have a look at anything new.

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PRESENTING YOUR WARES

You ought to keep a detailed record of what items you present to the buyer and what their reaction is to them.

Bring in a series of wines, but you ought to have a range of items that don't compete with each other.

Open the bottles and do so neatly.
Don't leave a bunch of foil capsules on the table or counter!
I routinely have to clean up after sales reps...we were shocked on day when a fellow neatly cut the foil tops and pocketed them.  Bob congratulated the fellow on being so professional.  Few people think to be so courteous.

Have a sniff of your wines to detect any corked or flawed bottles.
A wine marketing company rep arrived one day to show us some new releases.  We declared one bottle of their offerings to be "corked" and flawed.
"Hey, someone else said exactly the same thing at our last stop!"
If your bottle is corked, please consider opening a second bottle.

Pour the wines in an order that gives you a chance to make a sale!

Most sales reps start with dry whites, moving towards sweeter whites...then to light reds and, finally, heavy reds.
Sometimes you might benefit from pouring the reds before the whites (the whites will taste more balanced after tannic, young reds).

Don't pour heavily-oaked reds before lightly-oaked or non-oaked reds.

It's best to "zig and zag" in terms of tasting order.  This concept is lost on most people, but:
If the wines you're presenting are in linear order, better to present them in dry-to-sweet, light-to-heavy format.  

But if you have a line-up of radically differently styled wines, each wine can show well if you pour them in such a fashion as to have the greatest contrast of style between each wine.  Using this method, you would not, for example, pour two heavily oaked wines back-to-back.  You would, for example, pour a non-oaked white, followed by an oaky white, followed by a non-oaked, more intensely aromatic white.  And then, perhaps, another wine with oak after that.

And a savvy buyer will then go back and re-taste, seeing if the wines show as well tasted randomly.

We often see sales reps who arrive un-prepared!
BE SURE YOU HAVE A CORKSCREW!
BE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR SALES NOTEBOOK!!
BE SURE YOU HAVE A PRICE LIST !!!
BE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING WITH WHICH TO WRITE DOWN THE ORDER !!!

We can tell you of one sales rep who's been calling on us for about 2 years.  This individual has a 50+ page catalogue with printing the size of the type in the phone book.  Yet we cannot remember when the last time this person brought in some bottles to taste and evaluate in hopes of INITIATING NEW BUSINESS.  The distributor does not ask sales reps to pay, for example, for samples.

The district manager of a large firm knew we wanted to taste the new vintage of a particularly famous Cabernet.
"Gee, you need to taste that?  Doesn't that sell by itself?" she asked.
We politely explained that we are not the checker at the nearby grocery store, nor are we the guy behind the counter at 7-11 and "Yes, we DO need to taste those sorts of wines, please."

KNOW HOW MANY BOTTLES ARE IN A CASE!
Some wines come in 6-pack boxes.  If a buyer requests a case, you might clarify whether they want 12 bottles.
We had a situation where a wine had been coming in 12-pack format and suddenly these were in 6 bottle boxes.  Too bad the sales rep didn't know about this ahead of time, as we had to return the entire order and start over to purchase 36 bottles, not the 18 we'd originally received.
This cost the distributorship some money, because they had to pay the trucking company to return the original order.
This is because they could not ship the additional 18 bottles at the properly discounted pricing and getting a "credit" for the correct pricing takes longer than 30 days.


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A BASIC QUESTION POSED BY THE BUYER

"How much is this wine?"

And you know, many sales reps don't know the answer to that simple question.

Why not take a moment and memorize the prices?
Why not place a sticker on each bottle with the price and quantity discounts?

One fellow routinely is unprepared to make a sales call.  He rarely knows the prices of the four or five wines he is presenting.  We have politely suggested affixing a sticker to the bottles with the pricing info and he routinely laughs at this suggestion.  But this fellow has misquoted pricing, causing us to send back wines because he did not know the correct price!
One time he blew a sale because he quoted too high of a price.  Only after the staff had tasted and ruled out a wine as costing too much did he check to see the wine could have been a floor-stacked item.  But it was too late by then.  Ouch!!

Some accounts love to hear the word "discount."  We've often thought the discounted price is what virtually all accounts pay, so we are most interested to know "What's your best price and how do we arrive at that?"  But some stores and restaurants think a discount is something nobody else gets, so they won't buy an item unless there is some sort of price reduction.  Even if they were offered Chateau Lafite Rothschild for $20 a bottle, they wouldn't buy it.  But they would buy it if told "It costs $2400 a case but you get a hundred dollar discount for buying two cases."
A good sales rep should figure out who they're dealing with and how best to present the wine and its pricing.

A sales rep presented a line-up of wines.  I valued one as worth stocking should it retail for less than $40.  The sales rep told me the wine retailed for $50, so our staffers were not shown the wine.  I asked if they had a new sales catalogue, since I had not seen him in five weeks.  He had to run out to his car for a price list (why bring one with you, after all??),  After he departed, I perused the list and noticed the wine WAS AVAILABLE FOR LESS THAN $40!  I immediately phoned him and he told me he had poured me the "new" $50 vintage.  I asked him to stop the car and have a look in his samples bag.  Sure enough!  He poured me the previous vintage, the $37 Cabernet.  He lost a sale because he did not pay attention to details such as the correct price of his wares.

Imagine how embarrassed one might be at having to return to an account to tell them the price you quoted them last week was wrong, the wine this vintage costing 15% more.
Why this fellow is so sloppy about verifying the pricing information can only be explained thusly:
"He's a knucklehead."

A winery rep stopped by and presented her business card saying "I'll bet you that you've never heard of our winery!"  I looked at the card and replied "You'd have lost that bet...I tasted your wines for the first time about three years ago."  She and the distributor sales guy adjourned to the tasting room one busy morning.  I had six wines to evaluate.  The first was a non-descript Sauvignon Blanc.  After finding some character in the second white wine I inquired as to its price.
"Oh, I can't quote prices." said the winery gal.
I questioned this and continued tasting, finally thanking them for coming.
"Well, what did you think?" she asked.
I explained I tasted wines professionally and that without knowing the prices, how could I evaluate these for possible selection for the shop?  I was annoyed that no pricing information was offered, so I did not know if these were five dollar bottles, ten dollar bottles, twenty dollar wines, or what.
Seeing I was a bit frustrated by her lack of cooperation, she finally blurted out, to the penny, the wholesale bottle price of each wine.
Too late, though, as I would have preferred to know these as I was tasting to see if anything, perhaps, would find a home in the shop.  A couple of wines were candidates, but got disqualified by a most silly and unprofessional winery rep.


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ASK FOR THE SALE !!!

Most sales reps have not been trained to "make" a sale.

Most are merely "order takers."  Lots of reps arrive in a store to ask the buyer, "How's your XYZ Chardonnay?"  And, in this day of computerized inventories, many of the "sales calls" made by reps entails their transcribing a recitation of product codes and quantities.  Being "pro active" and "making a sale" are far from what these people actually do!

Take the road blocks out of the way!

A good sales rep might show a buyer some wines and then ask which ones are appealing enough for them to buy.  The attentive rep will have his or her ears open to objections voiced by the would-be buyer and will work to overcome these road blocks.

And just because the buyer didn't pull the trigger right then and there does not mean they have no use for your product.
We often taste wines which are suitable for sale in our shop, but we may not have a display space open at that very moment.  I have saved empty bottles of things we've tasted with the intention of buying them.  But most sales reps figure their moment of opportunity is open on their schedule, not the store's!  This is another reason to make regular appearances in a shop.  You'll want to "get in the loop" of sales.  Who knows?  You might just show up when they're sold out of a product similar to the one you pitched them on a few weeks before!
That's why you'll want to keep a notebook with information regarding previous sales calls.

We attended a "trade tasting" and even saw the fellow who is the sales rep for our account.  There were a number of wines we felt were worthy of purchase and we made a list of these as we reviewed the wines we tasted.  The tasting was held on a Thursday.   The sales rep neglected to follow up the day after the tasting and we figured we'd hear from him by Monday or Tuesday, at the latest.  As I write this, it's two full weeks since that event and we have not heard a peep from the salesman.  Meanwhile, we've written our summer wine-letter and included, of course, none of his wines.  In this instance, the rep must be independently wealthy to be able to ignore an eager and serious wine buyer for such a long period of time. Remember the old adage: "Out of sight, out of mind."  And in this case, to describe the sales rep: "Out of his mind."  Or "lazy."  Take your pick.

We recently had a visit from a small company.  I didn't notice if their pants were on fire, frankly, since I was paying more attention to the five or six wines they'd brought in for us to sample.  My two associates were busy tasting and I had finished, having gone to check a tasting note from a recent trip to Europe.  I was assisting a customer and the two fellows visiting us were intent on heading out the door.  I looked at them and waved as they sauntered out, presumably to douse the invisible flames burning their trousers.  Neither one was patient enough to wait until I was finished handing a customer some change and his bottle of wine, so they missed my ordering $600 worth of wine from them!


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PLACE THE ORDER IMMEDIATELY !!!

We think it's usually a good idea to write down the customer's order.  Not every sales rep does this, but it sure is easier to get the order to the customer if you recall exactly what they ordered and any special delivery instructions.

One sales rep became angry with us when we called her, seven weeks after placing an order which never showed up.  She asked why we hadn't contacted her sooner and we explained the order was entirely items we like, but items that customers don't ask for every day.  We suggested she stop by more regularly, perhaps every two weeks.  She bluntly told us "I don't call on my big accounts but once a month."  Not surprisingly, her firm (she's a co-owner) has lost many brands the past two years.   A former restaurant buyer told us he had guaranteed this sales lady a 5 case order each visit if she would stop by on a weekly basis.  She would not, much to his amazement.

One local rep works for a modest-sized importer of Italian and Austrian wines.  We were delighted to know she's able to get for us wines from some friends in Italy.  The local humungous distributor isn't willing to stock these esoteric wines, but they are delighted to have them special ordered, hit the warehouse and then be shipped immediately to us.  We placed an order and the wines arrived, no problem.  We re-ordered a month or so later.  We were told these would arrive in three weeks.  After seven weeks, we sent her a note inquiring if this wine would be arriving sometime soon.  It seems the wine HAS been at the warehouse, but since I am unaware of it being there, I've relied upon the importer's representative to either send the wine or tell me "It's here!"
It seems she's been relying on one of the people at this distributor to keep constantly checking on the arrival of this product.
The woman then sent me this lovely note:
"As much as I would love to put orders in for all accounts in California, my job responsibility does not allow me to. I can certainly get the order in from Chicago but the distributor is responsible there after. if you are not getting satisfactory service from this firm, I suggest you take it up with their management."
I believe this is what's called "passing the buck."

The same lady hosted a wine tasting during the summer.  She solicited orders from customers for some of the wines featured at the tasting.  We ordered six or seven different wines.  By the end of the year these wines still have not been shipped to us.  We know they are sitting in the warehouse.  But, since this sales rep can't be bothered to be certain the wines are shipped from the distributor to the customer, it seems these boxes will remain in custody of the delivery firm.
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STOP BY, DON'T PHONE
(Phone, Don't Stop By)

It's very difficult to "taste" and "evaluate" wines over the phone, so we think an in-person sales call is best.  Further, this allows the sales rep to bring in bottles to taste and they can have a look around the shop to see what's sold.

Some lazy reps think calling on the phone is sufficient in making a sales call.  They should keep in mind the buyer may be occupied with other sales reps, or better yet, customers!

And some sales reps will sit in their office playing "dialing for dollars."  If you have something urgent or can save the account some money (or make them some money), then you might phone to have a word with the buyer.  But if your calls are bothersome or unnecessary, then the buyer may be "unavailable" when you call in the future.

And please don't "count" a phone conversation as an official sales call!  It's not the same as visiting the store in person.  Some distributor bosses call this "face time."  They prefer their sales crew see buyers "face to face."

In speaking with other buyers---some tell me they actually prefer to NOT see sales reps on a frequent basis.  You need to figure out which buyers are going to pick up the phone and call you and which ones require an "in-the-flesh" sales visit.

I routinely get sales calls from a couple of reps (in particular) who have nothing to do on Fridays, the busiest day of the week in our shop.  The net effect is, instead of the rep politely waiting their "turn," they barge in by phone.

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WHEN YOU'RE WAITING TO SEE THE BUYER, SPEND YOUR TIME WISELY

We notice many sales reps who are waiting for their moment with the buyer will immediately strike up a conversation with other sales reps.  This is time that could best be spent trying to make a sale.  When you're chatting with other reps in a shop, that's time you could have spent poking around and surveying the bins, racks and displays to see if your merchandise is in need of a re-order.  Though I have our inventory on the computer, we may have neglected to display some of your merchandise.  If it doesn't come up on my suggested purchase order, I'm not likely to order more.  If we don't have it displayed, for example, it's not likely to sell and it's probably not going to pop up as an item to re-order since we're not doing a good job of exposing the wine to our customers.  You can help by seeing that your products are available for sale.

A successful sales rep told me he often "networks" with other reps while waiting to see the buyer.  He says this is helpful in learning what's going on at some accounts, for example.  He might get a tip that a particular account is looking for a certain type of wine which he might have.  Or that the buyer from a particular restaurant is no longer at that establishment, but has surfaced at another place.  

Further, when actual paying customers hit the front door of a shop and see a bunch of sales reps standing around, arms folded while they're "waiting", those folks often turn on their heels and head out the door.  They don't know you're a sales rep and are there to sell.  You look like a customer who's waiting impatiently.  That means they will be waiting even longer.  And many customers have less patience than wine sales reps!

You may have seen the mention of a sales rep we first met while she was playing with the Lego's set out for little kids to play with while Mom & Dad are looking at wines.  Needless to say, this doesn't make for a particularly positive impression with staffers or the buyer!

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ANTAGONIZING THE BUYER USUALLY ISN'T A GOOD IDEA

One sales rep told us "You just don't want to buy wine from me!"  We explained that wasn't true, we DID want to buy wine from her.  Unfortunately, many of the wines we wanted to buy were allocated to other customers.
She told us "You're a cherry picker!"
We explained we HAD purchased a couple of non "cherry picker" wines.
She responded "Well, those are good wines and good values."
"Bingo!" we exclaimed.  "Yes, good wine and good value.  That is why our customers come to shop in our store."

Every buyer is a "cherry picker."  Most are looking for wines they think will make their customers happy enough to return for more bottles.

One firm is of a mind that allowing customers to taste their wines is not a good idea.  They believe selling wine is "all about relationships."  This outfit does not print a price list.  Not even a list of wines they have to sell is available.  Nor is a listing of what brands they represent!
We made the grave mistake of trying to learn what they actually have to sell.  In doing so, we deeply offended the sales representative by sending a note to one of their wineries which stated "Maybe you find it curious that your importer prefers your customers to guess what wines of your they may have for sale, rather than presenting them a list of your products."  Unfortunately, the winery shared this with the importer who called us up to say he'd never, ever, never, ever sell us another bottle of wine as long as he lived (and then he slammed the phone down!).

We placed an order with the area manager who was standing in for the vacationing sales rep.
We asked for two cases of Domaine XYZ's Chardonnay.
"You and everybody else wants that wine.  Sorry...no can do." she told us.
We have had Domaine XYZ's wine in the shop, a modest quality $19.99 bottle of wine.  When we explained how we like to be able to accommodate our customers, rather than have to send them elsewhere, this young lady told us:
"Well, the good news is they're not going to find it anywhere else."
I found it that evening while grocery shopping, a three case floorstack being prominently displayed not far from the lemons and grapefruits!
The next day, having replaced a display with another firm's product of similar quality, the manager returned to announce:
"Good News!  We have five cases of XYZ's wine for you!!!"
Of course, what this person should have said at the outset was "Let me check on the availability of that for you" rather than her arrogant "Get in line with the rest of the world, buddy!" statement.
A post-script: This, apparently, was not an isolated instance and her firm fired her several weeks afterwards.
She did find a new position with a small Napa vintner.   It will be interesting to see how long she hangs on to that job.  We wish her well, of course.
Addendum:  The answer to the previous question is "less than a year."

A winery rep stopped by, at our request.  We tasted the new releases and inquired about a case of their Cabernet in magnum-sized bottles.
"Oh, we have only 50 cases for Northern California," she explained.  "Five are for charities and the other 45 are for good customers, so I'll have to see if I can get you a case."
This same rep handed me her business card and said "Now, here's my card.  Please don't call me more than once a quarter."
She did not last more than a year with the winery, by the way.

One sales rep works for a company with a particularly rare wine.  We've usually been graced with the opportunity to buy some of these wines.
For one reason or another, last November we were not "privileged."  I asked the fellow about the new release and he hemmed and hawed.
Knowing he's not gone to bat for us, he has simply stopped showing up.
We even called to ask if we were invited to his company's tasting recently and he returned the call saying "Please come."  And we did.  Tasted a number of wines we liked.
But as I write this, two weeks precisely AFTER the tasting, this fellow has still not stopped by to see if he can make a sale.
I am unaware of his having won a million bucks in the lottery.

We have, to date, purchased 84 bottles of a Rosso di Montalcino from the cooties-stricken 2002 vintage.  The winery made a sensational wine and we have been suggesting it to our customers.  I noticed the same producer's 1999 Brunello is now in the distributor/importer's catalogue.  I politely inquired if we might have a taste of this wine, as it's likely to be something of interest.
The sales rep explained the firm does have the 1999 in stock, but won't sell it until the 1998 is depleted (we have not been, as sales reps like to say "tasted on" this wine).  And sales of the 1999 are tied directly to the purchase of 1998 Brunello.
"But we have bought 7 cases of this winery's Rosso." I replied.
"Sorry.  You have to buy the 1998 to get the 1999."
I called the winery in Italy.  The person I spoke with was dismayed to hear this, thinking someone who had bought all that Rosso was practically a family member.
We'll see what transpires in the future.
((post script: We were "privileged" to taste both the 1998 and 1999 vintages and purchased both!  Nearly a year after the wine arrived, the distributor's import specialist AGAIN brought by the hard-to-get 1999 vintage because it's not selling and they need to move this bit of inventory!))

We ordered a case of Champagne from a rep from a large firm.  The wine did not come with our order the following day.  I called to ask if we would be getting this any time soon, since it was, after all, the weekend before Christmas and people like to buy this famous bubbly.  He told us the product code given to him by the company was incorrect and we'd have to wait until the following week to receive some.  Interestingly, the fellow also told me he was delayed by a three hour line at "will call" at his warehouse.   I asked him why he didn't consider "will calling" a case of this for us since he was already working to put out another "fire."
"Listen," he told me, "I don't have time to listen to your diatribe.  Do you want me to find you some bottles for the weekend, or what?"
My response was "Yes...that is precisely why I ordered a case of Champagne from you in the first place!"
A while later the fellow calls from a store saying they will let me have a few bottles for a price that's higher than we retail it for...plus the sales tax!

Wine Tasting Today

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Last modified:  September 2, 2010