|
|
|
|
For Email Marketing you can trust
|
Dear Gerald,
Just a quick note to say THANK YOU for your great
article on "How to be a successful wine rep" I am currently
interviewing for a off-premise sales position with a Wine & Sprits
distributor here in the Milwaukee WI area and in doing my research on the
industry I ran across your article. Having never sold wine before
it was a big help. A lot of what you talk about seems to be
common sense when it comes to sales. Now that I have your
insight/perspective, I'm really excited about my final interview this
Thursday. Thanks again.
Sincerely,
Tim Minik
I
can't tell you how much I enjoyed your article. It was the punch line to a
stressful day! I was actually searching for information about a new career,
perhaps in the wine industry...after fifteen years of teaching I am ready for a
change. We attended a friends Louisiana version of a New England crab boil (much
spicier!) and the "chef" is a wholesale distributor. His job sounds
interesting but Texas has such quirky Blue Laws I'm not sure where they fall in
the market. Thanks for the plethora of information, I love your humor!
I truly enjoyed your article “How to be a Wine Sales Rep”. After a career is sales and mgmt in the energy industry, and a brief sabbatical, I’m turning my attention toward the wine industry. I’ve been passionate about wine for decades and am inclined toward melding my sales expertise and love of vino together in a second career. Brokering/retail seem like a natural to me. I’m happily rooted in San Diego. Any advice that you care to offer would be most appreciated. Regards
Hi Gerald,
Gerald,
I own a specialist wine retailer in Melbourne (www.cloudwine.com.au)
and was recently alerted to your musings re: wholesale wine sales. It is
without doubt one of the funniest (and horribly accurate) reflections of the
industry I have ever read. Many thanks for the trouble you have gone to.
I have a background in investment banking where a
high level of professionalism is demanded at all times, and unfortunately this
experience has poorly prepared me for the wide array for pathetic service
levels and less than transparent sales techniques that plague the 'trade'
scene in Australia. Every single scenario you have covered occurs on a
frequent basis, although I did note the absence of the 'ol call centre
marketing trick that goes a little like this:
Call centre: "Hi I'm wondering if you stock
wine x? I've been looking for it everywhere and would love to buy a case
from your store. Would you be able to order it in for me?"
Cloudwine: "sure - can you give me a credit
card details to secure a deposit?"
Call Centre: "oh, er, I'll come in next week. Gotta
go. Thanks"
It's a shame I could hear the guy next to her
battering a fellow retailer with the same query!
cheers and thanks.
Stewart
Wow! What an interesting article. I
begin my new job tomorrow as a Wine/Liquor/Beer sales rep for a large
distributor here in Georgia. I have been the "buyer" for two
years at a prominent restaurant and am now switching sides. I really
appreciate your article and am going to email it to my new boss shortly.
My only complaint is that it is rather long and my wife is yelling at me to
get ready. I plan to print out this article and compose a small outline
for which to carry in my portfolio of things to carry.
Thanks for the information!
Jeff Adler
Gerald,
Once again I have enjoyed a visit to your website!
I really like the "how to be a wine rep"
article---
I think i'll use it with new members of our team,
if you
don't mind!!
Clay Harpending
Winebow Imports
Upstate NY
Dear Gerald,
By way of introduction, I'm
one of three principals at Murphy Goode Winery, my wine background first being
in retail and then for many years in the wholesale wine business. When I
first became aware of your series of articles, my first reaction was that I
could have been the one to write them.
As a consequence of wholesale consolidation, the level of professionalism and training in the wine and spirit industry is, in my opinion, the biggest deterrent for those of us trying to build brands with wineries the size of Murphy Goode. Upon reading your comments, I immediately sent copies to all of my salespeople and to several distributors around the country and many constructive conversations have followed.
It was my intention to contact
you at that time to thank you for addressing the business of selling wine in
such a conversational and understandable manner. Sorry I'm late but
thank you.
Dave Ready
Gerald,
You must have been a sales Rep. at one time in your career. You sure have a barrel load of good info. One thing is you Know far more then any of the Calif. sales Reps that call in your area. Gallo should hire you for training seminars. A lot of sales people are in it for just a job, easy money and have no passion or interest at all. After all if you have such a passion as you do for your business, you soon learn there is something out there that pays and has more rewards then being a Rep. Cynthia Bell
Mr. Weisl:
Gerald,
I read with great interest the article you published on your website about selling wine. I am both a career consultant and a wine lover who has helped people from time to time transition their careers.
My current client is a little closer to me...it's my 25 year old son. He
has spent time working at a winery and would love to get into the sales side
of the business. Given your knowledge, I was wondering if you knew any distributor
contacts that might be looking for someone in the greater San Diego area.
At least someone that might be a good referral source. He has many of
the qualities you speak of in the article.
If you happen to think of anyone that might be appropriate, be they people
publications, or anything related, it would be very much appreciated.
Thanks for the help.
Larry Rossi
Here's a negative response:
I actually did share this
individual's response with some people. Gerald: Bob Sawicki passed your "How to Sell Wine" critic's comments to me. I enjoyed reading your web site and I can't help but contribute a few thoughts. Even now, 20
years since retailing (Wine & Cheese Center; Crane & Kelley: Union
Street and Oakville Grocery, San Francisco), I
still have the odd salesman berate me for being such a
difficult buyer. Mr. McCarthy seems to be offended that you want to taste a wine before buying it. What a joke! Does he expect you to buy off of the winery's frippery, or perhaps you should go by whatever ratings you're presented. It was actually your comments about ratings that inspired me to write. Frustrating for you, yes, but can you imagine how it is from the supplier side? I hate ratings! There are retailers that want to know nothing but ratings. I make a point of not knowing the ratings. Fortunately, I usually suppress my desire to shout: ISN'T THAT YOUR JOB? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO CHOOSE THE WINES THAT ARE BEST FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO HAVE SOME VALUE ADDED? At my prior job, I once received a call from a sales representative in the D. C. area. He was all excited to tell me that he was now able to make a placement at that difficult prestigious restaurant. The one that would only buy wines with 90+ ratings from the Wine Spectator. Now they'll buy, now that we picked up a 94 from Parker. The salesman was a bit taken back from my response, which was to tell him that we will sell to them only if there is wine left after orders from prior customers were filled. You and I remember the days before ratings. I believe we have such reliance on these numbers because, in post fair trade days, people could not get decent information and recommendations from Liquor Barn and later Costco and the like. It's a shame because I always felt that an important part of the pleasure of wine should be in the purchase...the discussion, the anticipation of matching a wine with a fine meal. We are getting to the point...but we're not there yet. Back in my retail days, I would use my "toupee analogy" with new employees. One of my pet peeves was a wine guy asking: "how much do you want to spend?" I would say: 'Look, imagine that you suddenly need a toupee. You have some trepidation as you know nothing of toupees. How do they stay on? Will people be able to tell?, etc. You walk into the toupee store. "I need a toupee" you say. The clerk responds: "How much do you want to spend?" That is not what you want to hear. You want to hear: "I am going to make you look great!".' 'Our customers are to wine as you are to toupees. Sometimes we get so involved in wine that we forget how confusing and intimidating it is for the average buyer.' 'Then you find out that there is a publication that can help: The Toupee Spectator...and they have ratings, and best buys, and new releases of toupees. "Wow", you say, "I'm going to get this 92 rated toupee". Wine is so much a part of our lives, that we sometimes fail to remember that, for most people, wine is still a foreign language. Perhaps people rely on these ratings because we, as an industry, have not provided our clientele with a sense of ease in buying wine. We need to provide a comfort level where folks feel that a conversation with a person whose livelihood is on the line will yield a better experience than writing down ratings created by a faceless person from a magazine or newsletter. That is our challenge. Regards, Dave David W. Crane Assistant National Sales Manager Heck Estates Kenwood Vineyards-Valley of the
Moon Winery-Lake Sonoma Winery. John, I read your email to Gerald Weisl of Weimax Wines & Spirits. However entertaining it is, it is a bit misguided. I wanted to bring a few facts to light that will hopefully give you some insight. I ‘call’ on Gerald for one of the larger distributors
in This is a time in the wine industry when enormous international companies are swallowing up many smaller independent wine companies, resulting in an enormous sea of uninteresting, mass-produced wine “products.” Many of my friends ask me for wine advice when considering purchases. I advise them, and always send them to a knowledgeable small retailer in their area. I am a proponent of the small local retailer; the small merchants were, and should continue to be, the backbone of this industry, along with larger venues, of course, as well as restaurants (where you will not likely get any information on the wine you are purchasing). Many of my close friends are turning to CostCo, Cost Plus and other large chain venues for their wine purchases. It will be a sad day when these are the only choices available for our wine purchases. Our tastes in wine will be as monochromatic as our selection. But I digress. Back to Gerald. Your attack was rather personal. You called him a
“dick.” I actually laughed out loud. You should have your ducks in a row as it were before stepping in for your, yes, weekly sales call (industry standard John) or twice-weekly call if you have some hopefully, interesting wines to “taste him (and his staff) on”. I assure you Gerald has seen it all. He was teaching wine
classes before he was old enough to drink. Yes, he might have an inherently
short fuse, and be a bit lacking in patience occasionally, but you will be hard
pressed to find a more passionate merchant in the bay area. He actually goes
to wine tastings. (I briefly worked for a top wine merchant who rarely attended
even the standard annual tastings, and I guarantee you this is the norm.) He
actually takes the time to find hidden gems in all the catalogues. He sees even
the tiniest wine distributors/importers in the hopes of finding a gem even
further off the beaten path. And, John, Gerald actually purchases most of
the sample bottles from the distributors so as to not deplete the ‘sample
budgets.’ He sells A LOT of wine and he buys a lot of wine from me. I have made mistakes. He has chewed me out. We all survived. John, I am almost through. Have you seen his newsletter? It is excellent. His blind, sit down tastings? You have obviously seen the website. Gerald, his staff, and his store are unique and refreshing in this ever increasingly bland mass-consumer-driven retail wine business. So John, thanks for the “holiday gift.” It was certainly fun to read…a tad bit on the rude side though. You definitely had a bee in your bonnet, dude. I am not quite sure where it came from, but I can guess. I just wanted you to know why some us actually do enjoy Gerald, and his unique operation. Jerry Cooper The Estates Group, Young’s Market Company ************* Mr.
McCarthy, I
have to tell you, reading your response to Mr. Weisl's manifesto on
"How to Sell Wine" leaves me at a bit of a loss. To be quite honest, I
think you have a much uninformed view of how Gerald does business. After
reading your email I could also tell, that you, Mr. McCarthy, are not self-employed.
Otherwise, you would realize that every wine Gerald brings into his shop is a
direct reflection of the integrity of Weimax Wines & Spirits : to 'bring the
customer the absolute best product for the best price' is his mantra. He can
only do that if he tastes
every wine that walks through the door. This is actually not an
uncommon practice in this industry. When I was a buyer for a retail store, I
used to take sales reps “word” that, “the wine is tasting GREAT,
FANTASTIC, BRILLIANT!” Honestly, more often than not I was very disappointed
with the product. Not to mention, the looks you get from our clientele when we
all taste a wine that was not up to our standards. Thinking about our short
history together, here are some the questions I ask myself about Gerald: In
his next breath did he tell me everything that was wrong with my company? YES Does
he yell at me on the phone once a week? YES Call
me and leave messages in strange accents? YES (he's actually quite funny
and amusing) Could
I live with Gerald any other way? Absolutely Not Stephen
Beckner Fine
Wine Specialist
Here's an interesting tale from a local wine shop about a fellow who
changed jobs from working for a distributor to being a representative for a
winery whose products are sold through a statewide distribution company.
It's a great "Oops" story.
WELL GERALD - I HAVE FINALLY JOINED THE 20TH CENTURY AND
TURNED ON THE COMPUTER!!! I JUST NEED A LITTLE TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE
AND I'LL GET THERE.
SO HERE WE GO!
YOUNG SALE'S REP (WHO ALREADY HAS A BAD HABIT OF LOOKING DOWN
HIS NOSE AS HE SPEAKS TO YOU) STROLLS INTO THE SHOP , WINE BAG IN
HAND.
AT THE TIME THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER GENTLEMEN SHOWING THEIR LATEST AND GREATEST WINES (OR THE ONES THAT ARE "ON GOAL" THIS WEEK). THE PROPRIETOR AND BOTH OF THE WINE BUYERS ASSUME THAT YOUNG SALES REP KNOWS EVERYONE AND HE SAYS HI TO ALL . THEN ATTEMPTS TO WAIT HIS TURN. UNFORTUNATELY THE YOUNG SALES REP IS NOT PATIENT AND DECIDES TO JUST JUMP RIGHT IN WITH THE SALES PITCH. WE TASTE THE WINES AND HE GOES ON AND ON AND ON!!! FINALLY HE ASKED DO WE DO BUSINESS WITH A CERTAIN DISTRIBUTOR???? PROPRIETOR SAYS "YES WE DO." YOUNG SALES REP SAYS, LOUD ENOUGH FOR ALL OF THE GENTLEMAN (AND I USE THE TERM WITH HUMOR) TO HEAR. " WHAT DO YOU BUY???" WE REPLY: "SEVERAL THINGS". YOUNG SALES REP SAYS "WELL I CAN GIVE YOU A LOT BETTER PRICE--- "PAUSE"--- AND THEY JUST DON'T HAVE TO KNOW!!" AS THE TWO WINE BUYERS, PROPRIETOR AND ASSORTED WINE SALESMEN TURN TO LOOK AT YOUNG SALES REP IN DISBELIEF, THE DISTRICT SALES MANAGER FOR THE DISTRIBUTOR WHO DISTRIBUTES THIS SAME WINERY'S PRODUCTS PICKS UP HIS CELL PHONE AND BOLTS OUT THE DOOR. ONE OF THE SALESMEN TAKES PITY AND SAYS "IF I WERE YOU I WOULD CHASE HIM DOWN A.S.A.P. AND TRY AND GET YOUR FOOT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH"
YOUNG SALES REP HAS A "COME-TO-JESUS-MEETING WITH THE
MANAGER OF DISTRIBUTOR" WHO EXPLAINS "IF YOU (SALES REP) DO THIS IN
MY TERRITORY AGAIN I WILL CUT YOU OFF AT THE KNEES!"
YOUNG SALES REP COMES BACK IN AND ACCUSES PROPRIETOR OF LETTING HIM HANG OUT ON A LIMB AND CUTTING IT OFF!!! THE PROPRIETOR LOOK'S AT THE REP WHO HAS HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH AND ASKS "DON'T YOU KNOW HIM??" REP SAYS "YES, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE DID. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME??!!" YOUNG SALES REP FINALLY LEAVES. HE CALLS BACK SEVERAL HOURS LATER AND SAYS "THANKS A LOT FOR LETTING ME HANG IN THE WIND." SOME PEOPLE JUST DON'T KNOW WHEN TO LET IT GO . I USUALLY REFER TO AS THE PIT BULL SYNDROME. JUST ANOTHER INTERESTING DAY IN THE WINE BIZ! DO THEY TRAIN ANYONE FOR MORE THAN A DAY AND HALF ANYMORE??
Hello!
Hello Gerald,
Dear Gerald,
I found your article online because I am
very interested in pursuing a career as a wine rep. I graduated from
college with a degree in history with a plan going to law school after
graduation. Instead I decided to spend several years overseas and
during that time decided that a career in Law was not for me. I am
now in the process of deciding what I would like to pursue and a friend suggested
to me that I should be a wine rep. She knows my love for wines and
fine dining. I grew up in the Bay area and spent a year living in
France and have always enjoyed wine culture. I will be moving to
Charleston, SC in September and I am curious as to how to pursue this
career. I know Charleston has a huge restaurant culture and I assume
that a wine rep would be successful in this area. Do you have any
advice as to how to begin searching for this type of position? Any
help that you have would be very appreciated. Thank you so much for
your time. I enjoyed your article.
Jill
Oops...a rather negative missive
arrived in December 2006 from a sales rep who works for Noble Wine Estates, a
distributor in Florida with a wonderful array of wines. -----
Original Message ----- From: Jennifer Clement Sent:
Subject:
How to be a sales rep Gerald, ******** I sent Ms. Williams or Clement, take your
pick, the following letter.
Thanks
again for the great website. I
love it. I am glad someone put a pen to paper to It is long over due. Kudos to you! Joe Goodrich
Hi Gerald,
You have to love the many varied responses you've gotten on your
article about "How To Be A Wine Rep". I've known you for over 20
years and I've always felt the greatest respect for you, your knowledge and
your opinions. And that's quite a comment from someone who's been in the
business of wine for well over 30 years! I think that this article is one
of the clearest, most accurate and objective articles on the topic.
We all know that it takes a thick skin to deal with all of the various
issues that come up in the world of wine. Remember the cartoon about the
Winosaurus Rex? How true that is! It's a business of strong
personalities and opinions and, as we all know, everyone is entitled to their
own. Most of us in the industry take that to heart. Consequently, the good
salesperson learns that life can be very tough if you treat each and every
wine as if you made it with your own two hands. The buyer's opinions and
decisions are what make their business successful. As a salesperson, it's your
job to realize that every buyer has their own palate and preferences and IT'S
THEIR RIGHT TO EXERCISE THEM!
As a salesperson, it's your job to take care of the buyer's problems,
show up regularly, check your inventory and try to carefully present wines
that you think may be of value to the buyer. If and when they give you an
order, when you leave the store, call the order in before you leave the
parking spot! Don't leave it to chance! When you find that something is out of
stock, call the buyer and let him know that it's not coming. it's not as hard
as some people make it seem.
As someone who's been both a buyer and a distributor rep of some success, I've
always been struck by a number of recurring scenarios that we all see. Such as
the following:
1. The distributor manager who makes unattainable promises to a producer,
with poorly or totally not planned marketing goals and objectives. He
consequently urges his staff to "Control their accounts. Go out and make
them buy this wine, come hell or high water, or else." Hello, doesn't the
buyer have any say in this? Maybe the wine is overpriced or poorly made or in
a God-awful label! Many times, it's all of the above. (Guess the manager got a
nice trip or some sort of goodie for making that promise?)
2. The salesperson who has had little or no training, who is basically given a
bag of samples and a goal sheet and is then told to "Go get 'em
slugger!" And, then, the weekly beatings are handed out for
not making their goals. A recipe for success if I ever saw one.
3. The good quality, veteran salesperson who becomes "Unmanageable",
so the management focuses on finding new and different ways to make that rep's
life so difficult that they finally give up and leave, to be replaced by the
previous type of salesperson. Believe me, it happens all the time.
4. The winery that is so nice in the beginning, gets a couple of good reviews
from Parker or the Spectator and, suddenly, they're too busy to make sure that
the people who supported them in the beginning are taken care of. Many
accounts suddenly don't fit the winery's "profile" It really is a
shame.
It is interesting to me that we have an industry that is steeped in
creativeness, information, culture and history and yet, as it continues to get
bigger, the training and development gets less and less. I see the wine
distribution system getting closer to being the same thing as selling
shoes or hardware. I joined up because I thought that it was all about
something that tasted wonderful and added a sense of goodness to all of our
lives. At the time, I didn't realize that it was more about funding
expensive cars, lavish parties and vacations.
Mr McCarthy may be so rude as to call you a "dick" but it's
easy to hurl insults from a keyboard, especially when you don't appear to know
the person that you are insulting. I, for one, am happy to consider you a good
account and, even more importantly, a good friend to the wine business. People
like you (and I hope, me) are what the business should be made of. I
respect people of knowledge and intellect, who put in the time to really
understand what they are working with. The older I get, the less patience I
have for a lot of what I see going on in the business.
Over the years, I've had many people ask me why I feel the way I
do about you. It's always an easy one to answer. It's because I
learn about wine from you. In my humble opinion, you are one of the most wine
knowledgeable people I've ever met. With salespeople, you are very clear about
your expectations and the majority of them are completely based in respect for
each other and common courtesy. Do you tell everyone what you are looking for
that day? No. You give each and every rep the courtesy of tasting their wines
and deciding yes or no, on the spot. when you find the wine that hits
you right. You buy it and sell it. I'd much rather have that than the
buyer who goes, " Umm, yes, uh, I like that. Get back to me in a couple
of weeks on that one." Life is too short to have to go over the same
information 3 or 4 times before you get a 1 case order or the wine is just
forgotten.
I guess it really all does come down to courtesy and understanding of
what is going on the other side of the discussion. Some people take the
demands for professional behavior as rudeness, when it's really a request that
they do things the right way and follow up.
Personally, I can't remember a time when you yelled at me about anything, If there was a problem, the criticism was generally directed at the source of the problem. I can't take that personally. But, as a salesperson, I can take on the responsibility of trying to fix the problem, to correct it so it doesn't happen again and, if necessary, go to the warehouse/winery and take care of it on the spot. That's what phones are for! Maybe I'm just too "old school", but I don't see a lot of that going on out there today.
Looking over the responses, it's pretty clear that the excessively rude
people are in the minority. It's just that they stand out so much, at times it
seems overwhelming. Every day the business gets more people in positions of
authority who would be every bit as effective selling nuts, bolts or X
Boxes.
Gerald- keep doing what you are doing. I love your store and your opinions. Somehow, we all need to do what's right, no matter how outnumbered we may all end up feeling about it. Let's all remember that wine is subjective and fun. It's made all the more enjoyable by those with different opinions and perspectives.
Personally, I appreciate your dedication and passion for the stuff! Keep on
letting people know what you think. Those that see the value in it will gain
from it. Those that don't,...won't!!! It's a service to all of us.
Paul Manchester
Into Wines, Fine Wine Brokers
|
|
|
TO
INQUIRE ABOUT A WINE: