Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/122527
MARKETING Profiting From Trade Visitors How hospitality personnel should treat pallet-scale buyers By Craig Root T asting rooms handle the vast majority of trade visits (buyers, wine writers, sales reps, etc.), and such sales opportunities are among the most overlooked benefits of the tasting room. However, the tasting room receives no remuneration for all the labor used to take care of these folks. As an example, I know tasting room managers who estimate that 10% to 20% of their labor on a busy day is spent taking care of the trade. This is particularly true of wineries with mass distribution. When I was the tasting room manager at Beaulieu Vineyard in California's Napa Valley, it was common to have five or more separate trade visits on a busy day. This was in addition to taking care of 900 general visitors. The winery as a whole profits from the visits, the winery's sales rep in Atlanta profits by being able to make a placement as a result of this visit, but the tasting room itself does not profit. Do your homework When booking a trade visit, obtain as much information as possible. Besides obvious facts such as the date, time and number of visitors, address the following issues: 1) hat kind of cuisine does the restauW rant feature? (A tasting for a steak house is different than one for a seafood restaurant.) 2) hat is the trade visitor's position? W Are they the manager, or the assistant manager with no buying power? 3) hich of your wines do they carry? W 4) hich of your wines should be stressed W during the tour and tasting? 5) ind out about any personal profile. F Are they outgoing or shy? Are they wine-knowledgeable or not? Are they difficult to deal with? This last bit of information can be extremely important for obvious reasons. Try to match your tour guide to the needs of the visitors. Ideally, only seasoned employees should handle the VIP trade. But then try to find connections, 54 W IN ES & V I NE S M AY 2 0 1 3 Highlights • inery tasting rooms need to take good W care of trade visitors to encourage sales, but they do not get paid for the service. • mart managers prepare to handle trade S differently than consumers by gathering information in advance regarding the visitors' interests. • rade members will be more open to T suggestive selling if you give them a fun and casual experience that's different from that given consumers. such as your staff person who lived in the city or state where the trade visitor works and resides. The visit will flow better when there is some affinity between your staff and the visitors. Avoid giving buyers and sales reps the same tour you give to the general public. They know what fermentation is, so the basics are annoying. The one exception to this rule is if the buyer or sales rep is accompanied by friends or family. In that case, you may need to weave in some of the basics so the non-industry guests do not feel left out. Make sure to tell buyers about all of your winery's attributes. For example, Chappellet Winery in California's Napa Valley often takes large groups of trade partners on vineyard tours and to the top of Pritchard Hill in the winery's open-air Swiss Army Pinzgauer. you bought the vineyard land when it was a lot cheaper, and that is why your prices are so reasonable. Take the buyer fishing If a buyer has been to your winery a few times, consider doing something different, such as taking them to a theater event, a concert or fishing—whatever they are really interested in. You will score a lot of points by not being repetitious, and this practice can lead to higher sales. Sales reps need stories and anecdotes. It is all well and good to talk about acidity and pH, but when trade visitors are selling wine in a store, the stories and anecdotes are more useful. When possible, keep it brief—especially for sales reps at the end of the day. Many times, their managers keep them going nonstop starting in the early morning. When I was manager at Beaulieu and Trefethen Family Vineyards in Napa, I would sometimes get sales groups at the end of the day. When I could tell that they were burned out, I would say: "I had a two-hour experience planned for you, but I am going to limit it to one hour so you can go back to your hotel and have a