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66 W i n e s & V i n e s M AY 2 0 1 4 T here are two facets of tasting room operations in which top management can easily hurt profits. It's critical to look closely at these and other pos- sible pitfalls. The first is understaffing, and I will address that topic in a future article. The second way managers hurt their prof- its is not giving tours when they are entirely viable (unlike a storefront tasting room). I have given between 5,000 and 7,000 tours during my 30 years in the business, and I am convinced that visitors who go on tours buy more wine and join clubs at a higher rate. Plus, as I have mentioned in previous articles, you are not just selling wine, you are also selling memories. I went on the Tillamook cheese tour when I was a teen- ager, and I still remember the brand along with the huge vats of cheese. This is a crit- ical point: We have something people want to see. We have tours, Jelly Belly Candy Co. has tours, Budweiser and Tabasco Hot Sauce have tours. Your aver- age manufacturer doesn't have tours because no one wants to watch widgets being made. So the customer is saying: We are willing to spend our precious weekend or vacation time listening to your story (your infomercial if you will). As a winery that doesn't offer tours, you are saying: We don't care. Let's consider the many different forms of tours. First, the standard tour is usually about 30 minutes long and covers how you grow your grapes and then turn them into a bottle of wine. You are also talking up your story: why you are special (thus the infomercial). The second type is the mini-tour. I invented this style when I was the man- ager at Trefethen in the '90s, and the staff and I increased sales by 70%. The mini- tour consists of a 12-15 minute con- densed version of the half-hour tour. At that time, Trefethen had a very tiny tast- ing room. Ostensibly, visitors thought I was taking them on a tour, and I was. But in reality, I was reducing overcrowding (which can hurt sales) by taking half of the crowd out of the room. This relief gave the staff time to close their sales and get caught up before I brought the tour back to them. The third type would be the in-depth two-hour tour and tasting (usually by appointment, costs $25-$50 or higher, and is for the customer who really wants to know a lot more about winemaking and your wines). These tours should be conducted by senior staff with major knowledge about viticulture and enology as well as your winery's history and wines. It may also include a tasting of library wines. Remember that "you sell what you taste," and library wines—if you have enough—can really boost your total sales for the day since they cost more than current releases. Maximize the Value of Tours Exceptional experiences increase wine purchases and club memberships By Craig Root Highlights • The author, a veteran tasting room manager and consultant, explains the do's and don'ts of winery tours. • He says that customers willing to listen to your story are a great asset, and you should take care of them. • Four types of tours—from mini-tours to off-road vehicle tours—are explained. Visitors to Gundlach Bundschu tour vineyards in a vintage Pinzgauer military vehicle. Participants in Benzinger's Biodynamic tour are transported via vineyard tram. S A L E S & M A R K E T I N G