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MARKETING Tasting room dos and don'ts N umerous details come into play when creating the ideal tasting room experience. For smaller and understaffed wineries, it's easy to drop the baton during the rigorous relay race from the vineyard to the tasting room. A few tips can help staffers keep a tighter grip while racing on the inside track. • Greet guests warmly when they hit the door or approach the tasting room bar. You have seven seconds or seven feet to accomplish this basic courtesy. • Ask two to three open-ended questions to establish a rapport with guests. Let the conversa- tion go where it has the most energy. • Be handy with suggestions if a guest asks where the best restaurants, hotels or entertain- ment venues are in town. Bonus points if you're able to make reservations for them. • Never get dragged into a negative conversation about another winery or business. It's ex- tremely unprofessional, and you never know who's listening. • No matter how busy you get, never appear flustered. • Even if the tasting bar is packed two rows deep with guests, establish eye contact with the second row and acknowledge that you'll be with them shortly. eye contact with the second row of guests and • Create a supportive network with local businesses such as bed and breakfasts, restaurants and retail boutiques that can send you quality guests. • Keep a first-rate, freshly stocked first aid kit close at hand. • Narrow the tasting lineup to no more than six wines. Not only can it be irresponsible to pour more than that during a single tasting, too many options can be confusing. —K.K.MichaelDusi_Dir10 11/18/09 12:40 PM Page 1 it. At the very least, a tasting room staff member can maintain a spreadsheet or Access database of top winery clients with names, addresses, email addresses, birthdays and favorite wines. Extra points for dates of visit, when and how the client was last contacted, special orders and recent purchase details. Rick Patton is the hospitality manager at 10,000-case Alpha Omega Winery in Rutherford, Calif., which focuses almost entirely on DtC sales. (See "Selling at the Source," Wines & Vines, January 2011.) Patton currently uses a client book to re- cord his CRM efforts. He favors an actual book over software because, he says, there's no way to parse things together by spread- sheet. Patton has been selling wine for eight years now and has clients in his book that have followed him through stints at four different wineries. Patton is considering us- ing Salesforce.com for CRM because, as his winery's client base gets bigger, it's getting harder to keep track of detailed informa- tion in a book. With functioning low-tech methods such as this, there's no excuse for a winery not to address CRM. Be sure to occasionally scan or photocopy your client book pages for data backup. Paul Mabray is the chief strategy of- ficer for VinTank, Napa, Calif., which FOR ALL YOUR TRANSPORTATION NEEDS TANKERS • REEFERS • VANS FLATBEDS • LOWBEDS Phone (805) 239- 4989 Fax (805) 239- 4988 www.MichaelDusiTrucking.com Wines & Vines MAY 2011 47 IRENE TONG