Customers Who Ask For Help Selecting

Curious on this one: what do you think the percentage is of people wanting to try new wines and will ask for help with their selection when going into a store?

Comments appreciated.

Thanks,
Frank

Upwards of 70% in our store. People COME here because we have new and different stuff all the time.

Wow, Roberto! That’s higher than I expected. Although, I find I get in trouble when I don’t ask. I tried 30 wines over the summer and only liked half of them. All the ones that were recommended I liked.

Frank

TRUST is the major factor in asking for help - a store like The Wine Expo has catered to a very unique customer base right from the start - so they are going to get more people asking for help - Total Wine & More won’t because few trust their inexperienced staffs - a huge difference -

Way too many wine clerks recommend their favorite wines rather than something the customer is looking for - if they want an oaky chardonnay - give it to them rather than pushing that kinky Gruner Veltliner or Cotes de Jura you love - once you have gained their trust - then throw the kinky stuff at them…

THIS +1

A good salesperson’s first question should be, “What do you normally drink and at what price point?” Most don’t, unfortunately, and are very quick to push the latest weird and wacky stuff that winegeeks may love but that the average consumer finds repulsive.

I agree with much of what you said, but in my experience the typical wine retail person pushes the stuff their sales manager tells them to push. In other words, the stuff that the store bought by the pallet (and not necessarily by the palate) that they need to move.

Bruce

bruce, I see what you did there!

Well… The question posed was about what % of customers ASK for help AND wanting something new. We approach and greet EVERY customer but the store is in a tourist area, so the % not “just looking” is probably as low as 50%. Of those ‘interested’ in help I’d have to say that maybe 25% actually ASK for something ‘different’ and less than half respond to suggestions that go beyond their normal choices.

I have lots of fun with that small % that do want to try something new though. We stock many Rhone blends, most from the Paso Robles area, as well as unique stand-alone Rhone varieties that are pretty amazing.

EXCEPT FOR ONE THING: When I was a wine buyer for a retail store - the first thing I did when I found a wine that would fit a popular category was - how much by the pallet? You find a killer over-oaked Chardonnay that you know the oak whores are going to adore at half the price they are usually paying - you purchase everything you can get your hands on - So often times in good stores - what they have the most of is what they like the best and think the majority of their customers are going to love -

The opposite is usually easy to see - the retailer had to take a pallet of a certain wine to get a better price on Smirnoff Vodka - those kind of wines stick out like a sour thumb anyways because it’s usually a grocery store label -

I own and run a wine shop here in Atlanta.

80% of our clients ask for help when they walk in the door.

The other 20% either want to browse solo or are just popping in for a quick bottle they’ve bought before.

We only sell wine (no beer or liquor) and our prices range from $8 to $500+.

As a consumer, I find that building a relationship with wine retailer employees (a relationship built on asking for, taking, and giving feedback on, recommendations) is extremely enriching. My trust level reaches 100% when an employee (or owner) actually suggests that I take a wine out of my basket and put it back on the shelf b/c they don’t think it will be what I’m looking for. I always appreciate this, and simply allocate the dollars to another wine in the store.

Maybe 30 - 40% ask for help. I ask 100% if I can help them if they do not ask me first. I want the customer to return, so I do my best to get them a wine that fits their tastes, not mine. Since I began this pimpin’ gig the light has come on that amongst the tanker loads of crap on a retail shelf, there are many wines not to my taste that are still well made wines. You must look at this objectively and suggest quality in whatever style and at whatever price point the customer is comfortable with.

We don’t have “Winery Direct” wines here and the boss does not tell me what to sell. [tease.gif]

It’s pretty low most of the time at my store. I have a pretty awesome selection wines for such a small town, KY doesn’t have a lot of wine drinkers, I think they have a problem with thinking they’ll sound stupid. Often my customers have no idea what they want and think I might make fun of them or something for their selection. It’s work to get them to tell me what they actually know, and what they think their supposed to say. But even seasoned drinkers occasionally like asking for direction if I can get a conversation worked up and they can feel confident in my abilities, and that’s also a hard to thing to assure them of considering how young I am.