I think Brad has it exactly right. Over the years I’ve had a great many sales reps come into the store to introduce themselves, leave a catalog but then never return. I think a lot of people get into the business because they think it’ll be a fun way to make a living, find out that it’s damn hard and then move on to something else. I don’t really pay much attention to a new rep until they’ve been in the store at least four or five times - it’s only then that I start to believe they’re serious.
I have sold investment products for the past 20 years to pension funds etc. and the
only advice I can give is:
#1 - Listen to Serge, he seems to know about selling #2 - Be more proactive (Ask for next appointment, ask for the sale, ask how his wife is, ask how many kids he has…ask) #3 - Get out and meet people and follow Carnegies rules - and you WILL SELL
You are being paid for being rejected. You are also being paid because you are able to pick yourself up
and try again. And again (etc.). Don´t take no as an answer, I learned over the years that although not
everybody likes pushy salesman/women, they tend to sell more than the rest.
Ask for the appointment and be on time. Be cordial, ask about business, spouse, kids, pets, whatever. Act like you are interested in the person and their business.
In these parts reps never bring food but it is a very nice touch. Ask for the sale but don’t appear desperate. Don’t be too disappointed by rejection because its going to happen. Read everything you can about wine. The more you appear to know the better your comments about a wine will be received. Some of my favorite reps are the ones who really love wine. Some might as well be selling Tide or pork n’ beans.
Arthur, one important thing you didn’t mention: where are you? Demographic is important. Areas and people respond differently.
My top three points:
Know your potential client. This is huge. If my store doesn’t carry Australian wines, don’t bring me any. And if my focus is smaller production old world wines don’t bring me Trader Joe/mass produced California wines.
Know your product. But don’t pontificate for hours. Some clients will know their stuff some will not but don’t come in on auto pilot with your rap.
Use feel to accomplish #1 and #2. Both of the above points are paramount but you need to understand where you are going and what you are doing. This feel thing leads to doing stuff like having a printed list of what you go out with each day, following up on time with phone calls or e-mails, pursuing wines your customer will like, etc.
“In these parts reps never bring food but it is a very nice touch.”
Two examples of how this can be a big win / win:
We have a rep who has a mix of restaurants and retail accounts. He often finishes a restaurant call by asking “What’s really good today?”, getting some of that to go (and paying for it) and taking it to a retail account. NOTHING opens the door better than “You won’t believe these goat tacos I got at Monte Alban…” or “That new dim Sum place is off the hook, check out these dumplings!”.
When Danny Phillips was starting Grateful Palate, he lived across the street from our store. Once a month he would get chefs like Sang Yoon and Don Dickman to cook up a storm at his house, invite all the buyers, open a bottle of everything and just let things sell themselves. HE learned that from a couple of French guys who used to work for Henry Wine Group who did the same on the rooftop beach front patio of one of them. Not only did it work but you could CONSTANTLY here one sommelier telling another one “Oh, we BURN this shit up at our joint, you need to put it on your list…”
“A local wine shop runs tastings all day, every day, and the owner goes ballistic if anyone dares bring in food, so YMMV on this technique.”
That guy has a seriously skewed POV on wine. Is he afraid a bunch of low acid glop monsters won’t show well with food? That would be a valuable data point for both his buyers and his customers…
Actually he specializes in high-acid monsters, mostly. But anyways, how can people properly taste wine if some guy brings in an onion bagel sandwich stinking to high heaven, or Chinese food, or McD? I don’t want to be smelling somebody’s lunch if I pay $40 for a tasting, I want to smell the wine.
I believe that my biggest mistake until now was to not follow up, expecting like in my other world that if someone tells you “i’ll call you” he actually will.
I’m starting to network with some foodies in my area now and they already asked me to host a wine-tasting so we’ll see what comes out of that.
The other rules i have them well tatooed in my soul so i don’t think it’s my soft skills that damage me, and with a handful of aces i should be able to do better with a little bit more effort.
I’ve been probably too nice to my customers until now, it’s about time to get some orders in
Good advise above. Beyond relationships, have a good sense of your company core competencies, and be able to have a dialog how it may benefit your potential customers!
Are you truly:
The Low Price leader
Offer High Quality Products
High Responsiveness
Large Inventory Availability
Trustworthy / Customer Service
Other
What makes you different? Where do you excel? What would make a new customer want to give you a shot over, or in addition to vendors they already have a relationship?
And as others have said, develop a thick skin. You will get a lot of no’s for various reasons, but in the end, remember it takes both a good company, and a good customer to result in a good long term relationship!
I’ve been on both sides of the fence over the years - and there are some basic things -
Take notes. Write down everything the buyers says positive and negative - the more you know about them and their palates the better - A good buyer will usually throw out a few names off of your list that he likes or is interested in - bring those wines for him to taste - and if you don’t write them down, you won’t remember by the time you get home that night -
Make sure you write down the name of each buyer (nothing more embarrassng that walking into a store that you have been in before and still don’t remember who you are supposed to see), and make sure you make appointments a week in advance - just dropping in when you are trying to open an account can be tough - so make an appointment so you can have his/her full attention -
Be consistent - don’t just call for an order - make sure you show your face at least every other week - let the buyer know you mean business - and are reliable -
Most buyers rarely call in orders - they wait to see you (which reminds them what you sell) and then order accordingly - Only the most dedicated or anal will actually call you with an order -
Hard sell is not the answer. Show them a good product, give them the best selling points ya got - and let them make the decision - being pushy really does turn alot of people off - be consistent - bring them good products - provide all the info you need - and the product will sell itself -
Never, ever, ever describe a wine to a customer while they are tasting it. Give them all the important info up front (aged in barrels or stainless steel, residual sugar if important, fruit sources and quality highlights from the winery) BUT - let them taste the wine and decide - trying to put words in buyers mouths is a really pretentious thing to do - Every time a wholesaler would bring a wine in for me to taste - they would start with that “…this wine has a lovely cherry bouquet with rich fruit framed by scrumptious toasty oak notes - it’s so incredible!” - By the time the salesman had the third word out of his mouth - I wanted to shove my glass down his throat and scream -
Retailers are ten times easier to call on then restaurants. For one reason - most retail buyers are much more knowledgable than restaurant buyers - most restaurant buyers are either the son/daughter of the owner, or was a server/assistant manager last week - the major exceptions are in California or New York -
Retailers are always looking to fill holes - find out what those holes are and show them the proper product - they could be looking to source some new Zins, or Rieslings, or looking to expand their Rhone section - find out their needs (rather than yours) and bring them something they have already admitted that they are looking for - you rarely get placements when you just taste what you want with your customers - bring them what they want to taste!
When in chance you do run into a restaurant buyer that knows his stuff - you have struck gold - those guys/gals like to rotate wines by the glass, love showing their customers different things, and you can usually squeeze something into their “by the glass program” eventually if you are consistent -
AND GET TO KNOW WHAT IS SELLING -
Australia and high end French and Italian wines are NOT selling - so bringing in the new Brunello from a great producer you represent might not fly if your customers still have the last three vintages on their shelves -
Last but not least -
Be prepared to hear the word no 90% of the time - and don’t let it get you down. 80% of the buyers you will be calling on are completely clueless - just go with the flow - be nice to everyone - and good things will eventually happen -
BUYER EXAMPLE - I walked into the office of a major Liquor Warehouse chain with over 40 stores to see their beer buyer - I just received some incredible German beers in and wanted to do a presentation to the beer buyer - so I walked into his office - set the bottles on his desk and said - “I have some incredible beers from Bavaria to show you!” - his reply? “You mean Bavaria Ohio?”
Great info to read here. I think the key points are “relationships” and “ask for the sale.”
Try looking at it from your customers point-of-view. They’ve probably got wine coming out their ears. They’ve probably got hungry wine sales people coming out their ears. How can you be different (better) to make them want to buy from the new guy? I don’t have an answer for that but maybe you can come up with it.
When I bought from vendors it was always much easier for me to buy from someone I liked and trusted to not BS me.
"4) Never, ever, ever describe a wine to a customer while they are tasting it. Give them all the important info up front (aged in barrels or stainless steel, residual sugar if important, fruit sources and quality highlights from the winery) BUT - let them taste the wine and decide - trying to put words in buyers mouths is a really pretentious thing to do - Every time a wholesaler would bring a wine in for me to taste - they would start with that “…this wine has a lovely cherry bouquet with rich fruit framed by scrumptious toasty oak notes - it’s so incredible!” - By the time the salesman had the third word out of his mouth - I wanted to shove my glass down his throat and scream - "
