Great sales people are an essential part of nearly any business. Without a solid team that loves talking about your wine and sharing their own experiences, you’ll be hard pressed to get customers excited about your winery. These individuals serve as the face of your winery and they’re the first people your customers come into contact with. Over the last few years, wineries have struggled to find great salespeople and tasting room staff. Whatever your personal staffing needs, here are a few key things to look for or cultivate in new hires as you work to keep your tasting room staffed and sales people on the phones.
Do they have a passion for wine?
For a wine salesperson or tasting room staff, a passion for wine is essential. However, what if you find someone with good sales skills, but very little experience with wine? Well, what better place to gain an appreciation for wine than at your winery!? For someone new on your team, spending some extra time with your winemaker can be invaluable. In truth, simply by sharing their love for wine, a winemaker will be a natural at wine sales. If you find someone you think might be a great fit and is eager to learn, simply spending some time at your winery as you show them all the passion and creativity that goes into your wine is a great way to help them see just how special your wine is.
Do they have calling or sales experience?
With so many world events throwing us for a loop, finding experienced staff has been a challenge for many companies and indeed, many wineries. If you’re looking for someone to get on the phones in particular, be sure to schedule a few phone interviews to see how they are able to handle the pressure of communicating over the phone. If they have prior calling or sales experience, that is great. But a solid phone interview with the right questions to keep them on their toes is a great way to test the waters to see how they’ll handle talking to your customers.
How are their problem solving skills?
Problems with past orders, challenging customers, or simply the challenges of selling are all things a wine sales person will have to face. Ensuring the person you hire has good problem solving skills will save you lots of potential headaches and will help keep your customers happy, too. Finding someone that is able to think on their feet to solve a problem can often be the difference between losing and keeping a customer.
If you’re having trouble finding great staff, Telewine Group can help you unload some of that burden by handling your winery’s telesales. Our wine sales professionals are ready to get on the phone and start calling your customers. You’ll sell more wine while giving them the excellent customer service they expect from you. Get in touch today to learn more.