October, November and December, it’s the holiday season to sell wine. When I first entered the wine industry, OND was the standard. As I started to do calling for my clients, I quickly realized that customers were very responsive the day after Labor Day. And so it was, OND became SOND.
September / Labor Day is less than a week away! Here is why you need to start your calling now:
Getting your staff trained to call your customers can be a great opportunity for you to sell more wine. But often wineries see calling as a bad thing. After all, everyone hates telemarketers don’t they? The reality is that wine is different. Your customers love to get a call from your winery because it lets them escape their day to day life and allows them to imagine their good times in wine country. Here are several huge benefits of getting your staff prepared to sell over the phone:
Do you want to sell more wine? Well of Course you do! In this blog we have compiled a handful of great wine sales nuggets so short that you can even tweet them. Grow you direct to consumer sales in under 140 characters.
Often, the concern is that calling customers is telemarketing and everyone hates telemarketers. The truth is, customers really like to hear from your winery because they love the people, the wine and the memories they’ve made. I have called customer for 25 years and it never ceases to amaze me how when you call a customer, even if they don’t buy, say thank you for the call. It’s incredible!
When we extend the invitation to purchase wine to our telephone customer, many times we hear an objection, or a reason the person can’t (or won’t) buy. Perhaps customers feel it isn’t polite to just say no to the calling person, or maybe—they really are still thinking about purchasing.Continue Reading..
So you finally decided to start following up with your customers. You have the inventory to sell, a list of customers to call, staff to do the calling and a calling script. Great! but how will you track progress? Do you have a sales goal? Is the campaign effective? Does the offer make sense to the customer? Reporting is a major piece of the puzzle when you are trying to manage a calling campaign. Here are a few things to consider when tracking what is most import.
“It is more powerful to be able to ask great questions than it is to have all the answers in the book.”
During my sales training sessions, I will say this at least twice and more often than not—repeat it three or four times. Perhaps it may seem counter-intuitive, but if your customer is talking more and you are talking less, you are on the right track to sell wine.
“You teach what you know, you create what you are.”
-Ancient Sufi Proverb
Some people might think that motivating your sales team is all about pumping them up and cheerleading. And they might go on to believe that they just can’t do that – it’s an act that doesn’t fit with their personality or style. But true motivation comes from actions that everyone can take and still act with authenticity.
The holidays are over and spring is fast approaching, which means it’s time to start thinking about your spring promotions. Calling your customers in the spring is important as it will:
Have a plan. Wineries that organize spring calling campaigns see better sales when the holiday’s come around because they were able to update their database by calling before the holidays hit.
That was fast! Year-end is almost here and you are swamped with harvest, club shipments and holiday sales. Your customers are stocking up and the big question is, “will it be your wine they buy?” There is still time to call the top customers, show them some love, tell them a story and get their order in (as they are busy too). Here is what you need to do: