Here are some tips on making sure your trade visits stand out from your competition.
By Craig Root
The importance of treating trade visitors well cannot be overstated.
Trade visits, which welcome players important to your winery’s product promotion and availability, are particularly prevalent with wineries that are larger and have distribution across the country.
Trade visitors are wine buyers for restaurants, hotels, stores and other venues; sales reps; wine writers; and FOFOs (“friend of a friend of”: a FOFO could be the brother of the president of your second biggest distributor, for example). Whoever they are, that person and their family or guests should not be thrown into the general visitor experience. It’s your responsibility to ensure they receive special treatment, including private tours and tastings.
It’s important to note that the winery as a whole profits from these visits — and the regional sales rep profits from a placement based on the buyer’s visit — but the tasting room does not receive compensation. It’s nonetheless important to assign one of your best people to take an important buyer on a private tour, tasting and lunch. That employee may not be on the floor making sales while on this assignment, but it’s important that top management recognizes the overall team effort in the tasting room.
Details count
Here are some tips on making sure your trade visits stand out from your competition, because when a buyer or sales group comes to your region, you better believe they aren’t stopping at your winery only.
First, have some type of message board at your entrance welcoming VIP visitors. It can be electronic or as simple as a stylish chalkboard on an easel. In impeccable handwriting it welcomes the VIPs by name and affiliation, such as “Donna Jefferson from ABC Distributors” or “Chuck Smith from Greens restaurant in Dallas.” People love this simple personal touch.
Before the visit, gather as much information as possible besides the obvious date, time and number of people. What is the trade visitor’s position? Are they a manager with buying power or an assistant manager with no such power? Which of your wines do they carry? Which of your wines should you stress during their visit (for example, reps for a steakhouse and a seafood restaurant may call for different wines to be tasted). Find out any personal profiles you need to know. Are they wine knowledgeable or not? Are they outgoing or shy? Are they difficult to deal with? This last bit of information can be very important for obvious reasons.
Avoid giving buyers and sales reps the tour for general visitors. They know what fermentation is, so the basics are annoying. The exception to this rule is when the buyer or sales reps have family or friends with them. In that case, weave in some of the basics so the friends and family don’t feel left out.
Make it about them
If the buyer has been to your winery a few times, try something different. Maybe they like theater or fishing. (If they’ve been through a few times, you should have notes on such personal details.) Do something different like that in addition to the tasting and tour. You will score points for knowing their interests and not being repetitive.
Sales reps need stories and anecdotes. It’s all well and good to talk about acid and pH, but when the rep is in a store or restaurant, stories and anecdotes are more useful. Always try to keep your trade visitors current: Are you changing some labels? Are you adding a new variety or new vineyards? Staying up-to-date is part of why the trade visitor is stopping by your operation.
For visitors requiring tour, tasting and lunch, it can be a real burden for the host to keep it lively and engaging for three hours or more. Use open ended questions such as, “How did you get into the wine business?” Everybody likes to talk to themselves. Another question that elicits thoughtful responses is, “How do you think things will evolve or change in the next five years in the restaurant or supermarket business [or whatever business they are in]?” Not only does it relieve some of the conversational pressure, you also get a free tutorial.
It’s extremely important that you follow up right after a trade visit. Let your team in whatever region the guests came from know how things went. “Bill Withers, the buyer for ABC Restaurant, was here and really enjoyed Wine A. If you call on him right away you should get a placement. Don’t waste your time on Wine B because he’s not interested in it.”
Handling trade visitors is an essential part of a well-run professional tasting room. These folks can potentially buy or sell pallets of wine, not cases. Treat them accordingly.
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Craig Root
Craig Root has more than 30 years experience working with tasting rooms. For over 13 years he was first staff and then a successful manager. For the last 20 years he has consulted with over 150 tasting rooms including over 90 start ups mostly in the U.S. but also in China, Canada, and France. He is the only person who lectures on tasting room design and management at UC Davis in its continuing and professional development division.
