There is a perfect storm brewing. It is time to batten down the hatches! A recurring theme is coming up in recent WISE conversations all over the country. From our friends in the New York Finger Lakes to wineries in Texas Hill Country, from Woodinville, WA to Temecula, CA we…
Think back to the first time you were a leader. Perhaps it was in 3rd grade PE class, and Mr. Kowolsky picked you, the quiet kid, to be team captain for the kickball game. What awesome power for eight-year-old you – you were calling all the shots; like if your…
As anyone who has watched Glengarry Glen Ross knows, sales is all about the premium leads. Where do those leads come from, and what are they used for? Another lesson from Glengarry Glen Ross, ABC…Always Be Closing: “Prospects don’t walk on the lot lest they want to buy”…once we close…
Imagine this – you start your workday by looking at the first table reserved. “Ok – John Doe is coming in with 3 other people.” So, you look up John Doe in your system. Not only do you see his email address, but you see his wife’s name is Jane…
On a recent trip, the flight attendant went through her normal drill as we prepared for takeoff. She had a wry sense of humor, having repeated the FAA instructions probably thousands of times during her career, and wanted to capture the attention of this groggy, sleep-deprived, and experienced traveler. After…
Good sales people know that to sell, it’s more than a good presentation on our product. Great sales people know selling requires active listening. We need to stop talking at our customer (pure presentation/monolog) and create a dialog to talk with our customer. This builds relationships by creating engagement and…
More Wine Industry Employees Work Remotely Than Ever Before When COVID-19 first hit and we realized it would be more than “two weeks to flatten the curve,” most wine businesses were faced with two options: close the doors or adapt. For many businesses around the world, the answer was working…
We’re good at what we do, so we’ve been promoted. Now what? We obviously have the skills to do the job, but what do we need to do to manage others for this job? Either way, in all the excitement, it appears the guidebook on this new role was misplaced,…
At WISE, we review A LOT of job postings in our industry. Over the years, we have seen it all, from ones we considered applying to ourselves, to some of the more, ahem…cringeworthy examples. From years of observations, we present a few best practices. The Position. Have we reviewed our…
In 2020, we tried some new things. Pivot was the word. This year we started to settle in to the new normal, working in customer service during a pandemic. While some things have returned from the old ways, the new normal includes adaptations we made in response to the pandemic….