Take a look at any number of Tasting Room Associate job ads, and it becomes apparent we need to hire unicorns – rare, mystical, and never seen in the wild except by a chosen few. We are seeking that blend of hospitality heart, wine knowledge, and hopefully sales skills. Every new opportunity to hire is the chance to go searching for unicorns, and luckily, there is a strategy to help find them!

First, let’s define what a successful DTC candidate needs to have.

1. Hospitality Heart. A Hospitality Heart, which is impossible to train for, is something the candidate either has or not. It is the rarest quality, hidden, and can be bluffed if needed. WISE calls this Service Heart. In our Mystery Shopping, we are looking for Service Heart – the deep seeded desire of that teammate to be helpful, kind, and truly wanting to be of service, and not just there to punch a time clock and collect a paycheck.

At the Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer has taken great care to define their version of a Hospitality Heart as 51% emotional skills, and 49% technical skills. In Setting The Table, his book on creating a hospitality empire, he writes:

“To me, a 51 percenter has five core emotional skills. I’ve learned that we need to hire employees with these skills if we’re to be champions at the team sport of hospitality. They are:

• Optimistic warmth (genuine kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense that the glass is always at least half full)
• Intelligence (not just “smarts” but rather an insatiable curiosity to learn for the sake of learning)
• Work ethic (a natural tendency to do something as well as it can possibly be done)
• Empathy (an awareness of, care for, and connection to how others feel and how your actions make others feel)
• Self-awareness and integrity (an understanding of what makes you tick and a natural inclination to be accountable for doing the right thing with honesty and superb judgment)”

However you define Hospitality Heart for your organization, be it 51%, service heart, emotional quotient, or whatever it is referred to in your organization, is the most critical attribute of successful candidate. A well written job ad, that calls out exactly how your organization defines hospitality to attract the right person.

2. Wine Knowledge. Wine knowledge (and passion) is important. Wine knowledge is not a Day 1 requirement but should be part of the onboarding process. There should be a balance of knowledge and passion. Have you ever walked into a tasting room, and the passion is off the charts, but the factual information is a little suspect? How about the opposite? In a tasting room, have you heard the host talk very knowledgably but is monotone and without passion? Take care to ensure your team is providing accurate information along with passion – inaccuracy is one of the quickest ways to destroy rapport and trust with wine savvy guests! While knowledge is important, the details are not what’s going to sell the wine. People buy with their emotions and are more likely to purchase if they like the person, if the host is showing passion. Which leads us to…

3.  Sales Skills. The last part of being a unicorn is a firm understanding and ability to sell wine. We took great care to hire for heart, we can teach our brand story and build their wine knowledge, but how much energy are we putting in to teaching sales skills? Often times, we find great staff that are uncomfortable with sales. We find it is often passive with a “Oh, if a guest likes the wine, they will purchase or join the club”. It is not enough to share our love of the wines and brand, we have to see ourselves as the relevant matchmaker, taking the portfolio (of experiences, wines, club options) on one hand, and matching those to our guests’ preferences, needs, and desires. Sales come through superb service; it is an extension of the hospitality heart.

So, how do we go unicorn hunting? The hardest part of hiring a unicorn is ensuring that we’re putting our best foot forward with a well-written job ad, followed by a detailed job description. A well-crafted job ad should attract the right candidate, and scare off the wrong ones, and that is ok! Describe your company vision/mission/goals and culture, use emotive words to describe your ideal candidate, and even weave in quotes from other team members or social reviews. Paint the picture of the ideal candidate, the environment they can expect to find themselves in and will thrive in. This will help attract those rare, mystical unicorns.