One of the most anticipated parts of several WISE courses is the opportunity for attendees to go out and Mystery Shop their direct competitors. It is a very structured approach to looking at the experience, with a formal debrief. It is always fascinating to see how industry professionals at all levels – from frontline staff to managers, executives, and owners – experience other tasting rooms. The insights gained during this process spark actionable conversations and often change attendees’ behaviors.
During one such debrief, we found that at the wineries the attendees visited, the wine club was not verbally mentioned even once. The attendees were asked to buy wine just ONE time, with a generic ask of, “Would you like to take anything home with you today?” which can be easily dismissed with a “Nah…not today.” None of the wineries asked any of the guests if they wanted to keep in touch and join the mailing list. Combined, this is the WISE Triple Score, and the results were unsettling.
Is it any wonder that the headlines are shocking about winery DTC slowing down when we are not making the most of every guest interaction?
The conversation quickly turned to understanding WHY frontline staff perform, or don’t perform, up to standards. The group discussed three primary reasons staff does not ask for the order, warmly invite guests to join the wine club, and ask to keep in touch.
1. Imposter Syndrome: Have you ever had that metallic taste in the back of your throat, the adrenaline rush, when a sale starts to add up? Perhaps it started with a case, then grew to two, and suddenly the sale is more than your rent, and then more than you earn in a month? Perhaps the thoughts going through your head are, “Wow, this is more than I have in my bank account right now,” or “I really hope their credit card goes through because mine would not!” How can we possibly be equals with that guest when they spend more on wine than we spend on rent?
– The answer lies in the Platinum Rule – sell to their wallets, NOT yours! Do unto them as they want done. That guest is at a different point in their life; they have a different spending capacity than we might have. They want to be here, and they want to buy wine. We are here to help them figure out what they want and facilitate the sale.
2. Fear of Rejection: How can I get rejected if I don’t even ask? Or, if the guest wants to buy, they will, so I don’t need to ask. Michael Scott, quoting The Great One, said it best. We miss 100% of the shots we don’t take.
– The fastest way to increase Tasting Room sales is to ask every guest if they would like to take SOME (subjective) of <Insert SPECIFIC Wine>. Why SOME? It means a different volume to everyone, just like our wallets are different. “Some” may mean a few bottles, a case, or a pallet. When we ask if they want to take “a couple of bottles,” we are restricting the sale. Let the guest guide the sale and keep it open-ended.
3. Lack of Professional Selling Skills: Look, hiring for hospitality heart is key – no one can train for that. Either the candidate is born with it or not. It is a priority when hiring. That means it is up to us as managers to develop our team’s professional selling skills through clear expectations, constant gentle coaching, and sharing of key metrics. Business is a team sport, so let’s share in the successes and opportunities with our team by posting metrics. When teammates know what to focus on (sales, club acquisition, data capture), and that you are inspecting those metrics, they will respect the metrics.
There are benchmarking services and reports to monitor how we are doing. If you need insight into WHY things are not happening, we can help with Mystery Shopping or even just brainstorm. Give us a call; we are always here to help!
