If you have a tasting room, you’re in the business of selling wine, and it can flummox the best of us. Which POS to use, how to package your wine club memberships, and even inventory management are all essential aspects to making sure that your tasting room hums like a well-oiled machine. Winemaking is an art. Don’t be an artist who ignores the business side, the money-making side.
Not only that, but when customers walk into your tasting room, how are they greeted? With warmth and hospitality, or with indifference and apathy? Are they greeted at all? I’ve heard too many stories of people walking out of a tasting room because they weren’t acknowledged or they were treated rudely by someone behind the counter.
The following can ensure that you work smarter (not harder) in your tasting room:
- POS analysis. Not sure which POS system is right for you? There are hundreds out there to choose from. Let me help decide which one is the right one for your needs.
- Inventory management. Making sure your wine is accounted for is a necessity. Let’s makes sure your pours, donations, and sales are all landing in the right columns.
- Recruiting & hiring. Who is the right employee for you? Where do you find them and how do you get them to stay? All good questions that I can help you find the answers to.
- Wine club management. It goes without saying that wine clubs are the lifeblood of any winery. I will help you craft the best club programs that will guarantee the future success of your winery.
- Tasting room aesthetics. Aside from the wine, wineries are defined, perhaps even more so, by their tasting room and its aesthetics. Does your tasting room fully represent your vibe? I will help your tasting room fully realize your vision.
- Retail strategy. Ancillary items not only add to your tasting room aesthetics, but can help improve your bottom line by adding extra avenues of revenue. What to bring in and how to display products sometimes the difference between being a highly curated shop or the dollar store.
People who go to a winery are there to taste—and likely buy—wine.
If you let them walk out without even trying your product, you’re leaving money on the table, and if you’re not happy with the wine club memberships you’re selling then your staff needs to be upping their game in the customer experience department.
Your staff is the first, and sometimes only, impression made on your customers. The better trained they are in both hospitality and sales, the better the experience your customers will have and the more wine you will sell.
I will train your staff in the following:
- Tasting room etiquette. Seriously, there are basic dos and don’ts that staff should adhere to. Without proper training, staff will not properly represent your winery.
- Hospitality guidelines. I will teach to your staff the little secrets that help create better experiences.
- Wine knowledge. As your staff changes, so does their wine knowledge. I will teach your staff basic wine knowledge from how wine is made and how to talk about wine, to how to conduct a proper tasting and all the in-betweens.
- Wine club sales. Wine club memberships are the lifeblood of every winery big or small. Do you have wine pourers or do you have sales reps behind your tasting room bar? Let me train your staff to be both.