The Selling Season Is Upon Us
While selling wine to consumers is a day-by-day, month-by-month proposition, it is time to start gearing up so that we are ready for the busy months of the year.
Look into the files and remind yourselves of what the busiest times of each month were. Of course, holiday weekends, especially ones such as Easter, Mother’s Day, July 4, etc. These important holidays will usually bring you many visitors, all of whom should be buying wine for you. Add also, the weekends before the holidays. Many wine buyers are out shopping for wine on the weekends prior to the actual holidays, so be ready for them also.
Do You Have A Plan for Marking the Most of these Important Holidays?
As each of those holidays draws near, check your records to update yourself and your staff on how many people you saw during each holiday weekend.
Were you ready to receive the number of visitors/customers that visited your winery? Did you:
- Have additional tasting areas set up for the busiest weekends?
- Have enough staff to handle the number of people you expect to see.
- Is the tasting room staff ready to deal with the crowds? Remind them that their feet are going to hurt at the end of the weekend so they should wear comfortable shoes.
- Also, remind staff that the customers are the most important part of their day. They should focus on the customers they are serving.
- Train additional staff on what you expect from them during the busy days.
- Smiling even when their faces hurt
- Remaining calm and helpful even when a customer is frustrated
- Being cheerful and helpful, even if the customer is not.
Lastly, keep calm and keep smiling, even when you are dealing with customers who are not being very nice to you.
A tip of the glass from me to you!