THE REORDER 07/19/21

There is No Perfect Circle

1 minute read

File under: Philosophy

There is no perfect circle in a beverage business of artisans, no straight lines.

That reorder you expect might not happen. The beverage director you know will not be there forever. Hallowed Domaines that we think will never change, will change. And as much as we expect that wine to be in good supply forever, no one can predict the weather.

So that leaves us with a vital question: what do we do?

Know the why, as in why you do what you do. Develop a philosophy that you can hang your hat on every day that isn’t some number. Roll with impermanence. Feel the shifts coming and laugh when you miss them and a grand change happens.

Move past mistakes quickly and learn from them, but don’t live in them.

Acknowledge the challenges and know that within them there are great opportunities.

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THE REORDER 06/26/21

To the New Sales Rep

3 minute read

File under: Artisan Salescraft

Don’t listen to them. Don’t listen to the appointment obsessed, or the hackneyed never-before-in-the-trenches middle manager spreadsheeting you for no reason and telling you that numbers never lie.

Do listen to your intuition. Develop that.

Don’t create sales, create dialogue.

Look for what is hidden in plain sight.

Take the new and make it known and take the known and make it new.

Don’t take orders, tell memorable stories.

Connection wins every single time, it just may not seem like it in the moment.

Be fearless if you actually have something real to offer and if you don’t, figure it out yesterday.

Listen more. Empathize like a professional.

Think like a fluent buyer. Ask better questions.

Learn to feel the pulse of a place.

Practice restraint. You don’t have to drink of the cup from the second bottle.

Send bespoke emails that actually mean something, not just because.

Go home well.

Confidence comes from a philosophy that doesn’t involve any number.

Be open. Be thirsty to learn.

Don’t get locked in the technical info and miss the context.

You are not a brand, you are a person.

You don’t ever sell to – you sell with.

Sevenfifty is a tool. Use it like one.

Love impermanence – constant change is part of the game.

A great sales rep (whatever this title actually means now) makes waves that no one will ever see, waves that continue to crash for years – but no one but you will know.

More artisan sales craft explanation here.

And if all else fails, just reach out @iamlooper. I am here to help.

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THE REORDER 05/01/21

The One Month Wonder

2 minute read

File Under: Salescraft

Anyone can be a one month wonder. Anyone. If you have the right product, the right demand and the right moment, the number at the end of the month can be a whopper.
Unfortunately, one of the most pervasive and destructive modes of thinking in the beverage business is the month to month mentality. “We had a great month” is thrown about casually and almost exclusively without context.

To state the obvious: one month does not make a career. Consistent performance is actually a much bigger game and has nearly nothing to do with that one month. High performance in the sales game is how you consistently create/cultivate connection and demand.

What guided me was to think in larger blocks. Try to tune in to what is driving demand in the marketplace. Engage in thinking that is creative and empathetic. And learn to accept the impermanence of what we do.

It’s amazing to have a whopper month. It is a thrill. But most importantly, if you know why and how to do it again, then you are beginning to see the craft of an artisan. The fluency of knowing how to do it becomes one of the many building blocks of a foundation of consistency. And once you achieve that, the game gets a lot more fun and you can really make waves.

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THE REORDER 03/15/21

To sell, or not to sell

To sell, or not to sell, that is not the question.

If the idea of “selling” motivates you, then live in that frame. Invest in the sales mentality as a competitive fire to continue to drive you. This pursuit is in itself not a bad thing. But be careful to avoid idolizing the number or that big case drop of wine or case stack of spirits that goes out. It’s a trap.

Selling is a result of philosophy and connection artistry – real craft.

The most important question in the beverage game today is how well you can connect.

Connection artists make waves. Salespeople make sales.

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THE REORDER 03/01/21

Ground Game Defined

If you connect people to wine/spirits and you don’t just send email offers all day hoping someone will respond, your ground game will define your career. It is the difference between the professional and the passable/mediocre in the artisan practice of sales.

Unfortunately, typical management practices in the beverage business have created a debauched sense of what is best practice by asking for recaps, appointment counts and god knows what else with the mere goal of making sure people are doing their jobs and not emboldening a team to make waves.

The Strong Ground Gamer

Strong Ground Gamers observe and act by simply noticing.

They don’t “desktop surf” the marketplace, they walk the marketplace.

They don’t covet appointments, they promote dialogue.

They don’t show an ocean of wine to see what sticks, they get specific by putting themselves in their customers’ shoes.

They are led by truth and not by number. They are never dishonest in the pursuit of shipping an allocation.

They ask better questions, listen more intently and dance with the marketplace devil that will never be tamed or fixed, it will always be moving.

How do buyers know the difference? They know the difference as much as you know the difference between an artful buyer that creates a narrative in what they buy and offer and the hackneyed or self-interested.

Mostly it is in between the rests. The unsaid. But over time, you will always know who has Ground Game and who doesn’t.

The kicker is that the folks with real Ground Game don’t get caught up in the comparison – they just hone their craft on the daily.

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THE REORDER 02/15/21

One Routine that Always Wins

I only know of one routine that always wins in this business – I used to call it my pre-meet routine.

Before every meeting there were three things I would do –

Imagine what it is is like to do the job of who I am meeting with.
Review my notes on the last few meetings – not just what we tasted – but what we talked about.
Think about what I can offer that is beyond what we are tasting together.

Without fail, I practiced this routine for more than a decade before every meeting and it has never failed me. It is a grounding exercise.

Do the above, while breathing and listening and you will make waves.

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THE REORDER 01/15/21

Of Price and Then…

Selling wine and spirits using the price to drive sales is almost always a bad idea.

When this tactic works, the result can be exhilarating – everyone likes to make a big sale. That number that gives a super dopamine hit. Here’s the rub: someone out there has a comparable product with a lower price.

If you do choose this path, make sure you have other arrows in the quiver besides price. Anchor on story. Lean into on dependability. Or – just be thankful and use it to move forward into other things you can connect to the buyer that aren’t reliant on price.

One thing to note: In the extremes of the commodity side of this business (collectible or giant production products), selling on price can be especially effective, but remember – commodities are a volatile sector – and for good reason. Approach with caution.

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