THE REORDER 11/16/20

The Art of the Progression

Outside of the very few most talented wine tasters I have been around, the order in which wines are tasted has a massive impact on the context, tone, and experience of every wine in the lineup. Each wine sets the tone for the following wine tasted.

The tasting experience is shaped by the progression. This concept can be less vivid with spirits for a multitude of reasons (like proof, for instance), but the tasting order definitely comes into play.

Incredibly, I rarely see professionals think twice about order progression. This is a colossal error. Look no further than Ye Olde Robert Parker to see where a standard lightest to fullest progression can lead. It ain’t pretty.

EX: Taste a muscadet followed by a white burgundy with oak and the oak will appear to be accentuated – even if the burgundy is balanced like a top.

In the best case, a tasting is like a concert where the songs flow together and follow each other well, and in the worst case, it’s a disjointed set.

When there is a jarring shift like Muscadet to Burgundy, I find that elegant storytelling, an acknowledgment of the difficulty, or a pause can ease the “difficulty” in the transition from one wine to the next.

Bottom line: Don’t underestimate the importance of the order in which you present wines or spirits – next level tasting and presentation pay attention to the progression. It goes well beyond light to full, low tannin to high tannin, austere to broad – standard practice can lead you astray.

No rules truly apply – except (of course) experience.

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THE REORDER 10/15/20

Which Bucket, Again? The Cliff Noting of Wine

There is comfort in putting things in neat little categories.

That perfect bucket that this producer or wine fits into sure does save a lot of exploration.

It feels good to Good Will Hunting the answers. Placing that Barolo perfectly into that traditional producer bucket sounds good. Drawing a deep line in the sand by saying everybody else cheats in Sancerre except the producer you are passionate about is fun and creates tension.

Declaring that wines or producers belong in these categorical buckets fits perfectly into a 5-second pitch may seem like the viable tactic, and everyone does it. But ultimately these categorical buckets lack stuffing and only create a whisper of context at best.

Before you throw out that shorthand and place that producer or wine in the bucket of the moment, I might ask this question: Why?

Why is that producer traditional or natural or trendy or allocated or modern?

Become a student of these tidy categories thrown about on the regular but look past the veneer, go deeper and you will make many more waves.

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THE REORDER 10/01/20

Sustainable Sales Success Lessons

Tradecraft: Sustainable Sales Success Lessons in the Beverage Arena

Very early on, I was lucky enough to run into some of the truly great Jedi salespeople in NYC. These craftspeople knew that longevity didn’t mean Foreau, foie gras, and four negroni lunches. They helped me succeed with simplicity.

Take these to heart and go make waves.

“Don’t take this too seriously.” – Dan Lerner

Wine taken too seriously is a farce and beyond boring. Dan Lerner said something like this to me at the Core Club in 2008 and it was an over-the-shoulder bullseye. Remember this: If you make beverage sales your life, it will take your life.

“Take care of your relationships at home. It’s a lot harder if that isn’t working.” – John Coyle

If you do not give care to your home relationships, your family, and those around you in your daily life, the beverage game gets incredibly hard, super fast. Imagine being out to dinner with buyers of the opposite sex and not having trust at home. It will crush you. I actually have come to take this as a credo in life in general. Chaos without care at home makes everything harder.

“That isn’t real wine.” – Michael Wheeler

I was out on a tear one night and I ended up at Blue Hill in Manhattan during their last call and I ran into Wheeler and Phil Sareil. I bought a bottle and Wheeler said it wasn’t real wine – as in, it wasn’t a wine of substance, terroir, or nature. Whether I believe he was right or wrong (he was most likely right) is of no importance. Wheeler taught me at that moment that putting wine in buckets is a hard habit to break. I had put the wine in question into a box that I believed he would agree with and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Context matters. Understanding comes with experience and seeing wine as more than the tech info checklist or tribe that promotes it is vital. It’s easy to like what other people like. But it may be a bucket of fake frosty cake that may not be what you think it is.

“Never open a bottle for a closed mind.” – Robert Chadderdon via Christopher Russell

I think about this one often. You don’t need to push, you need to connect. A lot of wine has been wasted on folks that will never give it the time of day in the name of the appointment or the new sales blitz. To have a strong, curious perspective about what you present and don’t present is empowering. Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer.

“Why would we want to do what everyone else is doing?” – Naomi Rosen

You don’t have to be like everyone else. You don’t have to say what everyone else says. Naomi has her own style, sense of clarity, curiosity, and immense charm. She approaches her work as a meaningful specific. Consider doing your own personal version of this as a practice.

“Orders only matter if you have dialogue, and philosophy over numbers.” – Looper

You need a philosophy.

I once realized that I had sold 175k in a week with no connection whatsoever. Zero dialogue. I could have been an order machine. Avoid this dynamic at all costs. Find a philosophy that you can hang your hat on every day no matter how much or little you sell and you will find much more clarity in what you do.

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THE REORDER 09/15/20

The Worst Word in the Wine Business

The worst word in the wine business is…drum roll please…the appointment.

May I have an appointment?

Imagine looking at your email and having 25 plus people email you requesting the same thing: an appointment.

Appointments are for dentists, therapists, and proctologists.

I wish I could jettison this word forever. It immediately brings a strong connotation of a bothersome necessity that belongs to the old postal service model of sales in the beverage sales game. So, why did we decide to use this word? A question for the ages.

An appointment is supposed to be a dialogue, an interchange, a discovery, a connection, a first dance, a new direction. A new opportunity to see something beyond what is in front of you.

I have said this often: appointments are highly overrated – but if you want to do one, fine – just make sure it means something more than an appointment.

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THE REORDER 08/15/20

Death of a Beverage Salesperson

The classical beverage salesperson that we all knew will not get a do-over. The beverage version of Willy Loman really is dead and there won’t be any kind of sequel.

Gone are the postal routes, encyclopedia sales methods and schlocky promises. Covid-19 has forcefully jettisoned the sad-sack, antiquated practices of the mediocre plus.

For those of us that actively participate in the streets of NYC in the beverage ecosystem, the old way of sales was already on the way out and we saw the last hurrah. Covid-19 just accelerated it.

Here is what won’t be going away: the Connection Artist. The Artisan Salesperson in a new and more perilous landscape.

The salesperson will either evolve and lean into a more connective artist or disappear into the ether. Why? Because the playing field is now a head-spinning, multi-dimensional pitch to play on – a shape-shifting game is now the daily field of play. In short, it just got more complicated.

The Connection Artist is a multi-faceted, tech-forward, learned, fuller-scoped, market-savvy beverage player. This new modality of the connector is fluent in what was done before by the classical beverage salesperson, chooses wisely when to apply past principles, and when not to.

The beverage game today is a freshly-picked paradigm of immense opportunity and the Connection Artist is the star player.

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THE REORDER 03/20/20

Salescraft: What to do in an Economic Downturn

The current pandemic is the worst market event I have witnessed since September 11th. There is a complete restructuring of the marketplace and the future looks uncertain and at times, downright scary.

What do you do when an economic downturn like this forces your hand and you have to adapt?

These are choppy waters, and the challenge is to observe what is going on, stay present and enter these waters without flinching.

Some ideas and thoughts below. Do not despair.

Zen and the Art of Sales in a Crisis

I vividly remember walking out of the restaurant called Bolo during the economic meltdown more than a decade ago and wondering if I would ever sell a drop of wine again and be able to support myself. I was as scared as I had ever been. The moment I stopped scaring myself, other avenues opened and possibilities arose. I saw the edges and the spaces available clearly.

While the future is uncertain, what we are in today shall pass. If I could hug you, grab you by the shoulders, look you in the eye and tell you that the fight or flight response will not serve anyone, especially you, I would.

It is easy to get tied up in your imagination and think about what has been lost as a forever kind of thing – but the truth of the matter is that you don’t know. What will be reborn, rebuilt and revitalized will surprise you.

What is vital in times like these is to continue to envision a better future.

SALESCRAFT – WHAT TO DO

Retail

Retailers have understandably gotten a positive bump in these turbulent times. If I am sitting down and considering what would be best to offer – it looks like this:

Reaching out thoughtfully with both ideas AND inquiring about needs. Putting up ideas like the ones below. Start here if you are locked up.

Any wine that retails under $24.99 in “good” Inventory that can be a go to core item.

Any wine or spirit on special deal.

A wine or spirit that will be on special deal in the future.

A wine or spirit that has been overlooked for no good reason.

Rosé that can be on deck for when the weather breaks (Most have probably sent offers by now, but I would encourage sending a follow up offer or two now to gauge the temperature/reaction).

Any wine or spirit that is a “call category.”

Restaurant

Get involved. Call your representatives and go to saverestaurants.co to be a part of saving the restaurant industry.

And, reach out to friends and colleagues in this diverse industry that are currently unemployed. There is massive uncertainty, so please extend a hand and support however you can. Give to the gofundme pages that are all over social media supporting various restaurant staffs, if you are in the position to give.

“ These are choppy waters, and the challenge is to observe what is going on, stay present and enter these waters without flinching.

Company

Some companies are in straight up survival mode and they will do whatever they have to do to stay afloat in this trying time. Realize that you probably don’t know what is truly behind the curtain and that the better you can adapt, the better you will fare long term. Also, don’t be afraid to ask to help so you can understand the challenges and what you can offer to get through them.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If companies start adjusting commission and/or salaries down in order to endure, it can potentially set off a domino effect of panic. This type of survival move can have a culture shattering effect unless it is messaged properly and the messaging is exceptionally difficult because no one wants to lose anything in a downturn.

Personal

Be thankful – consider that whatever the future holds, it is a gift.
Immediately scale down any extraneous spending.
Learn something new that you have always wanted to, but never had the time. Challenge yourself to think forward, not back.

THE REORDER 03/01/20

The Concrete Ceiling of Sales

There is nothing worse than being stuck and feeling like your head is hitting the concrete ceiling in sales.
As an artisan salesperson – while you expand your world and as you exceed expectations, the volumes will go up and the connections will accelerate, bringing more references and more accounts. Eventually, you are going to run into a problem: the concrete ceiling of sales.

I can tell you with certainty that it is difficult situation when you’re doing well but you also know clearly the effort required to do more. You are at capacity within the system that you work in. This is the hamster wheel of the high performing sales rep.

The typical symptoms

Feeling like you have to hit a home run every month.

Making deals that benefit everyone but you.

Setting up systems for growth that are undone by the functionality of the company you work for.

Asking to help and not being heard.

Placing and processing orders becomes a problem and not a pleasure.

“ The stuck sales soldier is the hamster in the wheel and the artisan salesperson is at choice.

Once you sell a certain amount and you are connecting a viable quantity of wine and spirits to a group of steady customers, you are hedged to the functionality of the company you work for.

Put yourself in these shoes: there is only one way to get out of the hamster wheel and that is to change a company from the inside or move on.
Both of these are worthy paths you can take, and both are difficult.

The stuck sales soldier is the hamster in the wheel and the artisan salesperson can make change – remember that you are always at choice.

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