THE REORDER 02/13/17

The #Grind Mentality

I really, really hate this: #grind.

The ‘grind mentality’ in wine sales makes for some early success, mid-term burnout, and long-term hurt.

If you start from zero every month as a salesperson (in NYC especially), you need a tenacious mentality. There can’t be a lot of quit in you. Commissioned sales is clearly not for everyone. When I started, to combat some of my own shortcomings, I consistently told myself to grind: To force it to work and push the rock up the hill. This actually worked for a while, but over time it stopped helping. Take it from me, sitting here, right now: Don’t ‘grind’ in the long-term….Avoid this at all costs.

That big number that you worked so hard to make today won’t mean much tomorrow if you are incrementally crushing yourself to do it. Keep in mind that while you are ‘grinding’, you may be selling a lot of wine to a lot of people. You may even get some extra ‘attaboys’ for what you are doing. But also remember that the ‘grind mentality’ will reduce you over time, and the end won’t look pretty.

“ The grind mentality in wine sales makes for some early success, mid-term burnout, and long-term hurt.

If you are ‘grinding’, step back and look at what you are trying too hard to do. More than likely, you are simply doing too much. You are probably putting unnecessary tension and effort into selling habits that are inhibiting you long-term, and you need to change them. Grinding is not a discipline, changing habits is.

Don’t grind. Do the absolute best you can and then relax.

THE REORDER 12/27/16

The Wrong Question

If you have logged many hours selling wine, avoid asking this question first:

“Why won’t this work?”

This question bubbles up because you begin to think like you have to checkmate the buyer…to be one move ahead of them. As in: this wine is too expensive, they only buy Produttori, it is not classic enough in style and they won’t like it, etc.

This mentality comes from a good place: Attunement. If you have put in the time interacting with beverage directors you have to anticipate needs or you won’t last long. It is also super seductive. Counting down all the reasons a wine or spirit won’t work is often much easier than counting down why it will.

“ Trying to checkmate the beverage director is actually a form of hiding.

This happens to be one of the surefire ways to get really stuck. You become paralyzed by your process, mired in the wrong checklist.

A few strategies to get out of this:

Ask yourself what you are most excited about. Start here.

Remember what you did as a rookie. Picture what resonated, now re-create..

Ignore all facts and go with the intuitive answer.

Divorce yourself from the instinct to focus solely on an immediate sales result.

Start by asking the right question and the narrative will find you.

THE REORDER 12/16/16

Question/Answer

Why haven’t you responded to my emails?

It is possible I haven’t written anything of note.

Why haven’t you bought anything after more than a few meetings?

I need to ask better questions, listen more attentively, or move on.

Why isn’t the (insert hot shit wine category here) flying off the list?

I have to visit the restaurant to know the answer. Going online and looking at the list is not enough..

Why aren’t you coming to the tasting?

I likely created no need for you to attend.

Why won’t you take your ‘allocation’?

I am probably not offering it properly, or even more likely: we have zero dialogue and I am throwing a dart over my shoulder.

I think many of us are busy just repeating the same action of ‘sales’ without thinking about what the actual goal is..

“ Connecting someone to a wine or spirit is never a perfect science and rarely happens the same way twice.

The only way to sell exceptionally well is to begin with a real intention to connect. Everything beyond that is about listening, communication and paying attention.

Sidenote: Beginning with the intention of ‘selling’ works often, but fades in an instant.

THE REORDER 12/09/16

Letter to a Young Wine Director

New York, NY

Dear Sir/Madam,

There has never been a better time to be in the position you are in. You are admired, trusted, pursued. You will have opportunities to travel the world, eat at top restaurants and share wines that very few get to experience. In the not so distant past the wine buyer was the General Manager or ‘wine captain’, and now you could be on TV or write a column in a large, well-known publication. This is your time. It is your turn. As you may know, I have been at this for a while. Throughout my career I have seen the same mistakes made repeatedly in the wine buying role and I am hoping that I can help you avoid a few of them, if only a bit. This is just the beginning, thank you for your trust.

Don’t write a wine list, paint a picture.

A wine list is a canvas, (usually an underserved, underutilized, and non-specific one). Take note of the way the eyes move across the page, the way numbers and names interact with each other and the person viewing it. The very architecture of your list is a study in movement and massively impacts the success of your program. At one point in history, we judged a wine list by having “things to drink”. Well, that time is basically over. Now it is more a question of how, rather than what.

What does the list you shepherd say? You need to know. If your narrative isn’t clear, you must tinker with it until it resonates.

Protect your time.

Many of your colleagues will present their “busyness” as a badge of success. They will use this often as an excuse and unknowingly promote chaos. Please don’t fall into that trap. If you truly have no time, it is a prison of your own making.

Ordering is a discipline.

How you order wine for your list and with what clarity says everything about how you work. Placing orders is a practice that is no less important than inventory. The amount of knowledge and tasting ability in wine director positions across the city today is at an all-time high, and yet, ordering sloppiness is startlingly common. Most disorganized programs begin with haphazard ordering and buying practices. Rushing and confusion can only follow..

Seek understanding.

Truly knowing a producer is quite rare. It takes very little talent or skill to know who the top producers are, while deeply understanding a producer and/or identifying the underserved, forgotten or new is a craft. Anytime one says that a producer is the ‘best’, take note. Please ask yourself if you can trust the person saying this. Is this someone who you envision tasting through an appellation and making that call reliably? Or even further, have they visited and looked deeply beyond the hype? Be very careful who and how you follow. You may be choosing to be a part of a flock moving always towards the same “chosen” wines.

“ No matter what anyone tells you, you are not a brand. You are a person.

You support people, not wines.

Sometimes it becomes romantic to make it “all about the wine”, but this is never actually the case. What you place on your list supports people. It takes care of producers that give their lives to make something, and aids the people who put the immense time, risk and energy into importing and connecting those producers to a market. This is a part of your art to treasure, not resist. People mean much more than wine.

And all success on your path. More to come.

THE REORDER 12/05/16

‘Selling’ Monfortino

Selling the wine that everyone is clamoring for takes zero skill..maybe less than zero.

You know what takes skill?

– Offering that wine to the right people.

– Having the hard conversation.

– Artfully saying No.

– Listening better.

– Anticipating actual needs.

– Challenging just enough.

– And, (most of all), weaving an overarching narrative along with that wine that resonates well beyond the no-brainer buy of that moment.

“ Having a good portfolio of wines to sell used to be enough, now it is much less notable."

Today you have to have more to say than the quick path to the easy sale. In other words, the high impact wine isn’t the holy grail anymore..dialogue is.

« Previous 1 … 6 7 8