Our Articles
Covering topics from public speaking and presentation skills to sales skills and winery hospitality.
Relationship Sales Success: Handling Objections and Tough Situations
Handling Objections and Tough Situations “We’re just tasting,” is the most common objection tasting room professionals hear to trial close inquiries. The reason(s) for the objection may be many: Your guests may truly be only tasting to enjoy ambiance with no intention to sign up for clubs or make any purchases. But they may also be giving you [...]
Executives Battle Fear of Public Speaking
Advice for Beating Presentation Phobia As the CEO of a major financial institution, he was called on daily to make decisions that moved millions of dollars. The man at the podium had just introduced him, and hundreds of expectant faces turned toward him. But the executive was frozen with fear, unable to deliver the talk that [...]
Executive Speakers
Use Emerging Trends to Your Advantage as a Public Speaker According to the Wall Street Journal, we receive more than 5,000 advertising messages a day. When we add all the verbal interchanges, telephone calls, and written messages, we can see why it's so hard to get anybody to pay attention to what we have to say. If [...]
Coaching an All-Star Staff
8 Ways to Develop Motivated People "An effective leader skillfully blends the first three roles but doesn't actually have to be superhuman," says Lynda Paulson, president of Success Strategies, Inc. Instead, aspiring leaders and team builders need to learn how to guide employees to the path of productivity and positive attitudes by discovering their motives [...]
Relationship Sales Success: Creative Selling
Getting Creative in Wine Sales These days wineries can no longer rely solely upon tasting rooms for all their direct-to-consumer (DtC) sales. It’s simply impossible to generate enough sales volume with the restrictions that may exist on visitor volume and tourism traffic. In the 21st century, there are now numerous opportunities for making direct-to-consumer sales in and out [...]
Relationship Sales Success: Telling Stories to Sell More Wine
Romancing the Grape, Stories and Words that Sell, Evoke and Enhance We're all hardwired to remember stories, particularly simple, well-told ones. On the other hand, when was the last time you remembered the details about a wine "with 30% malolactic fermentation, 3 daily punchdowns, aged in 50% new French oak barrels, unfined and unfiltered"? Huh? Those words may mean [...]
Relationship Sales Success: Body Language Does Most of The Talking
Body Language Does Most Of The Talking We all like happy, positive, upbeat people who make us feel good and put us at ease. In addition to the verbal words that come from those people, what body language conveys "happy," "positive," and "upbeat"? Have you ever walked into a room and immediately had a sense of what mood [...]
Relationship Sales Success: Follow Up Fabulous
Follow Up Makes You Fabulous You’ve closed the sale. Your guests had a great time visiting. Think you’re done? Your job isn’t finished yet! To ensure your guests think you’re the most fabulous host and/or winery in the world, employ a touch of follow up to reinforce the sale. After the Sale Once the purchase has been made, [...]
Relationships Sales Success: Buying Signals and Closing the Sale
Recognizing Guest Buying Signals A buying signal is something a guest says or does which may indicate they are inclined to purchase. In a winery tasting room, it may be as obvious as a guest picking up a bottle or two from your display to take to the cash register. But not all tasting rooms have point-of-sale (POS) [...]
