Selling Wine on Busy Weekends

Making wine sales during busy periods and special events can be more challenging than during your regular tasting experiences and appointments: Guests may be less patient for responses. You may have limited or no access to POS systems to easily ring up sales. And your attention may be split in ten directions simultaneously!

Nevertheless, your ability to remain positive, warm and engaging with guests will make a big difference in their perception of the winery and their ongoing patronage.

Managing the Crowd

Hosting a lot of people at the same time takes talent and a unique skills. Whether a winemaker dinner, a big group at the bar, or a large seated experience, it can be challenging. Rather than shrinking at the opportunity, this is the time to strut your stuff and become physically and vocally more impressive. As a result, you may achieve a far more compelling connection with guests and garner positive attention from your audiences.

Even when you are swamped with crowds of people who all come in at the same time, try your darndest to smile and make eye contact with as many as possible, even if just for a few seconds. This is a special “showtime” occasion. Use your big positive attitude!

Busy Weekend Wine Sales

At the Tasting Bar

When dealing with several small groups or one big group, wave your arm to indicate you want the group to circle around you saying, “Come right over here, we’ll be right with you!” Research shows that if spoken to or acknowledged in some way, most customers will wait up to twenty-five minutes to be accommodated (as long as they have a glass of wine . . . ).

At one winery we visited, they ran groups through every thirty minutes. We were five minutes late, and the man who checked us in was frustrated with us and his job in general. Rather unfriendly, he came across as “just doing his job.” This was not a pleasant start to our day of wine tasting. And it certainly didn’t put us in the buying mood.

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Especially when you are short-handed, keep moving and keep smiling! At Ponte Vineyard in Temecula, I watched a young host work miracles behind a packed long, long tasting bar. She strolled up and down, pausing briefly at each guest, saying, “Are you ready for more? How about a splash of that amazing Zinfandel? You’re next, what can I pour for you? What would you like to take home with you today?”

All by herself in a room full of visitors, she smiled, poured, talked up the wine, and engaged with her guests like this:

  • “Tell me what you want (need, like).”
  • “Let me know if you would like a second taste of that Cabernet.”
  • “Let me know when you decide on some wine to take home.”
  • “Just wave when you are ready for the next taste.” 

As you keep moving, closing sales at a moment’s notice, your guests can see that you are busy and taking care of everyone as pleasantly as possible. Keep up that positive, friendly attitude, and thank them for their patience. Be upbeat, make it fun, and remember, it’s a party, and it’s “showtime!”

When it gets really busy, try one or two of these statements:

  • “We’re setting up for you right now.”
  • “Please make yourselves comfortable.”
  • “Would you mind if I left you for a moment? I’ll be right back.”
  • “Please enjoy the wine for another moment, and I’ll get back to you.”
  • “Don’t let us ignore you! Let me know if you have questions.”
  • (And the magic words, with a smile) “I’ll be right with you!”

You can conquer a crowded tasting room best when the staff works as a team. When you can’t seem to satisfy a customer or when you don’t know the answer to a question, it’s time to call in one of your associates. That might be your manager, or someone on the staff who is an expert on a specific varietal or perhaps on production or some other element of winemaking.

Calling in one of your team shows that your guest’s concerns are important to you.

Introduce your “expert” by his or her title, rephrase the question or the issue, and add something like, “I know that Suzanne will be able to explain this to you.”

On those crowded weekend days at Clos du Val in the Napa Valley, when everyone is scrambling to keep up with the welcomes and the wine pours and the personal attention to visitors, Tasting Room Associate Bill Adrian comes up with ways to lighten the mood and give staff behind the counter a break. He suggests, “When you walk by a group of guests, say something like this:”

  • “Wow, you must be celebrating a special occasion with that reserve Cabernet (or that bubbly).”
  • “How are you liking that dry Riesling?”
  • “How about a special pour of one of our library wines?”

When you are guiding an entire room of seated guests through a tasting, you have the opportunity to expand on the fascinating winery history and stories that management loves for you to tell. And as you engage with your rapt audience of guests there to enjoy themselves, you can add benefits to your facts about the wine, and really be engaging by asking questions of the group.

The challenge may be to draw them out and get them to respond, or it may be to get them to stop talking so you can do your job. Either way, the group is yours to steer from one topic to the next.

A great idea from Claire, a host at Cakebread Cellars, is to have guests introduce themselves and say what they do, or did, for a living, and/or what brings them to the valley or to your winery. By drawing out each guest, she finds that you connect with them in a personal way. Later, they may begin to bond with you and with one other. Think of ways to involve the group, such as conducting a wine contest at the end of the tasting, with each person voting for the wine they would award as the winner. This could very smoothly lend itself to closing sales: “Can we package up your winners to take home?”

If you’re a specialty house, or it’s a specialty tasting experience, try out conversation starters that match the event:

  • “Which of the pinots was your favorite?”
  • “Which vintage in our vertical tasting most appealed to you?”
  • “Did you prefer our Sonoma wines over the Napa ones?”

When you are pouring wine at many tables for seated tastings, your time is limited with each person. Hospitality staff at Gloria Ferrer have a knack for connecting with each guest in a charming way. They linger at each table, asking questions and getting conversations started.

As you pour, try to get the attention of guests at each table and describe each wine, taking care to add a benefit to every fact, all the while coming across as your charming self!

When a lot of people are scattered at tables around the room, the quick, direct close works best:

  • “Which ones may I package up for you?”
  • “Would you like to take some home?” 
  • “How about remembering this beautiful evening by taking home some of this fabulous wine?”
  • “Which was your favorite tonight?”
  • “Have you made your choices?”

If you have encouraged them to take notes throughout the tasting, ask to see the notes and make a few comments (“I see you zeroed in on the Zinfandel. How about taking some home tonight?”) Zero in on the ones they checked off on the menu.

Be sure to learn guests’ “short hand.” Perhaps they marked favorites with stars or happy faces. They may also use their own scoring system, writing “93” next to a favorite. This makes for an easy opening: “What made the merlot a 93 for you?” This leading question may win you a response indicating they want to buy.

Guests came to eat, socialize, drink wine and have fun (and most likely paid a substantial price to do it). While they may be interested in what you have to say, they will be noisy, talking while you are talking, and even ignoring you. I recommend keeping your remarks to a minimum and deliberately adding enticing benefits to your facts about the wine, and using lots of romance words. After your main presentation, visit each table and be friendly, upbeat and charming. You are the winery, and you may be the entertainment. This is the time to boost your “like factor.”

Don’t take it personally if they turn away from you quickly to converse with a table partner. The event may be an opportunity to catch up with friends they haven’t seen in a long time. But if they love the wine while chatting with dear friends, they’ll be in a warmer mood to purchase, now or later.

Getting Comfortable with Crowds

If the thought of managing a tasting for a big group is intimidating or leaves you slightly panicked, remember: your guests want to like you and the wine. You will become more and more comfortable with large groups as you nail down your specific concerns:

  • Do you need to practice speaking from your diaphragm so that everyone can hear you and you don’t feel like you’re yelling to be heard?
  • Do you frustrate easily if some in the group are talking among themselves while you’re talking about the wines?
  • Do large groups make you feel like you have a bit of stage fright?

Identify the specific issues that may be holding you back and tackle resolving them one at a time. As with small tasting groups, your job is to ensure guests have a wonderful and memorable experience. If  you enjoy large groups but remain concerned about friction points, such as slow POS systems and the challenge of filling many orders in a short amount of time, brainstorm with your team to figure out in advance how to fulfill purchases with the greatest of ease.

This article is part of the email Relationship Sales Success Series. It provides a step-by-step guide to improving wine sales and wine club sign ups. While it focuses upon techniques for those working winery tasting rooms, the principles of great sales skills can apply to any industry. Sign up for the series here.