As we are in the midst of the summer visitor season at present, this week’s blog has some reminders about the importance of selling in the tasting room, at events, and anywhere else that it seems appropriate.
It is always good to remember that customers make buying decisions through the emotional rather than the intellectual part of their brains. Most of us like to think that our buying decisions are made based on facts and formulated through our intellect, but it is just not true. We buy because we feel. We like to believe it is intellectual because it’s easier to describe intellectual feelings than it is emotional ones.
To get your visitors and customers in the right frame of mind, do three things,
Engage Your Customers
Let them know that you are interested in them and not just in how much they are willing to buy.
Ask Questions
About their wine drinking habits, which types of wines they like and discover if wine is a big part of their lives.
Promote the Buy
Discover why your visitors or customers buy wine. Do they use it when they entertain? Is having a glass of wine something they do each night when they get home or with dinner? Are they interested in learning more about wine?
When you know these things, you can focus your sales pitch on what appeals to them.
Your successful sales presentation will be made up of a number of different parts and should include:
Dialogue rather than a monologue, both the customer and you should share a conversation.
Enthusiasm for your customers, your job and passion for the products you are selling.
Messaging Give the customers the information that they want, rather than the information that you want them to have.
Differentiation Give the customers reasons to buy your wine, even people who don’t drink wine have friends or family who do.
Inclusion Make your customers your friends, even if you believe you are only going to see them once in your lifetime.
Reasons to Buy What is it that makes your wines special and different? What other opportunities will the purchase of your wines afford them and are their any rewards for purchase?
If you can make a friend, you can make a sale.
A tip of the glass from me to you
E Column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
Follow E on twitter @esavant and facebook.
