This post may anger some wine club and tasting room managers and those individuals that lead direct to consumer programs with wineries. The purpose of this post is to make you ponder a simple fact…

“The largest wine clubs and wine continuity programs in America are not owned, managed or fulfilled directly by wineries.”Why? The winery should have the advantage, the create the brand, they are the experts in quality, experience and the story but most wineries under-utilize the web and miss the opportunity due to complacency.

What is the purpose of the bricks and mortar tasting room?

It’s to create a memory or an experience ensuring a purchase now and in the future. Most important to most wineries is the tasting room to create a memory leading to a BRANDED sales opportunity. If the job is done very well at the tasting room, the individual will follow up at a restaurant, in retail stores, via the web and if you’ve done your job extremely well and you’ve reminded the customer of your web presence they will come back via your on-line store or via an ongoing continuity program such as your wine club.

The tasting room is your chance to create the “Disney Experience”, an impression to last a lifetime and create a loyal, repeat customer specify to your brand. There’s a story behind the label and the wine. It can be educating, it should be memorable and always positive. It has to be entertaining to be memorable and for the visitor to see value and create a memory to share. That memory is what the customer takes back home. The customer will come back to the web or your online store if you support that memory with a memorable website that builds on that memory or entices the customer to visit and come back often. Do you treat your online customer with the same respect and memorable experience that you would treat your in-house tasting room guest with? In most cases the answer sadly, is no. The online customer should be made to feel as welcome, as special, as entertained as the guest entering your tasting room. By making them feel special online you make them want to come back. But how do you make them feel special? You have to engage them, period. The web is not just a place to sell to them but to help build your brand image as important as your tasting room. You must make them feel a part of the experience. Request their participation, engage them in feedback, entertain them, update the site often with information to make them want to see what is new, relative, interesting and force them to participate in the brands you are building. Blast your prospects with email campaigns encouraging them to visit your website often.

The most successful wine brands and wine clubs online are the brands and clubs where the customer takes an active role, feels engaged and is encouraged to visit often. A website just hanging on the web is useless if you do not actively email and invite people to visit often. You must provide the customer a reason to visit and keep coming back

.If your email campaign failed it may not be the campaign but what you directed the customer back to visit on your website. Disney updates their website constantly, they clearly understand that every visit to their site is a brand experience and is a unique experience and opportunity to encourage a sale and to build upon the brand image. Why would marketing wine be any different?

Why are the largest wine club memberships in America not managed or owned by a winery?

A fact few wineries recognize or are willing to admit. Wineries tend to rely on the bricks and mortar tasting rooms to build the wine club whereas the companies managing America’s largest wine clubs understand the need to be web based, aggressive and engaged out of necessity of not having the benefit of bricks and mortar tasting rooms. Their belief is the tasting room would be the “shine on the silver” of the customer experience if they had one available. America’s largest wine clubs are not supported by a bricks and mortar tasting room but are supported by a virtual tasting rooms that engage, invite and encourage participation and significant repeat business. The lesson or sales tip is work your website, prospect list and maximize the use of the tasting room to build online and club sales. Update all collateral materials, email confirmations and customer contacts to drive traffic to the website. Update the website and make it interesting and engaging. Finally don’t be complacent and rely on the tasting room to build your club and web sales but apply the reverse logic build your web presence to encourage visits to your tasting room.

Driving more repeat traffic to your website is key to sales growth and success. Conversion to a sale is the cornerstone of a dynamic web and overall sales strategy. Communicating initiatives to your web & fulfillment partners guarentees success.

At WTN Services our goal is to practice, demonstrate, live and teach  ”best practices” partnering with our clients for sales growth.  Review the attached workshop, apply the lessons to grow your on-line business.

If you have any questions or would like an on-site or follow-up lesson contact your WTN Services account manager for more details….

WTN Services Web Conversion Rates Workshop Summer 07

As our services business grows we encounter clients asking us for assistance in training team members on best practices in sales and service. One key identified need is for team members to learn proper pronunciation of wine names. Below is a handy guide we use for training our team at WTN Services. We hope that your team may benefit from it as well…

Name Pronunciation

Alsace- al zass al zass
Beaujolais - BO zho lay
Burgundy - BUR gun dee
Cabernet Sauvignon - cab er NAY saw veen YON
Chablis- sha BLEE
Champagne- sham PAIN
Chardonnay - shar doe NAY
Chianti- kee AHN tee
Côtes du Rhône - coat deh rone
Gerwurztraminer- geh VERTZ trah mee ner
Médoc - meh doc Merlot mer LOW
Montepulciano d’Abruzzo- mon tay pul chee AH no da BRUTE so
Muscadet - moos cah day
Muscat - moos caht
Nebbiolo - neh bee OH low
Pinot Bianco - pee no bee AHN coh
Pinot Grigio- pee no GREE jho
Pinot Gris- pee no gree
Pinot Noir - pee no NWAHR
Riesling - REES ling
Rioja- ree OH ha
Rosé - roe ZAY
Sangiovese - san joe VA say
Sauvignon Blanc- saw veen YON blan
Syrah- see RAH
Tempranillo- tem pra NEE oh
Trebbiano- Tre bee AH no
Zinfandel- ZIN fun dell

Our industry has seen the growth of the continuity or loyality programs better known as the wine club. Some argue, the wine club is the backbone of their entire direct-to-consumer success, while others believe they can create a wine club success overnight.

It is a challenge to build and mantain a strong, growing and profitable wine club. The continuity program is central to a profitable business plan and building a healthy brand image. Many believe if their wine club is growing it is healthy and the brand is healthy.

The club should be a reminder to the consumer of the brand image and should be central to driving home that image of your brand. The club is an invitation and a reminder to the consumer of why your brand is the brand of wine to remember in the store, online, in a restaurant and of course continued through your club or online purchasing at your e-commerce store.

To have a truly healthy (and profitable) club, three goals must be addressed:

• Growth: in club members year over year. (Is your membership number growing?)
• Increase: in the quantity and frequency of member spend. (Does the member come back for additional wines from selections featured in the wine club?)
• Continuity: longevity. (Does the member continue to renew?)

One constant battle that is key is to fight attrition. The goal should be to increase the frequency of member activity. And while this may seem counterintuitive, and you feel that if you “bug” them too much they might quit, experience shows that, within reason, the reverse is true.

Many wineries do a good job of selecting the right wines, and providing value added materials with each wine club shipment. But that’s it, many stop there. Unless you provide incentives to do otherwise, a large percentage of club members, after their initial election to join the club, are very passive. They receive wine each month with little interaction with the winery, grow bored and do not renew their memberships.

The most successful wine clubs have done an excellent job of getting their wine club members to actively participate in the relationship–beyond just enjoying the wine. There is a direct correlation between members who are more active in their wine club and those that tend to stay members longer. If you track members who quit, you likely will find that they were the least active of the bunch.

What types of “activities” lead to longer retention? The range is pretty broad. As many as possible should be pursued and tracked. To increase activity, try inviting members to:

• Visit the winery and receive special VIP or member treatment
• Reorder their monthly club wine at special member discounts for a limited period of time
• Take advantage of online VIP privileges (via their own password protected area of your website)
• Respond to “members only” e-mail or direct mail offers
• Submit their tasting notes or recipes to share with others
• Attend a club event, and–even better–bring a friend
• Refer new members (and receive an incentive for doing so)
• Respond to satisfaction surveys (via mail, e-mail, phone) and share their likes and dislikes
• Make the club interactive create a wine club members blog and encourage members to share their experiences as related to the club or enjoying the wine.
• Use video links in email campaigns or via the web made especially for members by your wine maker or club manager
• Ask your wine club members to submit web video’s to share with members via webcasts.
• Create wine club trivia games to engage the members to participate.
• Encourage members to send video, photos or stories of joyful experiences related to the club, travels to the winery or a receipe they created with the wine then share the experience in a newsletter or as a story featuring the member.

The key point: Active club members stay longer, spend more and are the best marketing of the brand due to referral and word of mouth.

• Track who’s active, and who’s not.
• Track which activities they respond to and be creative at engaging the members.
• The web has created a whole new world of interactive connectivity to your wine club member.
• Judge the effectiveness of your club member benefits by how much and how broadly they are used. Each should encourage an activity that will improve member retention.
• Reach out, especially to those members you never hear from, just to see what they like or don’t like about your club.
• A call from the winery owner, founder or the wine maker can go a long way into making a positive lasting impression on the club member.

In order to fight attrition–and realize longer member retention–you need to know what you are up against. That means having a clear and ongoing understanding of how much, when and why members quit…

• Track the percentage of your member base you lose each month and each year.
• How has that changed over time?
• If you have more than one club, is it different for each club.

Understand the lifecycle of your members…

• At what point in their membership are they most likely to quit?
• For the members who have already quit, how long did they stay?
• If on average, most quit after six months, what can you do one month before the danger zone to entice them to stay longer?
• For all active members, how long on average have they been members?
• Is this average “lifecycle” increasing or decreasing?

Finally, track the reasons why people quit…

• Is it dissatisfaction with quality of wine or service?
• Is it their own life issues, such as pregnancy, moving to a state you can’t ship to, personal financial changes or feeling that they have too much wine?
• Make knowing “why” a priority, and make “unknown” an unacceptable reason.

Track these reasons. Share them with your team and respond to them…

• How do they change over time?
• What can you learn?
• What can you do differently?

Finally there is significant information in the data of your club membership. It provides you with the ability to keep an effective scorecard on how well your brand is doing and how well brand initiatives are perceived by the more loyal consumer. Apply the tips above and watch your club grow…

The web allows the opportunity to experiment and email can drive traffic to a splash page that, if successful, could be developed into a larger marketing campaign. Don’t be afraid to take a chance for greatness. 

Point to ponder…

“Take more chances than you dare. You’ll make more sales than you expect. That’s the formula.” -The Little Red Book of Selling

This evening over dinner with a local wine critic who has been traveling extensively of late, I asked what price points and products were hot in his travels to mid-America. His reponse was…

 ”The sweet spot for in St Louis was Chard at $15.00 to $20.00.  Pinot is still the talk but Cabernet is the wine of the more sophisticated pallet in Atlanta- price points $20 to $30. In Charlotte the price point hit $40.00 to $50.00 for Cabs and seemed a bit ego driven. Merlot was not mentioned most anywhere but was featured and discussed in Chicago however the key price point was below $20.00. The merlot discussion was soft at best. Syrah not well known in any of the cities visited. California Pinot Grigio was considered a smart buy in Boston.”

Note to consider if marketing online or via an email blast- market segmentation of a targeted campaign based on what is getting local media buzz can certainly build sales for your brands or efforts.

Tip to consider:

Check the local press prior to a email campaign targeting a certain geographic area. Segment your offerings by state and by what the local buzz in the press may be. A local quote concerning a certain varitial or vintage adds local credibility to your offering. Piggy-back on the thought or idea and your chance of closing a sale or pushing an individual to your website increases.

In a world of every changing media and brand impression opportunities, wineries and wine retailers own the brand strategy and must convey a strategy that is consistent to the brand value at all levels. A key to that strategy is to ensure that your partners, employees and anyone that has a touch point with the brand experience is fully abreast of the brand strategy and is working toward that goal. Online marketing plans are a greater part of the messaging. Ensuring your fulfilment partner and ecommerce partner is clued into that strategy ensures the product delivers to the consumer meeting their expectation based upon dollars spent on advertising and brand development.

A recent year-end 2006 study conducted by MarketingSherpa reviewing online ad spending and trends toward online ad spending for the new year produced some interesting findings that wineries and wine retailers should consider. Key findings were…

Companies that have previously adopted on line spending programs or online advertising techniques, said they anticipate their online spending to increase from 47 percent of the budget to 49 percent.

Those polled said the best-performing online advertising technique was

• Paid search (49 percent said so), 
• House-list email (47 percent),
• Search engine optimization (45 percent),
• Behavioral targeting (34 percent) 
• Contextual targeting (29 percent).

As for emerging tactics that they plan to budget for,  marketers cited…

• Blogs/blog networks (42 percent),
• Networking (40 percent), 
• RSS feeds (37 percent)
• Video ads (37 percent)

Though the spending parterns are not winery or wine retailer specific it would be interesting to receive feedback on where you  are spending your on line marketing dollars and the traction you receive in brand building?

Source: Marketing Professionals 2007.

If you have confidence and believe in your wine your customer knows it. The key is to convey that message with confidence. Your wine club is the best in the valley because you believe it provides the best experience for it’s members from any other. Your wine is the most unique in the valley because your wine maker is a treasure that you confidently know is yet to be discovered by the masses that is why you produce only 10,000 cases per year, etc. Your web message, sales materials, email messaging, voice or in person message should convey your personal confidence in what makes you wines the most unique, best or must buy.

Demonstrate that confidence in every personal encounter and you will convey professional and personal confidence and build sales.

Last week I met a tasting room employee of Napa winery in a leadership and sales seminar we were hosting. She had sold 59 wine clubs that week. She said she gets no support from her corporate office and though the club manager is there the club manager does not even know her name. How said that was. Note to self always know the names of the front line sales folks they make or break you.

 I asked her how she did it? she said, “I am proud and confident in the brand I represent, there are hundreds of other wineries and the how we all make wine sales pitch is similiar from winery to winery but what makes ours different is me.” Wow I thought a bit cocky maybe?

I said what does that mean? She said, “My wine maker makes the wine but I make the impression, when the guest is in front of me or on the phone with me it is me that makes the sell not the wine maker. Most buyers do not have a clue who the wine maker is or even care. I should not have said that,” she said blushing. The reaity though not politically correct sis she was probably correct she is the sale she is the first impression. The wine may sell itself but the reality is in most cases the person purchasing for the first time in a tasting room is purchasing as much from the experience as from the taste according to many surverys.  She continues, “If I excude confidence that I would bring my mother here and no where else, which is the truth the customer buys into it. You may ask why would I bring my mother here? The reason is I am here. I would treat her to the most memorable visit of her life. Isn’t that how you would treat a guest?”, she asked.

 I thought about it and said as a matter of fact I only suggest items I would but to my mother so she was correct in many ways. The lesson is sell as if you are treating your familly as your personal guest to the adventure oft he purchase and you cannot fail. Picture every email, web ad or in person sell you are approaching as if you were encouraging your mother to try it for the very first time. This tip may not work for everyone but imagine if every tasting room had a Mary selling 59 wine clubs a week, Highway 29 and Silverado Trail would not be large enough to support the repeat business.

 Thanks for the tip Mary, you sell girl!

Chris

WTN Services recently hosted a series of ”World Class Sales and Service Workshops” applying lessons learned and best practices of our parent company, 1-800 Flowers geared to the success of the wine industry. 

The workshops were a great opportunity for our clients to interface with account representatives of WTN Services, in an environment facilitated by a professional trainer from the Fresh University of 1-800 Flowers. Together we worked through exercises allowing us to better understand each other, our consumers and how we can mutually work to bring customer satisfaction and sales growth to the winery. 

We were fortunate to be able to provide these classes at the newly refurbished facilities of the Lincoln Theater in Yountville to a number of our clients as a value added service opportunity of learning and partnership.  Clients participating represented over 4000 labels of many of the finest wineries and retailers in Napa, California and New York. The class instruction was the first of its kind for the wine industry, an IBM style in-depth analysis detailing and analyzing personality traits to accomplish a sale. 

We look forward to the opportunity to offer future classes of this nature to our clients. We are committed to continuing the trend of learning in partnership and striving to implement lessons learned as “best practices” from one another for mutual success. Stay tuned for future classes updates and analytics of lessons learned from this series of workshop….