Wine Blog
"Juicy Tales by Jo Diaz"

Wine’s a beautiful product to sell. When a salesperson visits a wine shop owner, a restaurateur, or a chain store buyer to sell his or her wine, it’s a fascinating process. When approached as a relational meeting, there’s so much more to it than a score.

It’s a home run when Robert Parker or Jim Laube has said that (on his palate) the wine deserves a 92 score. From that day forward, that wine needs no further introduction… It sells itself, and you can go to the golf links, to a ball game, or knit a sweater for some fun.

But… How many times is that going to happen, and with how many wines?

The odds are slim to narrow, just like hitting home runs. They don’t happen every single time at bat. It’s occasional, and it’s a special moment. A most important point here is this: both Jim Laube and Bob Parker have particular preferences, and are looking for a certain profile. That’s what gets their attention, and if it meets that criteria, that’s what will be rewarded. No harm, no foul… I have deep respect for both men, because they have influence and power. I also trust my own palate, which is just as important to me… because it’s really all I’ve got, besides their opinions.

The best thing a sales person can do is internalize what I just wrote and get on with your own process.

Here’s a fun experiment… Yesterday, I met with someone I just adore, Denise Sanders. She and I worked together at Belvedere Winery, where she is today, although we’ve both worked in several places since the early to mid 90s. Denise is just one of those people with whom I can get together and giggle until it hurts. There’s a mischievous side to both of us, so getting together is this side of dangerous, but we love the encounters.

One of the first things Denise said to me is, “I’ve been reading your blog.” I find it fascinating that people are reading this (nearly daily) rambling… And I’m learning certain things by watching the back end of this Web site. (If you have a site, you can step behind the curtain, and see lots of things, including the audience – from statistics that exist.)

I told Denise that my blog being placed on Wine Business Monthly has forced me to be a bit more thoughtful. I know that provocative titles draw people in. I’m also gearing what I write on the weekends toward more lifestyle issues (Landis Shores Oceanfront Inn, for instance). I’m beginning to think like an editor… not just a writer. Denise said (and this is why I’m off on this sidebar), “You should title one of your blogs, ‘Paris Hilton’.”

“Well, if I did that,” thought I, “that would give me a 92 score.” Winemakers who want a 92 score can craft the wine and get it, or at least get close. Is that serving the public’s palate, or is it just serving scores? Hum…. When you taste that wine, you’d better have a palate that’s identical to Robert Parker or Jim Laube’s, or you might not understand why the wine pleased either one of them. Wine and wine scoring is a subjective thing. Live by the scores, and you’ll surely die by them.

So, with the title, “Paris Hilton,” it’s an immediate attention getter, like a wine crafted for a 92, made with psychology in mind, versus freedom of content.

Here’s how I sold a ton of wine, and this could work for you, too, if you developed the methodology. A great book to read, if you really want to succeed, is “ABC’s of Relationship Selling,” by Charles M. Futrell (Texas A & M University), published by Irwin. It’s also a four unit college/university course, for the really serious among us:

Scores sell wine when it hits the 90s. What happens to the rest of the wines? People sell those wines… one story at a time.
Scores are only a talking point in the process, but if it’s the be-all-to-end-all, think about what other line of work you’d like to be in, and start job hunting.