The Ultimate Strategy to INCREASE Wine Sales
INTRODUCTION 7 TIPS ON HOW TO INCREASE YOUR WINE SALES Whether you are a veteran wine business owner or a new face in the field there will be times where the wines are just sitting on the shelves looking at you instead of standing on a customer s table and bringing you some revenue. Sometimes it is a seasonal thing, but if the depressed wine sale persists over a longer period of time, maybe there are some problems that you overlooked that is harming your business. In this guide, you will find 7 tips on how to increase your wine sale and we hope that the guide will also give you insights to any challenge you may face in this wine business. 1
Tip No.1 Spending your good wine on staff may sound counterintuitive, however, if you re willing to spare some time and wine on your staff, they can become a significant source of clients for your business. Enjoy a drink with your staff SO HOW CAN YOU GO ABOUT THIS? Set up wine tasting training sessions for your staff. Letting your staff drink for free alone doesn t turn them into a potential client. These training sessions allow your staff to be more educated on the wines they are handling everyday. The more informed they are about wine, the more they will appreciate and enjoy wine drinking, and they will be more likely to bring their family, friends, or their significant other along to share their new wine adventure. 2
Tip No.2 Get to know your customers Everyone is different, including their taste in wine. No matter how knowledgeable the sommelier or the waiter are on wine, it is risky to recommend a wine to a customer based solely on the popularity of the wine. Taking some time to learn about the consumer s preference will save the business from an awkward situation in case the consumer doesn t like the recommended wine, and it shows your consumer that you care about them on a personal level. Your business will be recognized for your outstanding customer service. Here are 5 questions you can ask your customers: Red, White, Rosé or Sparkling wine? What types of wine do they normally drink? Complex or Straightforward wines? Fruit or Mineral? Dry or Sweet wine? 3
Tip No.3 Besides knowing your customers preference, it is also crucial to take into consideration the food they are ordering. Each wine has its own flavor profile and taste, so pairing the right wine with food will enhance the customer's delightful dining experience and make them come back for more. For starters, there are two types of food pairing methods for wine, CONGRUENT and COMPLEMENTARY. Wine pairing CONGRUENT PAIRING is when the food and wine share similar taste or texture so neither the food nor wine will overpower the other piece of the pairing. An example of congruent pairing is the classic red wine with steak. For instance, take a red wine such as an Italian Sangiovese with lots of cherry flavors and pair the wine with an herbed potato croquette, roasted red tomatoes and rocket (a classic Tuscan Secondi). The congruent flavor in the dish and wine (tomato and cherry) elevate each other. On the other hand, COMPLEMENTARY PAIRINGS have different compounds that go well together to create a harmonious balance. In fact, the combination of sweet and salty is one of the most well-known food and wine pairings. Moscato with Spicy Thai Food and Riesling with Blue Cheese are examples of a complementary pairing, just to name a few. 4
Tip No.4 K.I.S.S Keep it simple and sweet when describing the wine. Use words like FRUITY, BOLD, EARTHY, LIGHT, SWEET, DRY, and DESSERT to depict the actual taste. By doing so, you also accommodate novice wine drinkers and thus they will feel more comfortable and assured to try the wine. If the customer is more experienced and would like to discuss the wine more in depth, you can go ahead and use the technical terms with them. 5
Tip No.5 Wine tasting is not simply about a nice act of giving away wine for free. It is also one of the most powerful marketing strategies in the wine business. According to a study on the correlation between wine tasting and wine sales by Cornell University and the University of Houston: Giving is receiving: THE POWER OF WINE TASTING Sounds good? There s more: Offering 1 wine tasting increased full glasses of wine sales by 18.2%. Offering 5 wine tastings increased full glasses of wine sales by 47.3%. If you want to further maximize the profit of wine tasting, a wine dispenser can do the trick. The precise pour-control feature of the Wineemotion system allows you to make the most out of each wine bottle while facilitating the wine tasting process and giving the customers a pleasing experience. 6
Tip No.6 Motivated and happy staff provide the best customer service and produce the most sales. To boost their performance, incite the staff with monetary incentives and reward the successful top-selling employees with good tables, sections, schedules, gift cards, or anything that has cash value. (Who wouldn t want cash?) Motivate your staff If you are wondering how to monitor the staff s performance, WineIdea software powered by Wineemotion can make your life easier by helping you track wine sales statistics and create reports on the staff s sales level. 87
Tip No.7 Make the majority of your wines available by the glass and implement proper storage of open wine. Most customers will not buy bottles, and unfortunately, half bottles are not readily available in the US as they are in Europe and other parts of the world. So unless there is a wine by the glass option, the customers would probably leave the wine out of their meal. As much as restaurant's owners would like to meet their customer s need, the biggest problem that most restaurants face when deciding whether or not to make their expensive wine available by the glass is the high risk of spoilage and profit loss. Additionally, often time a vigilant customer might ask to open a fresh bottle for a glass pour to make sure that the restaurant is not using a bottle that has been open too long. Consequently, this will lead to wine waste and decreased profits. Therefore, when considering expanding your wine by the glass selection, it is imperative that you invest in proper storage of open wine for long term profit. For instance, Wineemotion s 30 day preservation system and temperature control allow for a wider selection of wine by the glass while ensuring that the customers get fresh wine and the business owners get the most profit. 8
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