Sharing Is Caring – Selling Rose

Its seems like a chore to brainstorm ideas with my colleagues.

It’s not malicious, this I know, and I am privy to the non sharing club myself.  Some thoughts –  “She will ask me questions about wine I can’t answer” or “She will steal my idea and make it better” (this actually happened, and is a terrible feeling that doesn’t go away) or “She will get ahead with this idea and I won’t” or, well, you get the drift. I think that is rubbish. Here is my attempt to start a new area of my blog called “Sharing is Caring” – specifically because it is. You can look at my ideas and laugh behind my back, or take them as your own and cut me out of the picture. Both are legit, and are up to you. But here I am, marketing weirdness and all, coming at you with a few wine lures and seductions – enjoy the show.

This one doesn’t set the world on fire, but was pretty successful.  I sell a lot of rose, I mean, a lot – and rose is the “it” girl of the wine world right now.  They all have a different feel to them, come from different places, have completely different applications. I lumped them all together into one in store tasting and called it “Rose Day“. Told you, sounds boring. It’s all in the performance people. A few of my tools:

• I created a description card for each wine, with the background of the card matching the pink in the bottle. Took me about 30 minutes. Instant pull to my audience; visual connection telling them each wine will be different.
• Next, I schooled my tasting ambassador about the difference between white zinfandel and rose. If all she did was repeat this story to each customer (which she did), we were golden.
• I emphasized that all four wines have different grapes in the bottle.  This fact again drove home the notion that this was not the “white zinfandel” they thought they were about to consume, but rather a REAL wine. (said with eyes rolling).
• I had my tasting ambassador pick her favorite on the table. This gave her ownership. When the customer couldn’t decide, I would hear her say “This is the one I would go home with”.  Sale, sale, and sale.
• I picked a great day to perform this tasting; the day before Easter Sunday.  Packed store, customers there to buy and buy big, gift giving, and I can go on.  Don’t be the girl that sits in a store tasting a $50 dollar bottle of wine during the Super Bowl. Major fail.

Those are the top five, and may seem obvious. You also may be saying “Why take the time to blog about an obvious in store tasting idea”. I wrote this because it’s so obvious and yet I HAVN’T SEEN IT DONE! No one is investing, even this small amount of time, in putting in the “doing” of a in store tasting. Even the fact I showed up stunned the manager of the store. That speaks volumes. Go to your tastings, lend a hand, say hello, have a one ounce drink, and go home.

Where did I do this tasting– Stew Leonards in Clifton. Ask for Gina or Mario. There is a bunch of wine in this store, and it may seem intimidating, but just ask for help. And stay away from the chocolate covered pretzels; your waistline will thank me later.

How did I create my wine cards – I signed up for Picmonkey – an online tool that is meant to be used to manipulate photos, but I use it for all my marketing needs.  Cheap and cheerful.