Po Box 2089, Napa, CA, United States of America, 94559
I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It’s even worse than it appears
But it’s alright…
…We will survive
While Jerry Garcia may have sung it nearly 40 years ago, it bears repeating. The news is full of doom and gloom for our beloved industry, but, as always, we will survive. Let’s look for the silver lining and the touch of grey in the headlines.
First, visitation is up, down, or flat, depending on the source. At WISE, we work with many partners, but we appreciate what Community Benchmarks brings as a partner because the program offers the broadest view of a region. Given that the platform is POS agnostic, and the sheer number of wineries reporting (over 500 wineries), we look to their data for the weathervane.
Let’s compare the last two “normal” years – 2019 and 2023. By doing this, we minimize the noise that was 2020-2022. We will look at data provided by Community Benchmarks for Visitation, Conversion to Purchase, and Conversion to Club. Then, we will layer this on top of Mystery Shopping results for the same time period.
Non-Secret #1:
Visitation is off, to the surprise of no one. This is by as much as 32% in the Pacific Northwest to 7% in areas outside Napa (off 18%) and Sonoma (off 20%) in California. There is increased competition within regions in the form of more tasting experiences, competition interstate for guests to visit, and pent-up demand for international travel.
Non-Secret #2:
At the same time, Community Benchmark shows that Member Acquisition rates have dropped significantly during the same time frame of 2019 to 2023.
What happens when the guests are in the tasting room? Again, we turn to Community Benchmarks for the aggregate data, which tells us WHAT is happening compared to our neighbors and historically. Through the WISE Mystery Shopping Program, we can see WHY the business results are what they are. Mystery Shopping covers at least 80 data points, with an opened ended text box behind the binary score for each data point. The program is 15 years old with more than 6,000 shops, giving ample historical data. WISE shoppers evaluate everything, from general cleanliness, ease of making reservations, and quality of print collateral, to professional selling skills like brand storytelling and qualifying the guest. Each WISE shopper is a current professional in the wine industry or has been thoroughly trained by WISE in best practices and standards.
This is aligned with WISE Mystery Shopping results, which show that the rate of our shoppers being verbally invited to join the wine club have dropped, from 2019 average 48% of the time, to just 36% of the time over the same five-year period. So, fewer members coming to the tasting room and are being asked to join less frequently, which results in lower acquisition. This is a perfect storm of exactly what we don’t want – fewer guests coming in, and even fewer of them being asked to join the club than five years ago.
Non-Secret #3:
A further analysis shows that across all regions, the industry’s professional selling skills have softened. We put a lot of effort into training our teams on the nuances of our wines with WSET and other programs and WISE wineries also put the same effort into sales training. Professional training includes, but isn’t limited to, understanding:
This is the time, now more than ever, to dig in deep to setting sales training standards and holding staff accountable. Find the touch of silver in the grey clouds, just like Jerry sang to us so long ago.
About WISE
WHY: Strong Leaders. Healthy Teams. Successful Wineries. We believe a rising tide lifts all boats and that the wine industry deserves strong leaders, healthy teams, DTC mastery and winery success.
HOW: We serve by continually raising the bar for professionalism and leadership in the wine industry. We provide opportunities for experiential learning that changes behavior.
WHAT: We are wine industry leaders in professional development, focused on both DTC & General Leadership. We provide Relevant Classes, Mystery Shopping, Coaching, Consulting and Cabinet Programs.
At WISE – which stands for Wine Industry Sales Education – we offer a variety of courses, workshops, and coaching that are interactive and hands-on to help enhance your skills and advance your career.
Courses are designed to deliver take-home value using real-life, relevant examples through a combination of lecture, group exercises, and role play, these classes build on existing skills and teach best practices for meeting the demands of today’s changing DTC marketplace.
Courses are live – offered in-person and remotely – so that attendees gain ideas and insights as well as access to a community of their peers. With a true understanding of the value of our attendees’ time, our courses are succinct, efficient, and targeted, covering maximum material in a minimum of time.
Complete course descriptions are available online at www.WineIndustrySalesEducation.com, or for more information, call (844) 947-3498.
About WISE Coaches
WISE core group of coaches are each leaders in their field of expertise. Like WISE's founder, they are dedicated to raising the bar for consumer direct and management excellence in the wine industry.
Plan Ahead and Save
Pre-purchase educational credits and earn a 10% bonus on your commitment through the WISE Futures program.
Contact Us
Jennifer Warrington The Glue
Email: Jennifer@WineIndustrySalesEducation.com
Title | Name | Phone | Extension | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chairman, Co-Founder | Lesley Berglund | lesley@wineindustrysaleseducation.com | 877-740-9473 | |
Co-Founder | Mack Schwing | mack@wineindustrysaleseducation.com | 877-740-9473 | |
The Glue | Jennifer Warrington | jennifer@wineindustrysaleseducation.com | 877-740-9473 |
Locations | Address | State | Country | Zip Code |
---|---|---|---|---|
WISE | Po Box 2089, Napa | CA | United States of America | 94559 |