No, I disagree with the notion that they don't exist. I agree however that you are talking about multiple people with different skills in different locations. Doesn't mean they don't exist.
3 months is plenty of time to assess whether or not your choice for salesperson will be effective. As I said, we're looking for movement and representation not necessarily instant revenues.
My theme here wasn't about hiring an onpremise specialist in Cleveland exactly but rather hiring to fill out your sales capacity, whatever that may be to you or anyone else.
Up at 6am? I get up earlier than that, and as a manager of sales teams and accounts in multiple time zones from Tokyo to London - yeah, always time to work! Always time to sell!
Totally agree: distribution doesn’t fix everything, but nothing moves without it.
Where I’d add my two cents: a hired boot only really works when they’re wired into DTC and social. Use email, club, and paid/organic social to warm up a market so your rep isn’t walking in cold, buyers and consumers have already seen the brand, the story, maybe even had a DTC touch.
Then that rep isn’t just “selling wine,” they’re catching demand you’ve already created and turning it into repeat velocity. Distribution moves boxes; humans, plus DTC and digital, create pull.
You make some very good points, especially about the nature of distribution. I've heard it called a "pull" channel, as opposed to a "push" channel, in that it requires you to create demand at the consumer or retail level to pull your product through it. What really caught my eye, though, were your examples of the extremely thin margins wineries generate on sales through distribution. It's hard to see how anyone producing wine can survive on those margins except for those large enough to enjoy substantial economies of scale. At the same time, the price of wine to the consumer has become so high it's one of the primary factors driving many consumers to other beverage choices. All of which suggests that finding a less costly way to market that's more scalable than current DTC practices should be a priority for the wine industry.
There are state to state differences and the west coast of the USA is a different world to the east coast. California aside, Washington and Oregon enjoy majority of sales of their own wine in stores and restaurants where a state like NY sees sales of their own wine at some where south of 3% overall. Even with sales people, selling wine from new regions is a challenging, even if the wines are top quality. It is exciting and rewarding when people realize they can get incredible value in a new region. It’s a lot of work and a lot of fun.
I think the sales person you define, up at 6am, dragging the bag, plus making chain placements, reviving dead accounts and working with your distributors doesn’t exist. If they do, they’re likely good at a couple of those things but not all.
Grocery store chain setup and reviving on-prem are two different people and personalities, besides, one works at the desk to get the grocery set up then works the regional chain hard. The onprem person, depending upon their regional area is hitting the urban cities at key accounts, likely hotels and maybe chain steakhouses doing dinners. They speak and act differently.
90 days for results? Or clip’em? Are you investing in a sales person? Or someone that can get lucky in 90 days? Can the winery with this type of anemic sales strategy that has been neglected this long even expect a result in 90 days? From a single person who’s like.y really good in one area or two but not all four or five areas? Besides, what are they doing at 6am? Not dragging a bag. They might drag it at 10am but then they aren’t on an hour conference call with a grocery or steak chain. What town are they dragging it in? LA, SD, SF, Sac? How many accounts in a day? Weekends?
No, I disagree with the notion that they don't exist. I agree however that you are talking about multiple people with different skills in different locations. Doesn't mean they don't exist.
3 months is plenty of time to assess whether or not your choice for salesperson will be effective. As I said, we're looking for movement and representation not necessarily instant revenues.
My theme here wasn't about hiring an onpremise specialist in Cleveland exactly but rather hiring to fill out your sales capacity, whatever that may be to you or anyone else.
Up at 6am? I get up earlier than that, and as a manager of sales teams and accounts in multiple time zones from Tokyo to London - yeah, always time to work! Always time to sell!
I don’t think I’ve seen a clearer articulation of farmer vs hunter
Totally agree: distribution doesn’t fix everything, but nothing moves without it.
Where I’d add my two cents: a hired boot only really works when they’re wired into DTC and social. Use email, club, and paid/organic social to warm up a market so your rep isn’t walking in cold, buyers and consumers have already seen the brand, the story, maybe even had a DTC touch.
Then that rep isn’t just “selling wine,” they’re catching demand you’ve already created and turning it into repeat velocity. Distribution moves boxes; humans, plus DTC and digital, create pull.
You make some very good points, especially about the nature of distribution. I've heard it called a "pull" channel, as opposed to a "push" channel, in that it requires you to create demand at the consumer or retail level to pull your product through it. What really caught my eye, though, were your examples of the extremely thin margins wineries generate on sales through distribution. It's hard to see how anyone producing wine can survive on those margins except for those large enough to enjoy substantial economies of scale. At the same time, the price of wine to the consumer has become so high it's one of the primary factors driving many consumers to other beverage choices. All of which suggests that finding a less costly way to market that's more scalable than current DTC practices should be a priority for the wine industry.
If you don’t go into the market and work your brand, it will sit.
There are state to state differences and the west coast of the USA is a different world to the east coast. California aside, Washington and Oregon enjoy majority of sales of their own wine in stores and restaurants where a state like NY sees sales of their own wine at some where south of 3% overall. Even with sales people, selling wine from new regions is a challenging, even if the wines are top quality. It is exciting and rewarding when people realize they can get incredible value in a new region. It’s a lot of work and a lot of fun.
I think the sales person you define, up at 6am, dragging the bag, plus making chain placements, reviving dead accounts and working with your distributors doesn’t exist. If they do, they’re likely good at a couple of those things but not all.
Grocery store chain setup and reviving on-prem are two different people and personalities, besides, one works at the desk to get the grocery set up then works the regional chain hard. The onprem person, depending upon their regional area is hitting the urban cities at key accounts, likely hotels and maybe chain steakhouses doing dinners. They speak and act differently.
90 days for results? Or clip’em? Are you investing in a sales person? Or someone that can get lucky in 90 days? Can the winery with this type of anemic sales strategy that has been neglected this long even expect a result in 90 days? From a single person who’s like.y really good in one area or two but not all four or five areas? Besides, what are they doing at 6am? Not dragging a bag. They might drag it at 10am but then they aren’t on an hour conference call with a grocery or steak chain. What town are they dragging it in? LA, SD, SF, Sac? How many accounts in a day? Weekends?
There’s a lot to unpack here.