How do you get younger staff members in bars, restaurants and hotels, that don’t drink wine or see it as an essential part of their career progression, educated?
over the past twelve months working together to develop the front of house teams (including customer service, perfect serve techniques, merchandising, up-selling, product knowledge, and glass-care) to an eclectic cross section of staff within the UK On Trade.
I am delighted to report that I’ve never seen so much being done across the hospitality industry to attract the prospective customer’s evasive leisure pound back into the On Trade arena by improving the environment, the offer and the continued development of those who deliver it.
And yet surprisingly, because of the way wine knowledge is currently delivered and presented, it never seems filter its way through to the majority of staff.
Therefore the very people who could easily drive customers to our most profitable wines are unable to do so due to a lack of knowledge and confidence, which becomes immediately apparent when someone asks for their advice.
However, we discovered that if required, an entire list could be broken down, categorised, explained (in a non partisan way), and taken on board in under a day!
You see at the moment, the choices we have available to us for our staff fall into two camps.
Wine Brand Owners
It is clear that Wine Brand Owners want their customers to understand and discuss their products; however they will only make a ‘charitable’ training gesture when it includes 100% of their brands, and – to be fair – that is quite understandable.
But because the delivery is so brand or grower specific, a high percentage of our frontline staff never receive a decent foundation into what all that pomp and flounce actually means.
Some of the account managers and sales people who deliver this training on behalf of their businesses are excellent – but not many.
The rest come in, tell fascinatingly hilarious stories regarding the last time they visited the vineyard personally – “Oh, how the sunset gleamed through the golden hues within my glass on the last day of the harvest” – and everybody has a great time and enjoys a little taste of wine they wouldn’t normally be able to afford.
The trouble is, nobody really understands the product any better at the end than when they walked in!
One of the issues with receiving brand led training has always been that suppliers have to present all wine as being different.
Different wine makers making different brands, different countries – even different regions within the same country – creating a huge variety of different styles.
And to some degree they are correct – and of course it is not in their interest to stop pointing it out – that after all is their job, to make people aware of their point of difference.
Generic Wine Courses and Examinations
Generic wine and spirit courses are great – I’m a WSET Diploma student myself and highly recommend every single one of their courses – however they can tend to be incredibly in-depth and all encompassing.
Spending a few weeks going over every root stock, soil type and terroir differentiation is rarely that useful (or interesting) for someone in their late teens or early twenties who doesn’t drink wine regularly, and certainly not if they don’t see it as an essential part of their career progression
This format also has stumbling blocks with numbers and costs – especially when you have a significant number of staff or the course isn’t directed specifically at your requirements
So would it be fair to say, that in some of our more wine orientated sites, the customers regularly know more about wine than those serving them?
Reaching out to engage with non wine drinkers and presenting the information in an engaging, entertaining and relevant fashion therefore seemed essential.
Our Brief
We set out to create an introductory wine course, covering the lions’ share of required information in a single day, measured in its effectiveness by a short test and follow-up at outlet level.
This course needed to be immediately beneficial to all staff, focusing not only on the brands and wine makers that are currently being listed, but put together for the long haul, created so that the basis of all information would still be relevant whichever supplier was used and whatever wines were stocked.
It was also important that we create something that could be presented by managers and team leaders to all new staff members as they came on board, so that after its initial delivery they would have a level of self sufficiency and ownership.
And This is How We Did It
We created a one day workshop, which covered more than 70% of the wine styles on every one of our customer’s wine lists by concentrating on a simple, common denominator; those who attended the course left with a working knowledge of the wines they sell and the ability to engage confidently and professionally with customers on a day to day basis, while also giving them the confidence to find out more information independently with regards to the remainder of their list.
The format was adaptable enough to cope with vastly different offerings, lists, target markets and the inevitable changes to wine lists across groups with varied portfolios.
Essentially the day broke down as follows;
Wine History & Geography
Production Techniques
The Difference between Grapes and their Natural Heritage
Serving
Food Pairing
Wine Ailments and Issues
It’s always a full old day, but even non wine drinkers leave with an interest in the subject and more importantly, a foundation of knowledge combined with their own conversation pieces to share with customers rather than a monologue based on somebody else’s trip across a valley which previously they couldn’t even place on a map.
Best regards
Chris
This year, I want to help you and your team become more successful than you’ve ever been before – call my team now on 0844 293 9777 or request a call back by going to our Contact Page HERE.
You and I can work out a sales training programme that suits your requirements perfectly – foundation level sales training, field sales training, account management training, selling value over price, customer service training, whatever it might be – but it’s a big old world out there and if you don’t take two minutes to invite me over, I may never know you need me.
We create bespoke sales training days from as little as £185 per person, so give my office a call today and we can get a date in the diary to start working on tailoring something just for you.
Chris Murray
0844 293 9777
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Useful Links
The On Trade Academy – http://www.on-trade-academy.co.uk
Four Steps to Great Customer Service PDF – http://www.on-trade-academy.co.uk/downloads/
Wine & Spirit Education Trust – http://www.wset.co.uk/
The Wine & Spirit Trade Association – http://www.wsta.co.uk/
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