What You Need to Know About Wine Sales

It's 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday, and the staff of the hottest eatery in boondocks is going around checking the silverware shine, making sure tablecloths look good, and testing each other on the nighttime's specials, when in walks a young man in a shirt and tie, toting a rolling suitcase. The servers all exchange wary glances: the wine rep is hither. Will the restaurant'southward wine director want to meet with this person? Possibly. Depends on many things: his reputation, for 1, and,  more importantly, the portfolio he'southward repping.

Being a wine salesperson — working for an importer or distributor to establish accounts with restaurants, bars, and retail shops — is a tough task but has many lifestyle perks, including a flexible schedule, above all. "I love having the freedom to create my ain schedule and choose my clients," says Ben Stewart, a sales rep for Bonhomie Wine Imports in New York. "I become to travel to beautiful wine growing regions and visit winemakers and Instagram the visits and make my friends and family jealous. I get to become home on Thanksgiving and Christmas and, of grade, there'south more gratis wine than I can possibly drinkable." With New York one of the most competitive vino scenes in the land, we asked hardworking and experienced reps like Ben to chime in with communication for people who might want to get into the sales game.

Here are some of their insights and helpful tidbits of advice:

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To be a sales rep, you must exist expert at working independently.

Self-motivation is the nigh important thing, according to Jeff Paradise, a sales rep at Communal Brands. "I'm my own boss, for the near office," he says. Of course, there are pros and cons to this. Y'all have to be organized and recall which accounts need attention and who is putting in an society. You likewise have to be constantly hunting out new accounts; this is called "prospecting." The benefit is that nobody scolds you if y'all're non "in the office" by nine a.chiliad. In fact, you lot may only need to go into the office in one case or twice a week. And dejeuner is non but guaranteed to exist at your leisure, it quite perhaps could take place in a fancy, decadent restaurant — with expert vino.

People skills are everything.

To be a skilful rep, you need to exist a "people person." Acquire to talk to all kinds of people — snobby, uber-cool somms likewise as the old-school guy who owns that red-sauce Italian identify with white tablecloths. "Chameleon" is a word that Jeff uses to describe the ideal wine rep. "There are so many different personalities among buyers and they're all looking for something different from their reps," he says. "Being able to effigy out how to meet their needs in the manner they want is the cardinal to edifice a good relationship." He mentions something important here: relationships. Buyers demand to know they can count on you lot in the long run. Even if they take your vino off their by-the-glass lists, you tin't get pissed off at them; they are simply doing their jobs. Your job is to sell them vino, not design the listing.

You lot must beloved drinking wine!

This should exist obvious. But maybe, at the moment, you only like wine. That's OK. It's a starting indicate. Nathaniel Ross Center, who works for T. Edward Wines as a sales rep, got into the chore at a point when he realized his music career wasn't going to support him, but he also didn't want to piece of work in a restaurant where he would exist "stuck in ane identify all day." To acquire more and educate his palate while he was starting his rep career, Nathaniel joined a weekly blind-tasting grouping and read a lot, and it helped immensely (I was in that group, actually; we had a lot of fun!).

If you similar wine, being a sales rep is great because you have admission to sample bottles and ofttimes get to use your company expense account at restaurants. Of course, this isn't for taking your boyfriend on a date. Information technology's for inquiry to see if you tin can open up a new account or to check in on an existing i. But you tin all the same accept fun.

Payment is a long-term prospect.

Sales rep jobs are based on commission. At first, even if you have a small base of operations salary, you lot won't be reeling in the cash, equally information technology takes time to build solid relationships and become people ordering from you regularly. Even once yous've established some great accounts you'll have boring months, particularly August, and that's but the way it is. Commission rates tin vary from half-dozen percent to x percentage of sales. Overall pay varies greatly. If you piece of work for a big company, similar Southern, you could make a very big bacon. If bazaar wine is your thing and you want to be with a smaller company, your compensation will likely be smaller, simply that brings up our adjacent, very important point.

You lot should dearest, or at least similar, the portfolio yous're selling.

Sophie Barrett, a sales rep for MFW Vino Co., who also has years of experience managing ane of the city's summit retail stores, says it then well that I'll merely quote her straight here: "Quality of the wines [in the portfolio] is very important. I don't call back anyone with a soul tin can sling a purse of wines they don't love, or at to the lowest degree similar. For me, it had to be a portfolio that coincided with my taste and aesthetic. But also, information technology has to be a portfolio that is deep and rounded enough to lend some economical stability. There have to be cheap wines and expensive wines and enough breadth, quantity, and consistency to make it sustainable; otherwise y'all're going to have to have another task to make a living."

You need to be physically strong to striking those streets.

In New York particularly — where near people don't accept a machine and instead use the subway to get around — life as a sales rep means schlepping constantly. "The job is incredibly taxing physically," Sophie says. "I'1000 a fit, sporty person, and I still struggle carrying the bottles, around five to ten miles of walking per day, plus subway stairs, plus dealing with whatsoever weather status prevails." Add together to that pouring vino for 2 hours on a Fri night while standing upward at one of your retail accounts — something reps commonly do — and you may not even have enough energy left to get to the wine bar where your friends are drinking. Then again, you probably volition.

Where does one find a wine sales task?

You're still interested? OK. Discussion of mouth is 1 place to get-go. If you're already in the manufacture (retail or eating place), your colleagues will be a good source for tips virtually job openings. If y'all don't know that many importers' names notwithstanding, start turning bottles around to look at the back label and you'll get to know them pretty quickly. Also look at winejobs.com for sales rep jobs. And go to tastings, where you can really come across the importer who created the portfolio and shake his or her hand. Bring a business menu and act professional (i.e., don't get drunk). Yous will likely be remembered when that importer is trying to make full a position or grow the visitor. And once you get the chore, don't wait it to be lucrative, fun, or glamorous — at to the lowest degree non correct away. "Patience and persistence are primal when you're merely setting out and trying to break into new accounts," says Ben Stewart. One time you sign up for a sales rep job, expect to work at it for several years earlier yous're confident and comfortable. If you're stillinterested, a lot of importing and distributing companies volition probably exist glad to rent you, so get to work sprucing up that résumé and your wine knowledge — likewise as those biceps. You'll need them to carry those six bottles up the subway steps.

Published: September 26, 2016

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Source: https://vinepair.com/articles/become-wine-sales-rep/

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