Hi everyone! In this thread, I'd like to ask all experienced entrepreneurs/salespeople here for specific advice. You'll be surprised to see me ask for THIS type of advice, given my past statements on this forum, but I'm convinced I need that advice. Here's the subject:
By way of introduction, I'm a salesman for a bunch of family wineyards from across France and Italy (plus one from Germany). Obviously, these vintners have to devote themselves fully to their job (growing healthy grapes and making wine), so they need someone else (namely, me) to sell their wine to restaurants and liquor/wine stores.
Problem is, I'm not yet a very good/effective salesman (though I want to become one, because I know how important that is to succeed as an entrepreneur).
And more worringly, I work in Lyon (an ultra-competitive environment where restaurants and liquor stores are called by probably 20-30 vineyards/salespeople per day).
And so, here's how I currently do it :
1) First, I do research on every prospect I intend to call: who runs the restaurant/store, who is the sommelier at the restaurant (if they have one), what dishes and wine do they serve, what do restaurant reviews write about them, and what (if anything) have they recently posted on social media.
Though, sadly, these details are sometimes unavailable: the wine menu (and sometimes even the dishes menu) is sometimes unavailable, as are, in some cases, the names of the owner and the sommelier (if they even have one).
But if I do dig up some information, I try to make sense of it and build my script based on it, which leads us to Step 2...
2) I script most of my calls, trying to tailor them to my specific prospects. In my scripts, in the opening, I make reference to the dishes and wine they currently serve, invoke people's names, and if applicable, any recent social media posting.
3) I then call the prospect and before proposing anything, I try asking them how they chose the wines they currently have (if their list is online), or what wines they wish to have in the upcoming season (in France, different seasons call for different types of dishes, and therefore, different styles of wine; for example, in the autumn and the winter, greasy, hot, plentiful, and spicy dishes are normally served, and the best wines to pair with them are full-bodied, very aromatic wines, like the grand wines of the Rhône Valley, Burgundy, Bordeaux... kind of like the equivalents of Australian Shiraz from SA and Hunter Valley, or Zinfandel and CabSauv from California).
Here's how the call usually goes with restaurants (let's say the restaurant chef/owner is Olivier Grandchef):
Me: Good morning, my name is John Doe with the Remizieres Wineyard, may I speak to Olivier, SVP ?
Waiter/Gatekeeper: What about?
Me: I've read on your website that you currently have such-and-such wine from Vineyards X, Y and Z. That's an interesting choice, and I'd like to know, how did he select them?
OR:
Me: Good morning, my name is John Doe with the Remizieres Wineyard, may I speak to Olivier, SVP ?
Waiter/Gatekeeper: What about?
Me: I've read on your website that you change your menu every week/month to present something new everyday. I'd like to know, what wines do you think you'll need for the autumn and winter season to pair with the greasy, spicy, plentiful food typical of that season?
OR:
Me: Good morning, my name is John Doe with the Remizieres Wineyard, may I speak to Olivier, SVP ?
Waiter/Gatekeeper: What about?
Me: On your website, I've seen that you currently have an interesting wine menu for the summer, with names such as Beautiful Rosé of Provence and Easytodrink White From Italy. With the autumn and the winter on the horizon, can you tell me please, what wines from what region of France do you think you'll need a few months from now?
At this point, the waiter/gatekeeper will either:
"Why do you ask?" or "What is this about?"
To which I reply:
"I'm asking because I represent a handful of family-owned wineyards from across France which work exclusively with restaurants like yours and with liquor stores, never with supermarket chains.(1) From the Loire Valley and Alsace to Languedoc and Provence, those vintners can supply you with fine wines that can pair well with your wine, and most of them are still relatively rare in Lyon, so your customers are unlikely to find them somewhere else. And of course, never at supermarkets. I'll be happy to propose a free tasting of these wines to you. Are you available next week or the week afterwards? (2)"
Unfortunately, if I don't get the "send us an email" brushoff, I get the following one:
"Thanks, but we're all set/we already have all the wine we need, we already have suppliers for that."
At which time, I try to reply with one of the following:
"I understand, I'm sure you already have your wine suppliers, and that's precisely why I'm calling - because knowing lots of vintners, you're certainly able to make a fair comparison of the quality of everyone's wine. So, can we meet next week, or the week afterwards?" (3)
Or:
"I understand, I can see from your wine list you already have your suppliers, but it never hurts to have another one as a backup plan, in case your principal suppliers are unable to meet your demands. So, can we meet next week, or the week afterwards?"
Or:
"I understand, that's what every client of mine said at the beginning, they also said they didn't need anything, but once they tasted the wines I proposed, they were quick to place an order. You'll see that it will be worth your time. So, can we meet next week, or the week afterwards?"
Sadly, if a prospect says he's not interested/he already has everything he needs, in 99% of cases I'm unable to change his mind, no matter what technique/response I try. In some cases, when a prospect tells me in a very direct, affirmative tone, "I'm not interested" and I feel he's about to hang up, I let him do that and remove him from my prospecting list.
All the appointments I've had were with those prospects who were at least open to the idea of seeing me. (Fortunately, just yesterday, I obtained 2 new appointments.)
1) French restaurants and wine stores don't like vintners who also sell to supermarket chains (although big names like Michel Chapoutier, Guigal, and G.H. Mumm seem to get a free pass on doing that). I use this fact as one of my "value-skewing" arguments.
2) Sales books, especially in France, strongly recommend using this sales technique, known as the "two alternatives technique": you propose two dates, or two timeframes, to your prospect, which only leaves him with a choice between these two, not a choice between meeting or not meeting you.
3) Sales books also recommend that, when you refute an alibi to not give you an appointment, you immediately seize the initiative by again proposing an appointment. Up to you guys to tell me what you think of these techniques.
Thanks in advance to everyone for contributing!
How to obtain more appointments when prospecting by phone, specifically in the wine sales industry?
(Though I hope others can draw lessons from this thread and apply them to their own industry.)
(Though I hope others can draw lessons from this thread and apply them to their own industry.)
By way of introduction, I'm a salesman for a bunch of family wineyards from across France and Italy (plus one from Germany). Obviously, these vintners have to devote themselves fully to their job (growing healthy grapes and making wine), so they need someone else (namely, me) to sell their wine to restaurants and liquor/wine stores.
Problem is, I'm not yet a very good/effective salesman (though I want to become one, because I know how important that is to succeed as an entrepreneur).
And more worringly, I work in Lyon (an ultra-competitive environment where restaurants and liquor stores are called by probably 20-30 vineyards/salespeople per day).
And so, here's how I currently do it :
1) First, I do research on every prospect I intend to call: who runs the restaurant/store, who is the sommelier at the restaurant (if they have one), what dishes and wine do they serve, what do restaurant reviews write about them, and what (if anything) have they recently posted on social media.
Though, sadly, these details are sometimes unavailable: the wine menu (and sometimes even the dishes menu) is sometimes unavailable, as are, in some cases, the names of the owner and the sommelier (if they even have one).
But if I do dig up some information, I try to make sense of it and build my script based on it, which leads us to Step 2...
2) I script most of my calls, trying to tailor them to my specific prospects. In my scripts, in the opening, I make reference to the dishes and wine they currently serve, invoke people's names, and if applicable, any recent social media posting.
3) I then call the prospect and before proposing anything, I try asking them how they chose the wines they currently have (if their list is online), or what wines they wish to have in the upcoming season (in France, different seasons call for different types of dishes, and therefore, different styles of wine; for example, in the autumn and the winter, greasy, hot, plentiful, and spicy dishes are normally served, and the best wines to pair with them are full-bodied, very aromatic wines, like the grand wines of the Rhône Valley, Burgundy, Bordeaux... kind of like the equivalents of Australian Shiraz from SA and Hunter Valley, or Zinfandel and CabSauv from California).
Here's how the call usually goes with restaurants (let's say the restaurant chef/owner is Olivier Grandchef):
Me: Good morning, my name is John Doe with the Remizieres Wineyard, may I speak to Olivier, SVP ?
Waiter/Gatekeeper: What about?
Me: I've read on your website that you currently have such-and-such wine from Vineyards X, Y and Z. That's an interesting choice, and I'd like to know, how did he select them?
OR:
Me: Good morning, my name is John Doe with the Remizieres Wineyard, may I speak to Olivier, SVP ?
Waiter/Gatekeeper: What about?
Me: I've read on your website that you change your menu every week/month to present something new everyday. I'd like to know, what wines do you think you'll need for the autumn and winter season to pair with the greasy, spicy, plentiful food typical of that season?
OR:
Me: Good morning, my name is John Doe with the Remizieres Wineyard, may I speak to Olivier, SVP ?
Waiter/Gatekeeper: What about?
Me: On your website, I've seen that you currently have an interesting wine menu for the summer, with names such as Beautiful Rosé of Provence and Easytodrink White From Italy. With the autumn and the winter on the horizon, can you tell me please, what wines from what region of France do you think you'll need a few months from now?
At this point, the waiter/gatekeeper will either:
- Try to get rid of me immediately (either by telling me straight away that "if this is about selling us wine, we don't need anything", or by asking me to send them an email that will never be replied to); or
- Putting his boss on the phone; or
- Telling me that his boss is unavailable, but will be available at a later time.
"Why do you ask?" or "What is this about?"
To which I reply:
"I'm asking because I represent a handful of family-owned wineyards from across France which work exclusively with restaurants like yours and with liquor stores, never with supermarket chains.(1) From the Loire Valley and Alsace to Languedoc and Provence, those vintners can supply you with fine wines that can pair well with your wine, and most of them are still relatively rare in Lyon, so your customers are unlikely to find them somewhere else. And of course, never at supermarkets. I'll be happy to propose a free tasting of these wines to you. Are you available next week or the week afterwards? (2)"
Unfortunately, if I don't get the "send us an email" brushoff, I get the following one:
"Thanks, but we're all set/we already have all the wine we need, we already have suppliers for that."
At which time, I try to reply with one of the following:
"I understand, I'm sure you already have your wine suppliers, and that's precisely why I'm calling - because knowing lots of vintners, you're certainly able to make a fair comparison of the quality of everyone's wine. So, can we meet next week, or the week afterwards?" (3)
Or:
"I understand, I can see from your wine list you already have your suppliers, but it never hurts to have another one as a backup plan, in case your principal suppliers are unable to meet your demands. So, can we meet next week, or the week afterwards?"
Or:
"I understand, that's what every client of mine said at the beginning, they also said they didn't need anything, but once they tasted the wines I proposed, they were quick to place an order. You'll see that it will be worth your time. So, can we meet next week, or the week afterwards?"
Sadly, if a prospect says he's not interested/he already has everything he needs, in 99% of cases I'm unable to change his mind, no matter what technique/response I try. In some cases, when a prospect tells me in a very direct, affirmative tone, "I'm not interested" and I feel he's about to hang up, I let him do that and remove him from my prospecting list.
All the appointments I've had were with those prospects who were at least open to the idea of seeing me. (Fortunately, just yesterday, I obtained 2 new appointments.)
FINAL REMARKS
- I know that I've said in the past (in 2018) that cold calling/phone prospecting doesn't work, and I know I was wrong about that. This thread is not intended to re-argue that point.
- I also know that wine is not something people need, and that most restaurants in Lyon already have plenty of it. Still, I want to learn the ropes of selling by working in a very competitive environment.
- Obviously, rejection is part and parcel of every salesperson's life; you don't need to explain that to me
That being said, I'm sure there's a way to have less of it (i.e. be more successful when prospecting), and I need to know what it is.
1) French restaurants and wine stores don't like vintners who also sell to supermarket chains (although big names like Michel Chapoutier, Guigal, and G.H. Mumm seem to get a free pass on doing that). I use this fact as one of my "value-skewing" arguments.
2) Sales books, especially in France, strongly recommend using this sales technique, known as the "two alternatives technique": you propose two dates, or two timeframes, to your prospect, which only leaves him with a choice between these two, not a choice between meeting or not meeting you.
3) Sales books also recommend that, when you refute an alibi to not give you an appointment, you immediately seize the initiative by again proposing an appointment. Up to you guys to tell me what you think of these techniques.
Thanks in advance to everyone for contributing!
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