Blog

It’s that time again…. the curtain is about to rise on another busy summer season. Wine lovers are planning their summer trips and winery destinations are top of the list! Will you be ready for your curtain call? Are all your roles filled, the right actors in place and the stage set for a successful... View Article

We hear it just about every day. You’re in the market for tasting room employees. And not just any employees, but hospitable, motivated, and reliable employees. The market is slim, because the competition is thick. You’ve heard the stats, there are over 9,000 wineries in the United States, and that number is growing every single... View Article

We’re often asked to help a winery set up their tasting room and guest experiences or we are asked to evaluate the tasting room setup to determine if it is detracting from or contributing to a great guest experience. As more wineries pop up across the U.S., winery owners realize that they must set themselves... View Article

con·nec·tion kəˈnekSH(ə)n/ noun a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else. In terms of your winery, the specific definition of connection would be: A guest’s relationship in which the tasting room host, the wine, or the winery experience is associated with your winery In our experience (through... View Article

There is no lack of data to review when managing a tasting room. How do you determine what to measure, and when? What do you have in place to help you get the data you need in order to help you reach your goals? You likely have sales goals, traffic goals, and maybe wine club... View Article

At VingDirect, we exist to help family wineries grow their direct to consumer sales. Our winery clients receive education and training, customized consulting, and our Performance Tracker (PT) software, which provides actionable tasting room data. Ours is the only benchmarking tool in the wine industry and we’re happy to share 2016 learnings and insight to... View Article

DTC, DTC, DTC, it’s at the top of every winery’s list. But what in the heck does it mean? DTC stands for Direct to Consumer (customer) and yes, this term is unique to the wine industry, probably because wine is one of the few products that must legally travel through a wholesaler or broker to... View Article

Most marketing, sales, and hospitality employees are looking forward to next year and are being asked to plan programs, staffing and sales. This means going through your list and checking it twice to see what worked and what didn’t in 2016. Here are some things review when planning for next season. Metrics! If you are... View Article

Outbound Phone Sales, Outbound Hospitality, Outbound Telemarketing... Whatever we call it, the truth is the thought of calling customers and club members inspires fear in the heart of winery owners. We associate outbound telemarketing with sleazy sales people, but your winery customers don’t view you that way. In fact, they are thrilled when they see... View Article

Wine tasting has been a favorite pastime for my husband and I as long as I can remember. Being that we would frequent wine country about once a year, we considered ourselves to be pretty familiar with the tasting experience. That is until I started working in the industry. I was shocked to find out... View Article