Vineyard & Winery Management

July/August 2014

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BY SUSAN G. HAUSER Improving Presentation Skills T r a i n i n g c a n r e s u l t i n b e t t e r s a l e s a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n point: You've got to relate one-on- one to the customer, not expound ad infinitum from your soap box. "Get out of monologue and into dialogue," said Berglund, who co- founded WISE (Wine Industry Sales & Education) in 2008 in response to a shortage of direct-to-consumer- trained personnel. "That's the basis of all professional sales training." The three experts found fertile ground when they started offer- t's well and good for winery per- sonnel to spew facts and figures about their wines for customers, but does that knowledge translate into impressive sales? Hardly ever, according to three Napa Valley- based communication experts. Lesley Berglund of WISE Acad- emy, Lynda Paulson of Success Strategies Inc. and Geni White- house of Even a Nerd Can Be Heard, are all in agreement on this + Public-speaking training can benefit tasting room employees and winery executives. + Successful communication is about dialogue, not monologue. + Knowledge and showmanship don't necessarily lead to sales in the tasting room. + Body language is important when speaking to any kind of audience. AT A GLANCE ing classes for all levels of win- ery personnel, from owners and executives to sales associates, through their Northern California- based communications businesses. Although sales skills have advanced considerably in recent years, Paul- son encountered a stark need for her services when she moved to Napa Valley from Chicago in the mid-1980s. "I started visiting a lot of winer- ies," Paulson recalled. "I was notic- ing that they really weren't selling the wine. They were talking about it but they weren't selling it. I would even ask, 'Can we buy it here?'" 9 8 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | J u l y - A u g 2 014 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m

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