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w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m J u l y - A u g 2 014 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 9 9 Whitehouse, who moved to Napa Valley from Atlanta in 2007, took stand-up comedy training to improve her personal communica- tion skills and now says that stage training helps her identify tasting room personnel who think that the- atrics can wow customers during their one-sided presentations. As showmen they may be stars, but as salesmen they're flops. "People who come from a theat- rical background think they're great at selling," Whitehouse said. "But it doesn't necessarily translate unless you take the time to build rapport, to care about the person who's standing there on the other side. The greatest salesperson is the one who asks questions about you." TRAINING INSPIRES CONFIDENCE Berglund, Paulson and White- house offer a number of classes and workshops geared to winery personnel to improve speaking, presentation and sales skills. Courses offered at WISE Acade- my generally range from half-day to three days and include "Wine Fluency," "Tasting Room Pro- fessional" and "Wine Industry Leadership." Berglund brings in outside experts to teach some classes, such as "Mastering Public Speak- ing." Lynda Spillane, a Colorado- based speechwriter and speaking coach who works with CEOs and heads of state, teaches this two- day workshop twice a year at WISE Academy. Berglund herself often joins the class. "It comes in handy a lot," said Berglund, who has taken Spill- ane's class eight times. "Public speaking confidence and abil- ity impacts everything, whether you're speaking to a group of consumers during a tour and tasting, or if you're the head of a winery and you're speaking to Geni Whitehouse addresses a group at a Women for WineSense leadership seminar. www.scottlab.com "Cleanliness is the basic condition for wine quality." - Emile Peynaud BENEFITS OF AIRD CLEANING PRODUCTS t Significant water savings since no citric rinse is required t Specially formulated for the wine industry t&GGFDUJWFBUMPXEPTFTPWFSXJEFUFNQFSBUVSFSBOHFT t/PDIMPSJOFPUIFSIBMPHFOTQIPTQIBUFTTJMJDBUFTPSGJMMFST t%POPUSFRVJSFIB[BSEPVTTIJQQJOH t4BGFSMFTTFOWJSPONFOUBMJNQBDUUIBOCVMLDIFNJDBMDMFBOFST BENEFITS OF AIRD CLEANING PROD ODUC UCTS TS Carlsen & Associates 707-431-2000 "Our new Carlsen Basket Press is even better than expected: capacity, speed, programming, ease of cleaning and gentle treatment of press fractions, make it ideal for a cellar that wants top quality wine, and it's supported by Carlsen's quality service" Bob Betz - Winemaker Betz Family Winery Woodinville, WA "