[August 29, 2024 – Sandra Beals] Winery owners in the US are experiencing the most competitive time in history to sell wine direct to consumer. Wine consumers are being a bit more conservative with how they spend their time and finances as we wrap up this summer season. Today, every […]
[July 31, 2024 – Sandra Beals] High performing hospitality teams actively care for the tasting room, even on the slowest days. Guests should see the staff polishing glassware in between visits to their table, tasting bar space, etc. Guests should not see staff sitting with their cell phone, making personal […]
[June 27, 2024 – Sandra Beals] The US Wine Industry is certainly experiencing some shifts as distributor consolidation and increased direct wine competition continues to play out. There are 11,691 wine brands across the nation today, representing about 400 more than in 2021, according to the Wines Vines Analytics Winery […]
[April 23, 2024 – Sandra Beals] In today’s competitive direct wine space, successful wine brands must have a laser-focused sales and marketing strategy in place to remain relevant. It pains me to hear winery leadership teams share that they simply don’t need a direct sales strategic plan. That sentiment may […]
[March 28, 2024 – Sandra Beals] In 2023, I shared a “Good to Great Blog Series” to showcase how our top-performing winery clients leverage the ideal blends of talent, tools, and technologies to grow their direct business. In today’s blog article, I share “Direct Wine Sales – Top 10 Mistakes […]
[February 29, 2024 – Sandra Beals] How do high-performing winery teams across the nation, increase visitation, grow consumer contact lists and build brand loyalists year after year? At DTC Wine Workshops, we teach every member of the direct to consumer team to focus on the second sale and beyond to […]
[January 24, 2024 – Sandra Beals] A group of Direct Wine Sales Specialists with the DTC Consultant Network have teamed up to provide live web training sessions in 2024. Winery owners, stakeholders, managers, and frontline staff will obtain much needed skills to remain relevant and grow consumer contact lists. Winery […]
[December 27, 2023 – Sandra Beals] Our clients have much to celebrate as we wind down a year focused on strengthening and building in the direct wine space. I am pleased to share these 2023 Direct Wine Sales Key Learnings. We worked together to build “Wine Consumer Journey Maps” in […]
[November 29, 2023 – Sandra Beals] As our clients prepare for 2024 visitation, now is the time to rethink the WHY behind winery events. Today, most wine brands don’t have the luxury of hosting the same event five years in a row as loyalists want to be intrigued and inspired […]
[February 10, 2022] Sandra Hess, founder of DTC Wine Workshops spoke at the Wine Industry Leadership Conference yesterday. This online program was sponsored by Wine Business Network and panelists included Joel A. Miller, Owner & Principal / Chateau HR Consulting; and Karen Alary, Managing Partner / The Personnel Perspective. Stace […]
New Hire Onboarding Training Program, Hospitality Service Training, and Executive Leadership Courses ideal for Winery Teams Across the US, Canada, and Australia [Sandra Hess – January 18, 2022] Today, DTC Wine Workshops Training Firm launches the first of its kind, “Direct Wine Sales Online Learning Management System” as a response […]
[Sandra Hess – December 30, 2021] ✓ Updated Communication Tools to Better Connect with Wine Brand Loyalists On December 9th, Constant Contact published a report detailing the average email open rates by industry type. The Retail/Direct Selling category shows an average open rate of 18.7% with a click-through rate of […]
As we prepare our Thanksgiving tables for time with family and friends, we also have an opportunity to thank long-term loyalists and top consumers. When we analyze key data points for a variety of winery clients across the nation, we identify key measures of success as well as areas for […]
[Sandra Hess – October 12, 2021 – DTC Wine Sales Blog] Tool #1 – Start at the Top The January 2020 Pandemic taught us a lot about being nimble and adjusting. During this time of pandemic recovery, most wine regions throughout the US have suffered from staff shortages. We have […]
[Sandra Hess – August 19, 2021 – San Francisco, CA] With about 65% of US wineries falling into the “small (up to 5000 cases produce annually)” and “very small (up to 2500 cases produced annually)” categories, wine enthusiasts want more intimacy with brands they reinvest with. Over the past four […]
