True Sales Tip: Books and Knowledge - April 14, 2009

We know that wine has been around for awhile, but we had no idea quite how long. Check out this article from Forbes about wine jars discovered in an ancient Egyptian tomb.


The True Staff chose the article above because although we all love wine, there is still so much to learn.

As a group, we also have decided to expand our collective knowledge by reading some books (fancy that) on the subject beyond. Some of our picks: The Billionaire's Vinegar - the story of the world's most expensive bottle (once owned by Thomas Jefferson), and Gary Vaynerchuck's Wine 101 - a lighter look at great wines of the world.

Like us, we're sure that your customers would love to learn more - and it's up to you to make it interesting (more than just tasting guides). Offer books in your stores (hopefully ones you have read) to further inspire your customers desire to taste, try, learn, and love wine even more!

True Sales Tip: Expand the Wine Loving Demographic April 7, 2009

College students might not seem like your target customers , but wine is growing more and more popular with this demographic. Read just an example here.


These days we're all looking for new ways to expand our businesses, and given the economic climate we're looking further to find those budding wine lovers.

As you know, wine education has grown extremely popular over the last three years: wine tastings at local grocery stores, wine consultants, even board games (like our Winerd wine trivia game) have helped contribute to wine's success.

But let's take it one step further. Every wine tasting we've been too has been fun, yet sophisticated. How about loosening it up and making it more group orientated and active for a younger crowd (or even those just young at heart)? Consider hosting a wine education event at your store that combines trivia and tasting. Think about the trivia nights hosted by your local bars -- these are simple, fun events and everyone has a great time.

We think an event that offers prizes and blind tasting "tests" for the group would be fun. Wine is about tasting, but there are plenty of interesting facts about wine that we all would love to know more about. You can find a lot of such questions in our Winerd game or just search online for "wine trivia".

True Sales Tip: Team Up with Restaurants - March 31, 2008

We frequently hear these days how retail wine and liquor stores are doing well as more consumers are changing the way they go out to eat at restaurants. Here is a great article to show you exactly what some restaurants are doing in this economic climate to bring in more patrons.

Pay special attention to what restaurants are doing with wine and we'll give you a tip below on how to increase your sales and traffic by this changing trend.

Click here For Article on Restaurants


So as restaurants try to create more dining deals and wine deals, your store can help them out even more. Restaurant prices for wine can often be high and as more restaurants loosen up restrictions on corkage fees, you can take advantage as a retail store offering good value on a variety of wines.

Team up with your local restaurants menus to match their dishes with some wines and advertise it to your local customers that visit those restaurants. If a certain restaurant is popular in your local community, it won't hurt to have their menu in your store (with their permission of course) and offer suggestions on what would pair well in your stores with their items.

Better yet, if you have a good relationship with the restaurant owners, give them a ring and make a deal with them to help their customers save some more money on wine by buying it in your store. Become a "recommended" wine stores that restaurant customers can pick up a bottle of wine from and have the restaurant waive the corkage fee (and give the restaurant a percentage of the wine sale).

We feel restaurants, as this article suggests, would love some innovative ideas to get more partons to enjoy their food within the monetary restrictions we all have right now. Help your customers have a fantastic meal at a local restaurant with some good wine without breaking the bank.