~ The Service you expect in a Wine Shop shouldn’t be a mystery ~
The first casualty of business is often quality service. And it seems that Wine Shop Service is not immune to this trend.
Many of you know that I recently began consulting for Gary’s Wine & Marketplace. In my capacity as an Italian wine expert, my main objective is to provide an extra level of service to Gary’s customers. I listen to them and help them make an informed choice. I am not alone in this mindset.
Like many other businesses, hiring people right now is a challenge. Yet Gary’s prides itself on employing knowledgeable wine people. I’ve consulted in every one of Gary’s New Jersey stores. Each store has several wine team members working at any given time. Many of them possess WSET credentials or long time industry experience. They each have unique areas of expertise. But what’s my point?
~ Not all service will be perfect all the time. The above list is fairly extensive. But at least the first 3 should be non-negotiable ~
In any business, to be successful you need to set yourself apart from the competition. What do you do better than anyone else? Why should people choose you? At Gary’s the answer is simple. They have excellent customer service. It’s something that Founder and CEO Gary Fisch takes pride in and requires of his employees. Making customers comfortable, listening to them and providing options is paramount. As a result, it’s one of the reasons Gary’s has achieved the level of success it has.
This isn’t meant to be a Gary’s commercial. Far from it. But to discuss poor service and deride it for what it is, you need to relate the best practice as well. From my experience, both as a customer and now as a consultant, Gary’s does it right.
~ Excellent Service is about not making judgements. Never assume a customers budget. If you listen, that will become obvious without ever asking. And from my experience, you will often be surprised ~
When I started Tuscan Vines, I shared a similar philosophy. I wanted to set myself apart. I wanted to do things differently than other writers. How? By creating a more personal connection with my readers. Giving them better service. Using this website as the launching pad for more personal interaction with them through my Social Media outlets. As a result, part of that culminated in the Tuscan Vines Open House.
You won’t find brown bagged, nine word wine reviews here. I wanted more substantial articles with deeper insight into the people and the estates; not just the wine. I wanted to discuss wine both with and without food. The culture was equally important.
So then what brought this on?
To put it bluntly, I experienced one of the worst and truly bizarre customer service interactions I think I’ve ever encountered. Yes, I realize that occasionally anyone can have a bad day. And if Gary’s is the best, surely that means there are tiers somewhere in the middle. But what I experienced, was the polar opposite.
~ The first rule of Customer Service, in a Wine Shop or anywhere else, is that it’s best to be conscious when providing it ~
Recently I had an appointment in a part of town I normally don’t frequent. While driving there, I saw a Wine Shop in a strip mall and recognized the name. Although I thought this particular shop had gone out of business, apparently they just relocated. As a result, on my way home I decided to stop in and see if they had anything interesting.
The Best Laid Plans – Wine Shop Service Matters
Nothing is ever a waste. Even if circumstances result in complete failure, you have at least learned something. That’s about all I can say after the anecdote I’m about to relate.
Upon opening the door and entering the shop, within 1/2 to 1 step this annoying, electronically automated, jingle bell cacophony sounded. These things lack all the charm of the old General Store bells they are meant to emulate and I’m convinced the sole reason for deploying them in this case was to wake the sleeping cashier. Who……was the only employee in the store.
~ The intended charm was lost here ~
Upon realizing he was no longer alone, he looked up at me and gave me a warm greeting. “Hey”….
As I began browsing, I noticed many of the usual suspects. Plenty of Budweiser, magnums of inexpensive wine and White Zinfandel. Yet, the store did have quite a few higher end bottles so I continued looking around. At this point, you might have expected some additional interaction with Sleepy. Maybe, “Is there anything I can help you find?” “Are you looking for anything special?” Or simply, “Can I help you?” But all I got was….
~ Few have mastered customer service like the Walt Disney Company ~
As I walked around, it became obvious that the flooring in the store had recently been installed. Bubbles, humps, heaves and creases were ubiquitous and I couldn’t help thinking; my next step might result in me owning this place – but would I even want it? By this time, I had stumbled upon the Italian selections. There were a few wines that interested me because I don’t see them around that often.
Two bottles that particularly piqued my interest were the 2011 Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala and the 2011 Barolo Colonello. A fascinating trait about this shop was it’s pricing regimen. Gary’s displays pricing on shelves and each bottle is marked with a corresponding bar code. This place is still using a label pricing gun to mark bottles. And of course, about 50% of the bottles were unmarked, including the Conternos.
It was time to approach Sleepy.
~ Zzzzzzz ~
Me: Excuse me, I’m interested in these two bottles but there’s no price on them. Can you let me know how much they are?
Sleepy: “Uh, I guess I can look.”
I went back to browsing while Sleepy toiled away at the computer. Had I realized the extent of time my request would take, I’d have gone next store to Starbucks. Alas, several minutes later he returned.
Sleepy: “Well, I wasn’t able to find them in the system. The bottles are kinda old. But I did see some other vintages of the wines.”
Me: Ok, well can you tell me how much they are?
Sleepy: “Well, the newer vintages are a couple hundred dollars.”
Me: OK, well can you tell me how much this one (holding the Cicala) is?
Sleepy: “I guess I can do some deeper research in the system.”
At this point, I skipped over deciding what “deeper research” meant and considered briefly going to lunch, returning home to shower, shave and then seeing if Sleepy was ready to continue. But all I could muster was: “Please, thank you.” (as an aside, on the rare occasion when something isn’t priced at Gary’s it takes all of 20 seconds to scan the bar code and find the wine in the system.) Does that count as “deeper research”?
~ Belly up to the bar code ~
My anticipation was soaring when Sleepy extricated himself from behind the aging computer… I almost warned him to watch his step…
Me: How’d it go? (barely containing my laughter)
Sleepy: “I wasn’t able to find them exactly. This one (holding the Cicala) is a few hundred dollars.”
Me: And the Colonello?
Sleepy: “That one isn’t as much but it’s still a couple hundred dollars.”
Me: So is it $199?
Sleepy: No, they’re more than that.
Dentists pull teeth faster. At this point I simply said, “Thanks” and left the store – without tripping on the flooring.
~ Static….Static….Static…. ~
Wine Shop Service shouldn’t be an after thought. Giving customers a neutral experience is more preferable than giving them a bad one. I don’t expect perfection but I expect competence.
This store was empty when I got there. The entire time Sleepy was awake, I remained the only customer in the store. I can’t see that changing any time soon save for the occasional wayward “Bud” seeker and I suspect, the next time I’m in that part of town, the store may not be.
As a final aside, when I got out to my car, I decided to search for the two Barolo on Wine Searcher. They are fairly available and no, they are not “a few hundred dollars”…
Salute!
Interesting tale. It reminds me off an experience I had a few years ago in a wine store here in, probably best not to say….
I was exceptionally under dressed, in old track suit leggings, and a faded t-shirt from a race a number of years earlier. I was returning from the gym, and likely red faced, and still overheated, despite having showered (just for the record, the clothes were not what I had worked out in). I didn’t have my wallet with me, just my credit card, loose in the little zip pocket of the track suit. I looked more likely to be buying a six pack of cheap beer, than a quality wine.
However, I was after something special, as we had friends coming over for dinner the following evening, and I had been told that this store had special wines, and decent prices.
So, there I was, looking tatty, but heading straight for the “Special Room”, the Fine Wines, behind a glass door, and temperature controlled. As soon as I pulled the door open, an assistant almost ran across to say, “sorry sir, this is the old and expensive section”… Yes, it was that Julia Roberts moment… I told him I knew, and he then started the Spanish Inquisition… Not so much, What are you looking for, more, Why are you looking. ..
I was after a good Bordeaux, I can’t recall precisely which now, it was a few years back, but I picked up a bottle, unprecedented, an older vintage of course, and asked the assistant, who was almost stood on my shoulder, how much the wine was, and he actually said, “It’s Very Expensive”… Seriously, I thought he must have been a film script writer in a previous life… Biting my tongue, I said I hadn’t asked him if it was cheap or dear, just the price… If I recall correctly, it was €120, around $150 at the time…
I said Grand, I’ll take two bottles please, and walked to the counter. Took my card out of my pocket, remember, no wallet, and the assistant was looking at me as if I had two heads.
Now, I knew what my card limit was, at the time I was actually working for the bank that issued the card, and knew that there was no issue… However, after running the card through the machine, and I could see clearly the payment was authorised, the assistant said, the machine had asked him to call the Bank. I said, work away, which seemed to flummox him, but he did, they verified the transaction, and he, now looking red faced himself, wrapped the two bottles, and all but walked me to my car, before giving me a curt Farewell…..
Unlike Julia, I have never returned to the store…
That’s a great story too. Or not. But it’s funny Liam, I had also just finished from a run. I was in a t-shirt and shorts and looking as you say “tatty” but whether he made an assumption or not, I don’t know. That’s what I was getting at in the one caption of the photo about budgets. I’ve had tatty looking folks come into Gary’s and spend $1,000 on high end Burgundy like it’s nothing. They look like they can’t afford a case of Budweiser so I don’t make any judgements. You just never know…..
Thanks for commenting!