Something very strange happened last night – or unusual at-least. At ~7:30pm the phone rang; “it’s xyz-merchant in Germany, remember you bought a bottle of ‘xxx’ from us – I just wondered how it was?” Then through a serpentine road of compliments, brown nosing, dropping references to various producers he/they represent, he finally tried (manfully) to sell me some Pommard from Jean Chartron. Apparently it was a fantastic price at only 19.95 euros, but we never got onto the vintage because he didn’t know the lieu-dit (or dits). If someone wants to sell me something, they should at least know something about what they’re selling.
I was never cold-called to buy wine before – maybe I led a sheltered life!
There are 2 responses to “cold-calling winesales”
We proactively contact customers all the time with wine suggestions we believe will appeal to them based on their prior purchases or on what they have told us they want. However, I don’t consider it “cold-calling” as that implies there is limited prior interaction or a non-existent relationship. Normally, such calls are welcomed because the person is often too busy to sift through various wine opportunities they receive from various sources and the suggestions are relevant to their interests. True cold-calling is irritating as it is another form of intrusive marketing from which we are all increasingly striving to insulate ourselves.
Horses for courses Steve.
My purchase from this merchant was a single bottle via ebay about 8 months ago – so not really a relationship – also he didn’t really know too much about what he was selling…