The show was already broadcast yesterday, Saturday afternoon at 1 PM on November 6th, 2010 during our " Big-Theme" HOLIDAY WINES-GIFTS Wine-Tasting and so I was unable to see it until I got home last night after a really successful day with great customer satisfaction and sales to prove it.
So, how does a small business like Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel"202-363-4265 , sales@clevelandparkwine, www.clevelandparkwine.com, on Facebook at : clevelandparkwine&spirits ) stay in business with all the recent competition? It's simple, really : customer service, attentiveness, listening, treating everyone with the same respect, following through as often as possible on things, offering selection and knowing one's products and being honest and respectful. There's more. of course but that is some of the basics that accounts for eighty percent or more of each and every sale if not more.
Of course the other thing is : do something that is completely unexpected and welcome and so absolutely memorable. I learned this from one of the key players of CUVAISON Winery years ago when he did a educational talk for Forman Brothers distributors years ago. He mentioned for example that on a certain airline a stewardess came up during the flight and wished a passenger " Happy Birthday " - just out-of-the-blue. He's never forgotten it. How could he : who would have expected it?!? There are many examples like this that he mentioned to us. I took notes : I loved the talk : it was warm, casual, welcoming and immensely informative. I can't remember his name now but I will find it and my notes and include it here sometime. Thanks.
Another thing is to engage the customer in conversation somehow and make them feel both welcome, comfortable and relaxed. You know that you have made a major inroads when they ask you : if you are the owner? and what your name is? I smile inwardly each and every time that I hear these simple questions.
The show on CNN centers on the wine-classes that I have started to run on Saturdays in the store from 11:30AM-1PM that includes Beginners', Mid and Advances Wine-Classes - six wines and $10 per person. I started these because I had over the years so many requests for : " Where can I/we learn more about wine? " I could only think of mainly larger-format wine classes aimed at professionals from waiters to sommeliers to wine store/retail sales people, reps for wholesalers, chefs, etcetera. I did not feel I had enough people to recommend. Now I do have more.
I have been doing at-home/ 10-15 people wine-tastings in the nineties and I decided that I could do something along the same format in the rear of the store off to the side for the same number of people. So far it has been a success and I see us doing more and building from one to another as I think many of the same people will start returning for these classes.
I don't make any money on these classes : only if people buy some of the wines afterward. I use all the money that I get for the classes and put it into better/more expensive wines. I teach the basics and address many of the basic topics that everyone should know. Mostly I want people to become comfortable around wine and food and to know their plates better. This is key to me : get to know your palate in it's many moods and shades and moments and trust it and not what others are always willing to say all around you. Only you know best : simple as that.
I started my wine-tastings with the wines from the Eastern Hemisphere from where the whole wine world began. I included three whites and three reds and tried to use the indigenous grapes that were the cornerstone to these countries and their wines. I tried not to do the most basic and the most obvious. Most of our customers have already had many Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs, Malbecs, Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots, etcetera. I wanted and still want very much to make people aware of these indigenous grapes that produce their own flavors and tastes and reflect where they are from as well as the fact that many of the grapes that we know today are originally from the Eastern Hemisphere and not from the Western Hemisphere. I mean : Malbec is not from Argentina, it's from France, from the Lot region of France where we have the Cahors that used to be called the " black wines " of France.
It's been a great road that we have gone down so far in the store with the five or so classes that have been offered so far. I did not offer one yesterday with our " Big Theme " Wine-Tasting. I will continue again next Saturday. Call : 202-363-4265 or email at : anythonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com ) and let us know that you want to come. I need ten people to do them. This next one will on the wines of France - six wines that may include a bubbly or sweet wine, too. I will determine that in the next two days. Call if you want to know what regions and wines have been selected. Call if you have suggestions ; after all I am doing this for you all, not for me - though I do believe that I get as much out of it as you do. I am open to all suggestions.
Also, if you all as a group want to do a wine-tasting contact me and I will organize a Saturday in-store/wine-tasting from 11:30AM-1PM for you all : anything that you want, I am interested in all wines from anywhere - the harder to find the better. Just let me know your thoughts.
Changing stream again now, our biggest problem today as a small business is that many of the larger stores are now including wines as part of their sales and that is really cutting into our business as wine , beer, liquor-liqueurs is our sole business : it's all we do and I hope we do it well.
It's a catch 22 situation that we have to do it better and better and as we do we teach many of our customers/ and afford them many of them opportunities that they take advantage of with us and then often end up buying the wines/beers/liquors that we have made them fully-aware of in these larger stores that have included them to " add " to their sales and their " bottom lines ".
Well, simply put, that has taken away from " our bottom line". These larger stores come and go at a whim and without notice and usually as a complete surprise : us wine retail stores have been here in Washington D.C. for years and years and have been an integral part of the fabric of our neighborhood's lives. If you keep chipping away at us and not supporting us because of convenience and ignorance ( " I didn't know, I didn't think, I didn't see?!? " ) : well, if this continues like it's going then many of us " original wine retail stores " will disappear and you will have mostly only these larger retail stores where wine has been an afterthought-just another way of making more money to satisfy these large businesses " bottom lines ".
Don't forget the small guys, the small businesses, those that actually focus on one or two or even three things and not on one hundred-to-one-thousand things. They will certainly cause some of us small businesses to go out of business and may then pick-up, move-out and leave us all stranded, high-and-dry and scratching our heads because they found someplace more productive, more fruitful and more profitable. Hard facts, hard truths. Think about it, think before you act and buy ; your actions and spending matter. You do make a difference.
The CNN show is now on : " Your Money ". Watch it/tune-in if you have time : it's 3:07 PM now and the segment is towards the end of the hour. Hope you like it, I did. It was great to have Andrew Stover, sommelier and with 50States Selections, Ellie ( daughter of one of the ten sisters ) of Ten Sisters Kiwi wines, Thinas, wine-maker of BOSCHENDAL Winery, South Africa, Danielle of BOSCHENDAL wines, too there as part of the wine-class. Thanks guys.
Cheers, it's time for me to get outside and enjoy some of this beautiful day here at home in northern Virginia at 2:56 PM on Sunday, November 7th, 2010. TONY
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