Waiting for your distributor to find the time and sales power to sell your wines is no longer good enough.
For years — decades, even — the relationship between a winery and its distributor was simple and straightforward. The winery made wine and the wholesaler sold the wine to the off- and on-premise markets using its dedicated sales force. The winery was expected to help with the latter, of course, and often did. But the wholesaler had the primary sales responsibility, and the roles of each were well defined.
But, says Sonoma, Calif., wine marketer Paul Tincknell of Tincknell & Tincknell, times change. In this, as the relationship between the winery and the wholesaler has evolved, so must the winery’s approach to how it deals with the wholesaler. Waiting for the distributor to find the time and sales power to sell its wines is no longer good enough — and will leave both parties disappointed and unhappy.
“Creating relationships with distributors is not as easy as it used to be,” says Tincknell. “There may seem to be contradictions, and it may not seem as rational as it used to be. But focusing on [the difficulties] won’t help you adjust to the changes.”…