REthink Wine Blog

A trip to the wine country to visit a winery = a tank of gas

A bottle of 2004 Pinot Noir = $35.00

Exceptional Customer Service from the winery staff = PRICELESS

Definitions by www.wikipedia.com
• ‘Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.’

• ‘Customer satisfaction is a business term which is used to capture the idea of measuring how satisfied an enterprise’s customers are with the organization’s efforts in a marketplace. It is seen as a key business performance indicator and is part of the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard.’

Exceptional Customer Service is having the ability to identify a customers needs, and then exceeding their expectations in fulfilling them. A successful business recognizes the importance of cultivating customer relationships and knows that customer loyalty and satisfaction is one of the most valuable assets a company can have.

Customer service is important to a winery because without customers there wouldn’t be a business. Listed below are some benefits from offering excellent service:
• Enhanced customer experience increases your public image and gives you a leading edge over your competition.
• Repeat business and customer loyalty will lead to an increase in sales.
• Employee success offers greater job satisfaction and a higher retention rate.

How can a winery develop a strategy for offering excellent service?

First, take the time to learn about your customers, understand their wants and needs. Dedicate the time to turn a new visitor into a returning customer. A loyal customer will bring in repeat business and often times will be your best advocate when recommending your winery to others. 

Train your staff and invest in their success. Make sure your employees are not only knowledgeable about your products, but they know how to sell them. Write up a training policy for new employees to bring them up to speed as quickly as possible. Monitor the sales from your tasting room and look for ways to increase your opportunities.

Be proactive and solicit feedback – touch base with your customers and ask for suggestions.  Keep it simple and listen to what your customer’s are saying. It will help you when it’s time to refocus your marketing strategies and realign your service expectations. Be responsive and embrace the opportunity to improve.

As our Director of Support Services, Stephen Mutch said, “The consistent delivery of superior service requires the careful design and execution of a whole system of activities that includes the right people, culture, technology and processes.”

Remember customers do matter. A loyal and exceptionally satisfied customer is well worth their weight in gold!

This entry was posted by Kiz Dodds on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 11:51 am and is filed under Customer Relationship Management (CRM). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.