In wine 🍷sales, being busy is part of the job, but it isn't THE job.

I started selling wine to restaurants and package stores in 1984. I have two million miles on American Airlines. For 17 years, I ran a large sales team that covered the entire USA. I know what it is like to be a busy wine sales professional. And I'm here to tell you that the "busy-ness trap" is the top reason sales goals are often unmet.

Confusing "activity" with "achievement."

This is easy to miss, especially in a culture like ours in the US, where a "results-by-volume" approach is the norm and "grinding" is considered a badge of honor.

In my youth, I prided myself on being busy. Fueled by the scrolls of Og Mandino, I measured my success by how many sales calls I could make in a week.

But as I matured, I learned to work smarter, not just harder. The big breakthrough came when I first read Tim Ferris's "The 4-Hour Workweek" when it launched in 2007 (a book I reread every few years). I learned that it's not only possible to accomplish more by doing less, but it's mandatory.

Today, I see the role of a salesperson in a new light. Success in sales is not about how busy you are. It's about how productive you are. It's not about how many sales calls you make or how exhausted you are at the end of the week.

Yes, you will be very busy working in wine (or spirits) sales. But never confuse activity with achievement.

Like pro athletes, salespeople need coaching, training, and practice

Have you ever wondered why professional sports teams need a coach? Why not just let all those talented athletes run onto the field and do what they do best?

It's the same with salespeople. Like pro athletes, coaches are needed to help keep them focused and think strategically.

Left to their own devices, salespeople rarely act in the company's best interest (let alone their own). They often confuse being busy with being productive.

And what about "practice?" Why would a pro athlete need to practice? Again, it's the same for salespeople. Raw talent isn't enough. The same need for "drills" apply equally to both. RESULTS are the goal; the victory goes to the athletes who train the hardest and practice the most.

Wine knowledge versus sales training

One glaring weakness I see universally in our industry is thinking that wine knowledge training IS sales training. While it certainly is a part of it, it's not what makes the difference in achieving a sales goal.

We also live in a time when tech skills are no longer optional. "Modern" sales training should include skills such as:

• Disciplines use of time
• Leveraging CRM
• Using a "modern" sales approach
• Key account targeting
• Digital lead generation for trade sales
• Email marketing for trade sales
• Social selling for the wine sales professional

You see, true sales training goes WAY beyond wine knowledge training.

Show me a salesperson who's sweating, and I'll show you someone without a plan

I'm pretty sure Benjamin Franklin first said, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail." If this was true in 1790, it is certainly true in 2024.

Our culture today tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity. There are telltale signs of this lack of discipline in a sales role, which I discussed in another article, "5 Ways to Tell if Your Salespeople Aren't Working."

FACT: "Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions" (another Tim Ferris quote from The 4-Hour Workweek).

So, what is the antidote for this malady? Two things, really:

1. Training
2. Coaching

I want to challenge everyone who is reading this short article to go to a Google search prompt and try to find a place where wine and spirits salespeople can learn the "modern" skills discussed above. And I'm talking about training programs and resources specifically for the wine and spirits industry (excluding wine knowledge training, which is legion).

If my SEO skills are on point, you may end up here or here.

If you are pressed for time, you may want to take advantage of my latest FREE TRAINING seminary recording here. This is a great place to start!

What got you here won't keep you here

Oh my, but we love to look at "experience" in this industry, don't we when making hiring decisions? We love to peruse a resume and think to ourselves, "Oh, this person would be great." However, for many, there is no rigorous screening process in place.

Certain skills are LESS VALUABLE than they used to be, such as:

• "Managing" distributors
• Distributor relationships
• Wine knowledge

Other skills are MORE VALUABLE than they used to be, such as:

• Time management
• A "modern" selling approach
• Disciplined use of CRM
• Using data to point to the richest opportunities
• Social selling
• Inbound lead generation

Many wine (and spirits) companies could use a serious "checkup" of their sales training priorities (if they even have them).

What got you here won't keep you here. The selling environment has changed so much! Wine and spirits companies that are serious about achieving their sales goals consistently and profitably must also change, too. Again, a great place to start is with my latest FREE training webinar recording, which you can access right here.

I would love to hear YOUR thoughts and comments below!