Dry Diggins & Amador Distillery products tend to leave the tasting room quickly thanks to its hosts. Photo by Scott Thomas Anderson

When it comes to distilleries open to the public, having a staff that provides visitors with great memories doesn’t always equal a tasting room’s full sales potential. And given that distilling is an art form that requires so much creative chemistry and imaginative touches, that’s a conundrum not every owner finds enough time to think about.

But spirits consultant Lenny Gotter thinks this lack of know-how around sales is plaguing the industry. He urges anyone who owns a tasting room to balance the special ambiance they’ve conjured with a consistent approach to selling bottles out the door.

“I was recently wine tasting in Oregon, and it was such a contrast to go to tasting rooms and see how focused they were on really getting new club members and selling the products they had to offer,” Gotter observes, “and then, just weeks later, going back to distillery tasting rooms where the attitude with staff is generally, ‘We’re making great stuff – have a nice day!’ It was such a stark difference; and I don’t think I’ve ever been to a distillery where someone actually asked me if I wanted to buy something.”

Stand and deliver (or don’t?)

To gauge where distillery tasting rooms are with their sales Bona fides, Distiller’s magazine discretely — without announcing itself — ventured into three in California’s greater Bay Area. We wanted to see how skilled the hosts were at turning an excellent tasting day into a subtle but solid sales pitch. In other words, could they reasonably convince us to leave with a purchase?

Our first incognito adventure was at a north Bay distillery not far from some world-famous wineries. That means it’s situated in a broader tasting landscape where people come from near and far to have libation-based excursions and presumably leave with souvenir bottles.

The place had all the hallmarks of a popular stop for visitors. Its tasting room boasted a sleek, stylish sophistication but was still laidback enough for casual tasters to relax in. The host was friendly. He was also extremely knowledgeable about what was coming out of the stills. However, when it came to his overall sales prowess, it was a mixed bag. He did a good job pointing out possible selections for the tasting flight — ones that would be of interest to a true spirits connoisseur. He was also able to offer some quick but effective background on each bottle that was being poured, emphasizing what made each unique in context of the distillery’s wider menu. Finally, as the tasting progressed, the host expertly wove in tips about which of the spirits had been most intriguing to other tourists who’d been there recently.

It seemed like this ambassador had set the table, so to speak, to guide any visitor to a purchase. Not entirely. He didn’t follow-through on specifically asking if we had interest in making a purchase. It seemed totally plausible that we could have paid the tasting fee and walked right out the door with mainly a smile and wave from our host. Even more perplexing, it was only after we mentioned, on our own initiative, that we wanted to buy a bottle of one particular spirit, that the host admitted this bottle was the distillery’s most-popular offering. Of course, it could be argued from that salesperson’s perspective that he had so much confidence in the product that he assumed some kind of sale was a foregone conclusion. However, from a distillery owner’s perspective, even if that supposition is true more than half the time, it’s probably leaving a lot of money on the table.

Strike one in the experiment. And that wasn’t an anomaly.

On that same day, Distiller magazine slipped into another tasting room in the Bay Area, one with a bright, elegant vibe that was well-suited to the chicness of its surrounding neighborhood. The distillery’s person behind the counter was a charming fellow. At first impression, he seemed like the ideal salesman, charismatic, confident and highly adept at discussing various strands of drinking culture. He had a natural, no-pressure way of getting visitors excited about what his company was making.

So, the enthusiasm and energy were there with this tasting room employee. But not the concentrated sales pitch. The closest this host came to it, eventually, was the casual question — tossed out as nearly an after-thought — of whether anything had caught our interest. That was a little more effort in prompting a sale than anything the previous host tried, yet it was still couched as more of a curious inquiry rather than concerted suggestion about why we should buy a bottle.

Strike two in the same geographic area.

Some weeks later, we tried once more. We made our way into a distillery’s tasting area on the down-low, finding a lively and inviting ambiance with décor that helped tell an interesting tale about the owners’ background. With all these things going for the place, how would its tasting rooms employees perform as sellers when it was time for us to leave?

They didn’t even try.

At this distillery, employees let visitors pick their specific flights and then try them alone at nearby tables, with almost no engagement or interaction with the staff. Now, there’s such a thing as conveying belief in a company’s product, and then there’s such a thing as conveying what can be mistaken for indifference. This distillery was running the risk of having some potential patrons come to the latter conclusion.

It’s examples like this that leave Gotter exasperated. He thinks if distillers collectively tried to improve the sales tactics in their tasting rooms, there would be industry-wide benefits.

“If distillers paid more attention to this part of their business, they’d all make more money,” Gotter stresses. “And spirits are still pretty mysterious to most consumers. So, the tasting rooms need to not only educate consumers about spirits, but also get them to take bottles home, so they can genuinely start to appreciate spirits.”

‘Coffee’s for closers’

In the 1992 film “Glengarry Glen Ross,” based on David Mamet’s seminal play about real estate salesmen, Alec Baldwin portrays a ruthless manager who suddenly stops a struggling rep from refilling his coffee, mid-pour. “Put that coffee down,” he barks. “Coffee’s for closers, only.” He then demands the sales team memorize the acronym A.B.C. — Always Be Closing.

While consultants don’t usually recommend motivating staff through intimidation, the “always be closing” mantra is handy enough if imparted through other means.

Kelsey Wailing is a tasting host that was trained by Bill Easton.

John Lee is a recognized expert in training salespeople. Based in Portland, Lee is a spirits fan who’s observed the basic dilemma around tasting hosts.

“They need to think of themselves as not a server, but as someone who’s creating as experience for these people, basically, having fun with them and building a relationship,” Lee acknowledges. “But they’re also not compensated, typically, in a way that encourages them to sell a bottle. So, if you have a small distillery, you have to really train your team members to understand that their job isn’t just making a visit enjoyable, but also to get people to walk out with a bottle. You have to compensate your sales people for doing that. And, right now, very, very few distilleries do that.”

Lee identifies two basic strategies for improving a tasting room’s sales. One is direct motivation, either through deciding on a commission structure, or, alternatively, a metric for how well an employee should ideally be performing — i.e. what defines a “closer.”

“Sales people only do two things, and it has to do with what you pay them for, and what you measure,” Lee explains. “So, if you’re not going to pay them for selling bottles, then you have to measure them – weekly or by shift – and find out if they measure up. If they met ten customers on a shift, and one person walked out with a bottle, that may be good – I don’t think so, but you have to set that goal, whatever it is – and then measure that key performance indicator. And you also have to make sure staff knows that leadership is actually looking at that.”

Lee also recommends ownership pay attention to the best performers in the tasting room. If a distiller has one employee who’s selling a bottle to eight out of every ten visitors coming through, while most other employees are selling two, then that top-performer needs to be recognized and put in a mentor position. If the rest of the staff can’t learn from what the successful employee is doing differently, Lee notes, then it’s a serious missed opportunity.

Finally, on the motivation front, Lee says competitive sales games with even small bonuses or perks can go a long way in upping a tasting room’s revenue. Those features touch a nerve with tasting hosts who have the best natural sales instincts.

“I hire literally hundreds of sales people, and if you look at our personality profiles, there’s a certain profile for who we are and who’s successful doing this,” Lee said. “And it’s not about money, it’s really about winning and solving a problem. That’s your best sales people: Inquisitive, curious, able to listen, able to tell a story.”

From left, Cristine Steller, Kendric Steller, Erica Steller and Cris Steller, the team at Dry Diggins Distillery. Photo by Scott Thomas Anderson

Let the story be told

Wielding the force of experience is Lee’s second strategy for increasing sales. He notes that, while this might seem like a given, the reality is that staff need to be able to share the ups and downs of their company – along with its most special accomplishments – and have the same passion and conviction the distillery’s owner would while doing it.

“At a small distillery, it’s not amazing but it’s often true, that the best person at selling bottles is the owner or the owner’s spouse,” Lee reflects. “That’s because they love it. They believe in it. They know everything about it. Your owners are always your best sales people.”

Distiller Magazine found that observation was right on the money when it made its fourth foray into a tasting room. We wanted to see if a northern California distillery that was farther away from the highly populated Bay Area might have different tactics for its tasting room, since the volume of foot traffic is less. This last business is worth naming because the sales skills on display were very impressive.

Dry Diggins Distillery is saddled in the open, rolling countryside of El Dorado County, 130 miles northeast of San Francisco. Its tasting room has a rustic charm that celebrates the cattle-driving, gold-mining heritage of the surrounding hills. Even its bottle labels, including for its other brand, Amador Distillery, have a certain rare rancher’s elegance. The tasting room host we met, who didn’t know who we were until well into the visit, was Erica Steller. In keeping with Lee’s insight about the sales potential in storytelling, Steller put on a captivating presentation that conveyed everything the distillery is about, and hopes to be, in the coming years. While we were there, we witnessed Steller literally sell a box full of various whiskeys, gins and brandys to another customer. But, also along the lines of Lee’s final assessment, Erica Steller happens to be the daughter of Dry Diggins’ owner, Cris Steller. That means she speaks with real flare about her family’s distilling mission.

“The customers like coming here and they feel like part of our community,” she says. “They understand what we’re doing and want to be able to support it. When you create your product line, you have to know why you’re making something, and you have to be passionate about that, because, if you’re not, the consumer will see through that. It’s being confident in what you’re doing. If you’re proud of what you do, and you know why you’re doing it, that’s why someone is going to be interested in the first place, that’s why they are going to come back, that’s why they’re going to tell their friends.”

Another element of merging storytelling with sales involves emphasizing innovation, according to Bill Easton, who owned a wine store for years in Berkeley, Ca., before opening his own winery tasting room in California’s Sierra foothills. Easton says that what he’s learned from four decades of experience with alcohol sales – the first half in a retail space that allowed tasting, the second in his own custom-designed bar at Easton & Terra Rouge Vineyards – is that some basic trends hold true across the board.

“In the end it’s about customer service,” Easton notes. “But you also have to have staff in place who can convey a lot of information, but still present themselves as authentic people.”

Easton encourages distillery owners to use their tasting rooms for showcasing what the business does that’s outside the box. Easton himself was a pioneer in proving Sierra wine appellation could produce top-tier, award-winning Rhone varietals. The winery’s triumphs on that front are something its hosts constantly bring up in the tasting room.

“It’s something they explain to visitors,” Easton says. “We make sure that our staff knows that’s important, especially when it comes to describing all the ways that we’re cutting edge.”

Erica Stellar agrees, though she emphasizes that every strategic piece belongs to a broader puzzle when it comes to making genuine connection withs patrons. A good rule of thumb, according to her, is do not take visitors’ tastes and attention for granted.

“I think it’s important to have them make up their own minds before you start talking about the tasting notes,” she reflects. “That, to me, is what makes people decide if they actually like it or not. I’ve been to too many tasting rooms where they start talking at you about what you should or shouldn’t be tasting; and then you end up going home with a case and two weeks later, you open a bottle and say, ‘What did I do?’ That won’t make for a repeat customer. And anybody can sell that first bottle: What gets that second sale and having a regular, loyal customer – one who will come to us rather than going to a box store that’s a block away from them – is because we created that relationship, and we kind of have the ‘Cheers’ thing going.”