Build Your Customer Base with Wine Tastings

Here's the article I got to submit to Loan Officer Magazine:

Have you ever been to an in home wine tasting? For most people the concept is brand new, but it is gaining popularity among wine lovers and newbie’s alike. The in home wine tasting experience provides a unique atmosphere to grow business. When people get together for food and wine, pleasant conversation flows easily. After leaving my former career in 2009, I needed something new and fun. I found a very enjoyable way of blending my favorite things. Wine, friends, and of course… income! I became a personal wine consultant with WineShop at Home. When I tell people that I conduct in home wine tastings for WineShop at Home, the response is almost overwhelming. It is very easy to invite them to host a tasting in their own home with their friends. Within one month of starting, I was booked with more parties than I ever imagined! It got me thinking about Client Development Tastings. New customers are the lifeblood of your business. Keeping those customers and building relationships with them is critical to the long term success of your business.

Wouldn’t you love a unique way to develop better relationships with your existing customers AND gather leads from them effortlessly? It’s easier than you think!

You can have wine tastings in your home or office – Invite your friends, neighbors, clients…they’ll have fun, learn a little more about wine, and they’ll remember YOU as the one who put it all together!

Not only that, but if your guests decide to have a fun wine tasting in their home, you can attend and meet all of their friends. It’s a perfect way to effortlessly bring in new leads, build your database, market to past clients, and close quality loans.

Before a wine tasting takes place, the host orders a tasting sampler of wines sourced from WineShop at Home. These hand crafted, limited production, artisan wines are all from our winery in Napa Valley and they are not available in stores or restaurants. The host then invites 10-16 of their wine loving friends to their home, provides some recommended cheeses & chocolates for pairing, and voila! We have a wine tasting party! I come as the “entertainment. It couldn’t be any easier to get people together for a unique, enjoyable evening! At the end, there is opportunity for the guests to purchase their favorites, either from the wines we tasted or from any of our other hand crafted artisan wines. They can also join the wine club, send the wine club as a gift, host their own party, or get more information on becoming a wine consultant.

We also offer beautiful wines that our clients can personalize by uploading their own logo or picture to design their own label. These make spectacular marketing statements at corporate events or can be given as gifts. (RESPA friendly…hint, hint…) While other businesses are struggling, mine is booming! Why? Because prospecting is always better with a good glass of wine! All guests also receive my monthly e-newsletter straight from the wine country with Wine Country Lifestyle tips and recipes.

Most of the people who come to these tastings are people who would qualify as good mortgage or real estate leads. They are all of home ownership age and they have steady income. Our wines range anywhere from $12-$32 a bottle, you do the math. The host holds it in their home with their friends. Do you know people who enjoy wine? Do you know how many wine loving friends they would have come over… that you have never met before… for wine… if they allowed you to host a tasting at their home? How much would your business grow if you met 10-16 new people at a tasting? What if one of them had a tasting and invited you and you got to meet 10-16 of their friends? What if you could meet new people in a fun, social environment where you have the chance to build a relationship with them over your common love of wine? Locally, our professionals are sponsoring wine tastings and I make sure to thank our sponsor/host of the evening and highlight whatever service, workshop, “free credit report”, etc. they are looking to promote. I can’t tell you how successful these Client Development Tastings have been! Some of our local mortgage and real estate professionals have even decided to moonlight as a wine consultant and marry the two businesses together to reap huge rewards in both!

The cost to purchase a wine sampler is pretty insignificant when you consider the potential it has to grow your business. It only costs $59 + tax* and what you’ll get is a fun evening and some new opportunities to network. The timing couldn’t be better…most people today want to learn more about wine and food but they simply don’t know where to find the information. Our culture is about enjoying wine with friends and family.

If you are trying to think out of the box and want to add some “grass roots” marketing to your social media marketing try hosting a wine tasting with one of your friends and find out how successful it can be for you!

WineShop at Home is currently licensed in 29 states to conduct in home wine tastings. We can ship to 33 states. Our Private Wine Tastings are a unique experience designed to be shared by the host and their invited guests . To learn more about Hosting Your own Client Development Wine Tasting, Personalized Wine Labels, or any of the other services we offer, visit www.WineShopAtHome.com or call 1-800-WineShop. Please reference this article when contacting WineShop At Home.

WA Permit #402750

Summertime Tastings

We had a great summer! In July we hit our goal of becoming a Team Leader!!! We have learned a ton of things about wine as we've gone along and a lot of it has been from the guests at our parties as well as the abundance of free training we have received.

We have a team call every Monday night and even when I can't actually be on the call it's recorded so I can listen in later. What has been so great about that is that we actually get to hear from the founder of WineShop at Home about the wines being released every month. He'll answer any question we have about wine making, varietals, aromas, flavors, bottling...etc. It's been very helpful as we do the new months tastings with the new wines. I can remember specific details he shared with us that I can pass on to our wine loving guests.

Every month we've been having new changes besides the new wines. Our red wine stemware came in... finally! Phew! The stems are so beautiful and elegant to drink wine out of that it's been really hard asking people to wait for them to arrive so we can start making them available again.

We've also made available a half case of personalized wine! This is going to be a hit this year because so many people are hesitant to order 12 bottles of wine to give as gifts, but 6 can really make a special gift to a select group of people.

I also got published last month in Loan Officer Magazine. I put together an article on using wine tastings as a way to develop new opportunities for Loan Officers & Real Estate Professionals. I'll post the original article here next.

My wine club wines come tomorrow so I'll have new material to discuss then. These are our special occasion wines. I love the research I get to do for my job!!!