Today I’m going to tell you my personal story. It all started with a very difficult moment. I was able to turn this wound into a strength. If I am here now, it is because at the end of July 2015, I discovered that my partner was cheating on me. I had just given birth and my second son was barely four weeks old. Obviously, I was counting on my partner to help me, in running the family and in running my business. Instead, I found myself alone with a one-month-old baby and a seven-year-old boy. I was unable to travel, to attend professional meetings in the vineyards or to go to wine fairs. It was a catastrophic situation and difficult to cope with morally. However, I had no choice. I was now alone on board. I had to keep selling wine and keep my business going. I had to make it through, for my children and for myself. So, what could I do?
Find a simple and efficient solution to automate wine sales
If I hadn’t discovered the solution to automate my prospecting and get as many wine sales as I needed, I wouldn’t be here today.
I propose that we do a few exercises together, to see how you too can use the Internet to move forward.
The first exercise is simple.
Take a moment and answer this question: what recent events have prompted you to do research on the Web?
The covid crisis? Blight? Frost? Anything else?
I now return to my story.
At the time, I had been managing a classic wine agency for 15 years.
I initialized sales strategies for major accounts. Famous wine houses like Alphonse Mellot, Bougrier, Bestheim, GRM. Big names such as Gérard Bertrand or Jean-Claude Mas or even wine unions in the Loire or Alsace.
t would take too long to mention them all!
And in July 2015, suddenly, I am no longer able to work as before. Stuck at home, I have a few slots, an hour or two maximum, to focus on my work.
It was impossible for me to move and leave my children alone. And I knew that if I didn’t find new clients, my business would quickly decline.
I was neither employed nor on maternity leave.
I had two children to take care of, who looked at me with love and confidence, convinced that I had the solution.
But at that point, all I had was my fears and my anxiety.
And you, now, how do you feel about the current crisis? How did you react in front of the climatic accidents that you may have faced?
Express your emotions, write them down, let go! How do you feel?
Bouncing back to go higher: the triggering event
A few months later, something clicked.
At that moment, for the first time in my life, I was looking at prices with a magnifying glass at the supermarket to calculate whether I could afford to buy a pack of diapers!
I had my second baby at 43. It was a blessing, he was my lucky baby. His energy carried me, and I had to do everything I could to ensure my children’s well-being and provide them with a desirable future.
However, I was at the end of my rope.
I felt bad about myself, and I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept for weeks and with the pregnancy I had gained 60 pounds. I lived in a small village in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by vineyards. My friends were all far away, and I had no family to support me.
This event, this single package of diapers that called everything into question, gave birth to a fundamental desire in me that could not be stopped.
I wanted to be the responsible and secure parent I had always dreamed of being for my children.
Yet, with no new orders, no other clients, and no production, I would soon find myself out of pocket.
I knew that my talent and expertise was to help sell wine.
My grandfather Marcello Fabri, a great artist, wrote: “Any man who does not give humanity the benefit of his talent is a thief”. Of course, this is also true for women, and I was aware of my skills.
In short, all of this was going round and round in my head. I was literally exhausted.
A decision that is necessary
My problem was that I thought it was impossible.
I didn’t believe in my abilities. Somewhere deep down, I didn’t want to do it and I didn’t want to learn to do it differently.
I was afraid.
Afraid that it would take me too long and that I wouldn’t have the skills.
But now I was up against the wall and had a choice to make.
Not to act and let my ideas run around in my head.
I was watching my customer file dry up a little at a time. I wasn’t doing anything to attract prospects. I was preoccupied.
It was unbearable.
Or I could react.
The last thing I wanted was to be in financial trouble.
I didn’t want to become frustrated or disappointed with the life I was living. I couldn’t set such an example for my lovely children to live by. I didn’t choose to be a mom to go through this.
Even though I was putting the brakes on, I had to go. Everything was pushing me to decide.
I was propelled in this direction. I had to digitize my business. I needed to synthesize on the Internet everything I had been doing in the “real world”.
For various personal reasons, this meant that I had to move abroad. So there was an additional constraint.
With this departure, I was going to have to manage everything in digital form and this was going to take on an international dimension.
It was such a challenge that, in a way, it gave me incredible energy. This difficult situation was going to become a springboard to success for me.
Just the thought of it made me smile again. It was like a little light that guided me out of the tunnel.
Moving away to heal
Leaving to live a better life, with my family, sharing my talent and resources to get wine bought around the world.
That was my dream.
I decided to make it come true. This wound of betrayal would become a gift.
I also knew that in healing and transforming this situation, I would discover keys. These keys can be useful to other wine professionals.
I was certainly not alone in my need to find new clients and automate my prospecting.
The Internet was the tool I needed to use. At the beginning, I still worked a lot on instinct.
Survival reflexes took over in the early days. My anger made me want to turn things around. I wanted to prove the statistics wrong: a single mom can create something.
Yes, an exhausted mother is skilled enough to invent a new economy. An angry woman is able to succeed for her children. A single mother can offer her children a life by the sea and recover from a difficult event.
And all this while working in the wine business and standardizing the prospecting and selling of wine, champagne, and spirits.
What a sweet dream. It was so crazy though, it seemed too good to be true.
Of course, there were pitfalls.
I was running out of time and exhausted. I wasn’t getting enough sleep.
All the literature on prospecting automation and cutting-edge topics was in English. And I was convinced that I had a low level of English.
So, I started by trying to delegate. I used webmasters in Hong Kong. I spent a lot of time explaining to them what I wanted, and I lost my savings…
Learn from your failures and keep moving forward
After several months of effort, I realized that my tools were obsolete.
They had quickly become inefficient. I could not update them myself or change elements when necessary. Optimizations were not dynamic, and corrections were difficult to make.
And today, the Web is almost a living organism. Optimization must be simple, fast and immediate.
Of course, I was stuck, and it wasn’t working the way I wanted. When I was waiting for 100 customers, only one came.
What about you? At this point, tell me, what are you doing to automate your web prospecting? Is it working? Is it effective? How are you using your web platform and how are your remote sales doing?
I was doing my best to make it work without export trips and trade shows.
I couldn’t leave the house; I couldn’t leave the kids and I couldn’t have them babysat for several days.
I had talent and two children to support: it had to work.
But I couldn’t free my voice or present my truth with the tools available to me on the Web.
It was impossible for me to express the depth of my mission and my commitment to defend wine.
As a result, I was complicating everything. I was suffering from both the impostor syndrome and the expert syndrome.
I was unable to express the essence of my mission. Nobody understood what I was doing.
I was losing myself, and I was losing clients.
My file of old clients was getting smaller and smaller. I was spending all my savings, but I wasn’t getting enough new customers to maintain and grow my business.
In fact, the expected flow of prospects and buyers was not sufficient.
Together we go further
I then realized that I had to get help.
I had to train and do things differently. I took out a loan of 50,000 euros from my bank to train myself, in English, in these tools. I had never taken out a loan of this size.
I had no choice.
Without a steady stream of new clients, I was in danger of losing everything. My family legacy and the desirable future I wanted to offer my sons. And also, my self-respect.
It was getting out of hand, I felt bad.
I was getting mad at the Internet and the webmasters.
I was angry for nothing. My children were paying the price, I couldn’t find time to play with them and I was constantly preoccupied.
It was a vicious circle. I couldn’t press the pause button to put the solution in place.
I felt even worse because I had gotten older. I lacked energy and self-esteem. I thought I sucked on screen, and I was convinced that my English was lousy. I didn’t dare make videos in English.
I felt like I was incapable, and I was a failure. I had tried something, and it didn’t work.
That’s when I took the turn.
Flying towards my dream
I moved 10,000 kilometers away, with my two children. We went to live on the beach.
I had found a food job; it was easy with my 15 years of experience in wine.
It was a second shock.
By force of circumstance, I quickly understood that being so far from the vineyards, to continue to help the winemakers, everything had to be digitalized.
Everything, absolutely everything had to be automated.
I didn’t have time to complain anymore, and I had to go for it.
And most importantly, I had to be able to build it all myself.
I had to be able to manage it in a few clicks, in a minimum of time. With specific and dynamic videos and broadcasting tools.
All this had to be done quickly, since I had another job on the side.
As I went along, I learned. In a forced march, my survival instinct took over.
I discovered how to function without trade shows, without journalists, without agents, without dealers and without travel.
Everyone wondered who was helping me, but there was no one!
I discovered how to automate prospecting and delegate it thanks to the good tools that are emerging on the Net. Everything started to accelerate, I had additional income.
To move forward quickly and well, I got coaching. I trained relentlessly, imposing a strict discipline, working hard, and taking regular actions.
I found the thread of joy that guided me, and I never let go.
Thanks to all this, I was able to get a steady flow of leads and clients almost automatically.
Every month, every year, it became more and more important.
So, I decided to take it to the next level.
The birth of iD ViN school
I created my iD ViN school service.
The project took the form of clubs dedicated to different wine sales targets.
That’s how the club 20 and the talented winemakers club were born. And also the mini-box club, to discover ecological wine packaging.
I had my clients’ clients buy wine. And I trained my clients.
They are now working on specific tools, adapted to the world of wine, champagne and premium spirits, from France or other countries.
I then realized that the secret to effectively digitizing one’s activity is of course to synthesize one’s action on the Web.
But above all, it is to be authentic.
When I moved abroad, leaving the vineyards, I was forced to manage everything digitally and remotely, with the constraints of the international environment.
I forced myself to automate prospecting, and I found the right tools for selling wine and champagne.
And all this, well before the covid crisis.
Today, I help wine professionals to sell more bottles. Also, to sell them better: with more margins by spending less time and without needing to move.
It is this method that allows me to live on the waterfront.
Today, I enjoy a very qualitative time with my children. I also accompany more and more talented winemakers and specialists around the world.
What a reward to be able to share what I call the new wine economy.
This synthesis of effective tools allows smart professionals to find the right solution to attract new customers.
Meeting the needs of winemakers
Those who have joined my clubs get more customers and have better margins.
These pros are successful, they have more resources. This allows them to delegate and enjoy more free time and to have confidence in the future.
Thanks to all this, professionals starting out on the Internet have seen their direct sales soar to the tune of 10,000 euros per month, and then 10,000 euros in a weekend. Without intermediaries and in automatic.
What happiness for them and for me.
The winemakers work in their vineyards and during this time, the orders fall automatically.
This can also save family farms, like my client’s, who was able to create a real career for herself by preserving the family heritage. It changed her whole life.
Start speaking up and expressing your truth, just like I did!
Explain the depth of what I call the vineyard mission and your commitment to defend your wine.
Stop complicating everything, stop being preoccupied and having the expert and impostor syndrome at the same time, as I used to suffer from.
I perceive that lately, there are still too many wine professionals who are stuck in the situation I was in. They feel they lack time, money or skills.
I see them confused as I too was by my struggle to find money. I’ve been there too. I just didn’t have the right approach.
I refined my method over time. The new wine economy is now a dynamic optimization.
A unique method that allows you to get as many clients as you need in 3 simple steps. The life of your dreams is yours, on the beach or elsewhere.
With my method, you will be able to digitize and synthesize everything you do on the Internet. You will be able to manage your digital marketing and prospecting in your own country and abroad while avoiding the pitfalls.
This is new and was unimaginable just a few years ago.
I want to share this with you. With motivation, you can succeed, I am convinced. Act now. It’s within your reach if you are accompanied in this sharing. Join my group and make an appointment. Let’s do an audit of your sales potential in the new wine economy. Together we can see how many customers you need, or the right price to sell your wine, or in which countries you can sell your products. Let’s look at what is holding you back and what you are supporting. The current reality you are struggling with is between what you tolerate and what you think is possible. We can change that. Let’s evaluate together the life transformation you dream of and that is offered to you by the new wine economy. This is co-creation; I need you to act too. It’s free and without commitment. The only commitment you make is to yourself. You can now change your future. Contact me to make an appointement… Now !