You don’t like prospection, do you? I am not surprised. Selling wine is not an easy exercise and requires knowing how to cope with criticism. Sooner or later, you find yourself exposed to negative reviews. Some customers are ready to invent any pretext and denigrate your work rather than pay for it. They become hurtful and you feel humiliated. Selling your wine? You’d rather not to go back there. And yet, this is an essential step that you should not leave apart…
The bad impact of criticism
Being a talented winemaker, producing premium quality wines, is like co-creating together with the earth and nature. You act as an artist.
As such, you feel extremely sensitive and vulnerable to negative reviews. When, in addition, these seem to you unjustified, it is a disaster. You crawl back into your shell. You cannot resign yourself to the stupidity of some “bad customers” who do not even try to catch your view.
I can understand your reaction. The problem is that it locks you into a process that damages your sales and your business.
As you feel discouraged, you don’t present yourself in your best light. You no longer listen to your prospects and you even push back those who would like to buy your premium wines. Your fear another rejection, nay an humiliation and it paralyzes you. Can we use the term “sales burn-out”? You are not far away from it.
You then adopt a passive attitude. You haunt professional fairs and wait patiently on a stand, in a closed posture, without daring to look visitors in the eye.
But the stroke of luck will not happen and fans of good wines will never know what they miss.
Stop! Do not let you get demotivated!
Seeing the glass as half empty prevents you from savoring its content. What a shame! From time to time, you meet a wonderful person who understands your wine just by tasting it. No need for endless explanations.
The magic is back and you move forward again. The commercial exchange finds back its human dimension, which is definitely essential. Keep these great encounters in mind: they are the best remedy against non-constructive criticism.
In addition, many other winemakers (starting with me) have already experienced the same blockages and have managed to overcome them. They enjoy transmitting their message again and this has boosted their sales! The Internet is a powerful communication tool: go looking for those passionate people whose experience can be so useful to you.
I also suggest you to discover our club: we will help you to see more than the traditional aspect of selling and push the limits that hold you back today.
What do you think? Have you already experienced these stand-off periods? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments section.
And then … Do not let you get demotivated, join us!
Galatée