You are a valued “partner” C’mon. You have witnessed this cringe-worthy scene many times: Someone at a wine & spirits distributor posts something on social media and the queue of brown-nosing suppliers falls over each other to heap praise and adoration on the event in

One thing is for sure when it comes to “managing” your wine & spirits distributors: what used to work no longer works.  I see too many wineries and distilleries still running plays out of the “old playbook.” What are these old plays? Fairly simple: Choose

I want to spend a little time setting the context for this post because the longer you’ve been in the wine and spirits game, the harder this concept is to grasp. Distributors can no longer do what they used to be able to do for

Welcome to the new reality The longer you’ve been in the wine & spirits sales game, the harder this concept is to grasp – what distributors used to be able to do for their suppliers they can no longer do. Why? Quite simply there are

While I’m sure occasionally successful sales blitzes do exist, most of them are a giant waste of time and money. I know I’m going to get some vitriolic responses to this post. But someone has to tell the emperor he has no clothes. Might as

When I first published the original blog post almost 2 years ago, it went completely viral receiving over 5,400 views, 52 reshares, 34 comments and 180 likes. You can read the original post here. Clearly, this article struck a nerve which wasn’t a complete surprise.

Are Distributors Responsible for Building Your Brand? There’s a popular but delusional belief in the wine industry that distributors will build your brand for you. Same goes for spirits and beer suppliers. It seems a reasonable assumption on the surface. After all, that’s how it’s

I recently went to an RV superstore to pick up a few things for my camping trailer. A polite and friendly salesperson approached me and asked, “Can I help you find anything?” When I said, “Just looking, for now,” she proceeded to launch into a