3 Delicious Selling Lines From The World's Favourite Wine Buff

I like wine to such a degree I can hardly believe there was a distant time when I frowned upon it. I have Capetonians and their winelands to thank for reversing that scandalous misperception.

So I recently got a new book. In part – I’m not ashamed to admit – because I liked the cover design. Crammed full by text with great use of highlight colour.

I went back and read up on its background. I found a trio of lines useful in certain solution selling situations.

“Setting and company are more important than price and vintage”

How can you not love this line?

If you sense you’re struggling against a supposed bluechip brand bully, then this can make your prospect feel a whole better about dealing with you. Underdogs can certainly win if there’s a good vibe between your two sets of people, despite how much the big-name blinkers of any chief bean counter may bias against you.

“You don’t have to pay through the nose when it comes to wine”

What a relief.

Directly quoting from her number one wine myth debunk;

“Best-value bottles retail between £8 and £20. Below £8 there’s usually too little left after fixed costs and taxes to pay for the wine, so poor quality is likely. Above £20 and you risk paying for ego, “positioning” and the vagaries of the fine-wine market”.

So by all means pay more, but know that “the quality of the wine is unlikely to be any better.”

I tend to avoid working with the cheapest players in a market. Here’s ample reason why. Despite the occasional “find” in the bargain bin, such outliers are surely rare. In a bottle shop or the corporate solution sphere. And the same seemingly goes for the equally-criminal over-priced.

A useful addition to the Goldilocks objection handle repertoire.

“You can get as deeply into it as you want”

Many of us have perhaps fretted over whether a particular glass was any good at a tasting. The soothing saying, “a good wine is one you like” puts paid to much inner torment.

I like this because it allows you to forgo the advances of a supposed expert. There’s usually someone claiming specialist knowledge trying to prevent your overtures from landing. I’m reminded of the accountants who love to state “tax reasons” as a debilitating decoy.

So how’s this for a rebuttal of self-announced experts;

“they probably won’t be and they’ll just make your lives a misery”

I’m also minded to drop her line when I fear the conversation is getting too technical. The less inclined in the room will welcome the chance to put off “deep” discussion and get on with the commercial impacts.