Bella Carrara Vino

Family Winemakers of California president Paul Kronenberg will discuss the changing landscape for wineries doing direct-to-consumer sales in a seminar called "More Privileges: Direct Shipping Compliance Update" held today, February 6, at the Advanced Tasting Room Strategies conference and tasting room buying show in Rohnert Park, California. His 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. talk will provide wineries with the latest in direct shipping regulations, highlight the most recent changes state-by-state and give an update on legal rulings.

Two seminars on consumer direct sales and event marketing round out the morning program. They include "Sales Team Building and Coaching Tips" by Karen Vyner-Brooks of Vyner-Brooks Associates from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and an "Insiders Guide to Non-Wine Profit Makers" by Heather Akers of Tarara Winery and Stacey O'Malley of V. Sattui Winery from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Conference Director Veronica Barclay said registration may be done online at www.wineprofits.com or at the DoubleTree Hotel, One DoubleTree Dr., Rohnert Park. The fee for the one-day program with course materials, wine tasting, lunch and admission into the tasting room show is $250. A complimentary trade show, open from noon to 4 p.m., will feature new products and services to help boost retail sales and profits in the tasting room.

The two-day educational conference and trade show was created and conducted by Barclay & Company, a wine marketing firm based in St. Helena, California.

On Tuesday, February 5, the program drew attendees from Hawaii to Virginia, who listened to experts discuss Web security, customer surveys and memorable wine club appreciation events.

Information technology expert Leroy Lucas, president of Wine Compliance Pro in Napa, captured the audience's attention when he told them it was "not a matter of if you will be attacked (on-line) but when." He warned of low-tech attacks" done in tasting rooms by nonprogrammers, "malicious virus attacks" happening via computer viruses and, in particular, Web site attacks.

Lucas offered practical tips to ensure online security in the tasting room, such as keeping current with anti-virus protection and backing up client and sales data. He warned about XSS Cross-Site Scripting, calling it "the most misunderstood problem in computing today. Our web pages are vulnerable to having malicious code inserted into them without your knowledge that can do all kinds of damage."

He recommended that tasting room managers look holistically at their operations and then create a security plan. "Technology is evolving, so evaluate it annually. Bring in a consultant for a day, if necessary."

As regional development director for Constant Contact, Stu Carty pointed out how to best market through Web and paper surveys and customer questionnaires. His talk on "Customer Surveys that Generate Response" covered the most effective ways to create Internet surveys, craft questions and obtain results. "Ask your customers if it's okay to keep in touch with them through paper forms, web-based forms or feedback forms," he said.

He explained that good email marketing "delivers professional email communications to an interested audience, contains information they find valuable, relevant, timely and conforms to Best Practices and anti-spam laws." Why does it work? Because, he said, "you're sending the right information at the right time to the right people. Because people open email from businesses they know and trust."

Eric Markson, sales director for DeLoach Vineyards in Sonoma County, moderated the final seminar, "How to Create Memorable Wine Club Member Appreciation Events," featuring Cathleen Dean, wine club manager at Fox Valley Winery in Oswego, Illinois, and Chef Todd Muir of Wine Country Chefs.

Dean offered a fresh look at the tasting room strategies she employs at Fox Valley Winery, the second largest winery in the Chicago area. "You guys are our heroes. We benchmark everything we do by what you do (in California)" she said. "We are a small community. Once you get 20 miles outside of Chicago you are literally in cornfields, where they are beer drinkers."

However, in just two years Fox Valley Winery's wine club has grown to 1,000 wine members. Many of them are women whose average age is 28 or 29. "They're loving the wines," said Dean. "We give beer to the husbands, because they want to drink beer. After awhile they say 'my wife drug me here and now I'm loving this wine with this food.'"

Dean said she treats every visitor like family, networks constantly in her community and holds a variety of events throughout the year. Last year, wine club events ranged from a four-course Murder Mystery Winemaker Dinner at Halloween to an all-day family vineyard event. The winery also caters to small groups; for instance, a knitting and sewing store group drinks wine and knits at the tasting room.

Muir elaborated on the importance of presenting successful events. "If you're going to do an event or an open house, do it right. Make an impression by setting your winery event above the competition. Ensure yours is the winery that guests will talk about," he said.

Muir suggested a number of ideas, such as bringing in interactive food (building pizzas or making a mad scientist food station) and creating themes (an Asian noodle house or an American diner counter). "Talk to your purveyors. Think outside of the box. Do some things that are fun, exciting, different and set you apart," he stressed.

"Nothing showcases your wine better than a winemaker dinner," he said. And that's one way "to treat wine club members as the VIPs that they really are." One final piece of advice: give out a recipe at every event and with every email or newsletter.