Call for Wine

My friend Edward asked me if I knew anything about Call for Wine.  They specialize in "high-quality professional outbound telesales, exclusively for the wine industry."  I hadn't heard of them, but I found their "how we got started" story interesting:

Founder Mark Parton was lying on his couch in Chicago a few months after a Sonoma vacation, when the phone rang. Armida Winery was calling. Mark had joined their wine club during his visit and was happy to get the call.

I thought it was really nice that they called me. It sort of made me feel like I was part of the winery. Parton said during a recent interview. I also bought wine they were offering on special.

Parton, who has run telemarketing call centers for consumer direct sales of technology items, began wondering why the five other wine clubs he'd joined didn't call. Sensing an opportunity, Parton and his wife were soon packing up their car and moving to California wine country. Call for Wine, five years old this year, now has a customer list that has grown to 15 wineries. His operation has moved from the kitchen table to offices with space for 30 telesales reps.

"You can pretty much outsource everything," Edward points out.  True enough, but you want to ensure that the quality and attentiveness remain high, particularly when it involves interacting with customers.

Would you use Call for Wine?  Why or why not?  Leave your vote in the comments.

Regardless, maybe you should be thinking about how to follow up with new/current customers by phone.  Something to think about on a Sunday morning.

(PS - If you like premium Napa Cabs, take a minute and go join Edward's mailing list)

Comments

[Brandy Bell]

I am going to have to say no, we would not be willing to outsource our most important calls (our wine club members) to people outside of our company.

Our Wine Club members are called "Paesanos", and in Italian, it means countrymen, or friend. We would never turn down the opportunity to connect with them on the phone,email, or on our social networking site WineSpace for that matter!

In fact, we have even started doing In-Home Wine Parties for our wine club members- to get to know them better! So, in short, they are our customers, and deserve our attention, any time of the day, every day... that's what cell phones are for :)

Great Blog!

[Cheryl Durzy]

We do use Call for Wine and it has been a succcessful endeavor. Not only have they made sales, but we have cleaned up our database. They do an extensive training for their staff, so I feel confomfortable they are representing the brand appropriately.

I think here, in the outskirts of the Silicon Valley, we get jaded that everyone knows everything about Clos LaChance because of our web sites, blogs, facebook pages and twittering. Via Call for Wine, we have certainly learned that is not the case.

[Patina Zee]

Call for Wine was an ingenious idea - simple and much needed as most great ideas. Congrats!

Calling all wine writers!
We are looking for exciting content for the upcoming directory - The Worldwide Guide to Earth Friendly Wines – and the people behind the vines. If you have something interesting to say about any aspect of organic, biodynamic or sustainable methods and practices, we will happily include your viewpoint along with a “mini advertorial” about you and your area of expertise.

Please visit the publishing company website for more information and respond to:
pat@millenniumstarpublishing.com

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Cheers,

Patina Zee