Word of Mouth

Many moons ago, I worked in the wine business.  A sweet little boutique wine shop in Birmingham, AL
nestled just off the busy and bustling Hwy 280.  It was a classy and upscale shop, serving majority
high-end clientele and the random wineo who happened across the shop by accident.  It was a pleasure
to work for such a wonderful person and it was a breeze to sell product as delightful as the wines sold
in this shop.  As the shop manager, my job was to know how all the wines tasted and what they would
pair well with so that I could effectively sell them to consumers.  The shop owner would send me home
with hundreds of dollars of free wine each month. I have to say it was definitely a perk. A large part of
my job was to taste the different wines, share the wines with friends and return to the shop to sell the
wines.  It was all face to face word of mouth. All employees would stay for the after hours wine tastings
as well so that they were able to share their stories and insights when selling. Multiple evenings a week,
my husband and I hosted dinner parties to share the wine and I would take notes on the side about my
own thoughts on the drink as well as any comments or insights a friend had to say about it.  Many times
I had to give bottles away and ask friends to report back because hey, a 25 year old gal can only drink
so much!

Times have changed since then and it saves the shop hundreds of dollars a month.  Word of mouth has
changed. Social media has taken over and more and more people prefer to spend their time with a
screen than at a dinner party making small talk. Sherry Turkle speaks of this exact thing in one of her
Ted Talks.  She says that 15 years ago we were getting online and learning more about ourselves, then
we would unplug and take that information to learn more about ourselves. She says that now, we prefer
to be alone with our screens. Isn’t this true?

No longer does the shop have to give away cases of free wine to the shop manager.  Each week when the
shop owner has her upscale wine tastings, she is able to post photos on social media with local wine
enthusiasts (whose opinions matter to the wine community) with a quote or comment from said person,
praising the wine.  These people are the opinion leaders of the wine industry and therefore their opinions
are much stronger than mine would have been. So, sales are up and the shop is saving money with this
free advertisement on social media. Or are they? How much money are they spending to have someone
run that social media account?  Instead of face to face word of mouth, the shop is paying for social media
word of mouth. They are reaching more people this way. However, there is something lost in the sales
aspect. The shop owner herself will tell you that as nice as it is to have sales booming, it was a bit more
of a pleasure when the customers had all shared a glass together. She will also tell you that it’s rather
difficult to handle the negative comments she will sometimes receive.  When you put your whole heart
and passion into something, it hurts when others disagree or accuse you of charging too much for your
fancy wine.

Just as Starbucks uses their social media to advertise new product, The Wine Shoppe does the same
(though on a much smaller scale).  I found it quite interesting when reading an article about Starbucks
social media strategy, because my old boss has put much effort into the same type of research.  Which
social media platform do you share what information on, how do you know what time of day to post, and
knowing when to respond to the negative comments. She, of course has her many employees assist her
with these things and time is now set aside to make sure a photo is taken, a quote given, a moment
missed because of the necessity to capture it.  Patti, the shops owner will tell you that she is no longer
able to enjoy all the little things for fear that she won’t capture the right moment on camera. At least once
a month she will post about her wine tasting and simply say “you should have been here, we’re keeping
this weeks tasting a secret, unless you’d like to come in and chat with us”.

Now, all of her sales can not be linked directly to the social media posts though.  In a Ted Talk by Simon
Sinek, he discusses the importance of selling the “why” vs. the “what”.  Patti has always had so much love
for the business that she has shared the “why” of her product over the “what”.  She has spent much time
in Italy, California, France, New Zealand, and Australia visiting vineyards and meeting people whose
passion lies in the story of wine.   She falls in love with these stories and when you walk in to her store,
you may think you are walking in to purchase a bottle of wine for dinner with friends, but what you’re really
doing is walking into an adventure.  Patti will take the time to tell you where she purchased the wine, the
couple she met when she toured the vineyard, and the story of how the wine came to be. You walk in for
a bottle of wine, but you walk out with a lovely story to share at dinner and each bottle becomes that.  

Even with social media taking over the word of mouth industry, The Wine Shoppe on Hwy 280 in
Birmingham will offer you the opportunity to share your feelings about the store and its products with
every person you meet. More than that, you’ll want to.   It is still possible to blend the old with the new.