14
Beverage Media
November 2012
Smart retailers understand that if they
want to offer more value to their shoppers,
they need to do more for them,” he says.
Most important is to create aware-
ness for the brand, and provide re-
tailers with an opportunity to up-sell,
says Dan Tullio, master ambassador of
Canadian Whisky for Beam Global:
“
We’re the mouthpiece for that glass of
spirit, bringing forward its history, meth-
ods of production and heritage,” Tullio
notes. “My role when I go into retail
stores is to make a connection among our
customer—the retailer and their employ-
ees—and put a face to the brand name.”
➤
Whisky
vs.
Vodka
Interest in spirits education varies from
store to store, say most ambassadors. “At
the specialist stores in Southern Cali-
fornia, some guys are walking encyclo-
pedias, while at other stores there’s not
as much passion, so I tailor the training
to each,” says Glenfiddich’s west coast
ambassador, Mitch Bechard.
While there’s an impression that
ambassadors only fit well with specialist
stores, that’s outdated, says Spike Mc-
Clure, who represents Diageo’s entire
whisky portfolio in the New York area
through Empire Merchants. “Retail
staff often learn a little about different
brands these days, especially vodka, but
once they start to try to make sense of the
various styles and nations that make whis-
kies, especially single malts, it becomes a
big difficult territory that they don’t have
much knowledge of,” he says. “I step for-
ward as a smiling cheerful fellow and say,
‘
I’m Spike McClure, I’ll show you what
these are and how you can make lots of
money from them—follow me.’”
When training at wine-oriented re-
tail operations, most will stick to explain-
ing the basic differences among whiskies
and sharing current industry trends. At
stores with a major Scotch position, for
instance, whisky ambassadors are much
more likely to go into detail about specif-
ic regions, expressions and answer ques-
tions about rare bottlings.
➤
Want Food
With That?
Emerging lately are dinners set up by
retailers for their best whisky customers.
Bechard was recently set to host a four-
course dinner paired with expressions of
Glenfiddich at a Costco unit. Typically,
guests place orders at the dinner for the
rare or high-priced iteratons.
“
In the last two weeks, I’ve probably re-
ceived six or seven requests to do tastings
for dinners,” says McClure “They were
very rare ten years ago, but now I do them
two or three times each month—they’re
like a Tupperware party for whisky.”
Whisky brands may have the most de-
veloped ambassadorial system, but Henry
notes retailers interested in featuring craft
and small distillery spirits may find these
suppliers quick responders to calls for in-
store events. Overall, though, the benefits
accrue to both supplier and staff when
training turns into sales. He explains,
“
Stores are better equipped and have far
more consistency in their staff who can
sell up and down the shelf than the on-
premise. Consultative selling is really a
retailer’s thing, and is more rewarding to
the retailer and the consumer.”
■
NYC-based consultant
John Henry
is among
a growing number of consultants who believe
that bartenders are usually too busy to do
much hand-selling.
Conventional wisdom insists that brands crack the
code to growth on-premise; but as new spirits keep
entering the market, some suppliers are increasing
their attention to stores, where true volume is built
and one brand’s edge can have long-term impact.
AMBASSADORS
at
WORK
Charlotte Voisey
,
portfolio ambassador for
William Grant & Sons USA, says retailers today
play a role similar to bartenders through their
direct customer interaction.
