The German wine market is weakening. Consumers are drinking less. Turnover and sales are falling. Not good news these days.
No need to bury your head in the sand. On the contrary: the current situation can also be seen as an opportunity. As an opportunity to become even better!
The key to this is understanding your customers. The central question is: How satisfied are my customers with my/our services? Are your expectations of the product range, advice and service met? Is there anything that could be done better? Ultimately, the question is: how strong is the bond with my customers?
Answering the questions seems simple. Of course, if customers buy, they have to be satisfied! But the answer is not quite so banal. There may be reasons which, in the absence of better options, virtually force you to buy. And where alternatives are available, these are given preference.
A look at the monthly turnover and sales figures, especially in comparison to the previous year, shows the economic situation. However, it does not show what the future potential looks like.
This is where a customer satisfaction analysis comes into play. That sounds complex and seems more suitable for medium-sized and larger companies. Yes – that’s it. But it is all the more an instrument for the owner-operated wine trade. Often the customers are even known personally, and have probably been regular customers for years.
How about simply asking your customers how they “like it”? Just ask them if they “feel good” when shopping? Do they “like to come”?
Certainly, the answers to direct personal questions will tend to be favorable and benevolent, and critical voices will be heard less often. But that’s what matters. These are the important answers. So ask anonymously!
You know it from hotels – on a small flyer are the questions that have to be answered by ticking the respective boxes – from 1-6 in the school grading system or in another form.
Source: https://blog.hubspot.de/
The content of the questions is of course important. Questions should be asked about the product range (“How satisfied are you with our range of wines”?), the quality of advice (“How satisfied are you with our advice”) or customers’ wishes in general. For example, whether selected wines should be available for tasting, whether wine tastings are welcome at regular intervals or whether more detailed background information on the origin of the wines or wine and food recommendations are desired.
Anonymity is important: a small box in which the question cards can be placed. The whole thing combined with a raffle of wines increases the incentive to participate. And by the way, you have something with which you can perhaps address your customers even more personally.
In any case, you will generate interesting information that can lead to an improvement in your “service” to the customer and thus increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
With this in mind, we wish everyone a strong end-of-year and Christmas business.
Your FairWine Team
Denis Duhme, Michael Kugel & Hermann Pilz