Comments on The Gray Report: My mini-retail experience

Regarding the following comment: "BTW, the be...

2012-01-10T11:15:59.790-08:00

Regarding the following comment: "BTW, the best complment you can receive as a shop owner/wine buyer is "I've never bought a bad bottle of wine from you"

I agree. Had a woman say that to me, then asked me to recommend a wine to which she said "Is it good?"

Gotta love retail.....

I'm sure the clerk would've appreciated if...

2012-01-10T05:32:23.788-08:00

I'm sure the clerk would've appreciated if you'd hung around for a while facing off and bringing out stock from the back as well ;)

Great story, Im a certified somm and work as a ser...

2012-01-09T22:50:41.760-08:00

Great story,
Im a certified somm and work as a server. Since my passion is wine, the biggest pleasure I get on my job is when I am able to veer my guests on the right direction and get them to order the style of wine they wanted or to try something new that I felt it was going to match their palate. It is often hard to ask deeper questions to the guests in the middle of the dinner rush and

Big J: Thanks for visiting! I'm from Maryland ...

2012-01-09T17:21:22.701-08:00

Big J: Thanks for visiting! I'm from Maryland (go Orioles, corner that Taiwanese pitching market) and will one day visit your store, and expect to get solid advice.

Kent: I guess I should have expected the retail world would be like that because I notice that people often don't give sommeliers enough information. But the questions are so much easier for sommeliers: What are you

You’re right, Blake. Selling wine on a retail floo...

2012-01-09T14:09:49.243-08:00

You’re right, Blake. Selling wine on a retail floor can be fun and rewarding. As one who has done it for about six years, I’ve learned a lot about people. Most floor sales people don’t ask nearly enough questions to provide the service the customer deserves.

I’ve learned that almost no one freely gives you enough information to truly help them. It must be dragged out of them. I use a

Hello Blake Having had considerable retail experie...

2012-01-09T09:48:59.172-08:00

Hello Blake
Having had considerable retail experience, some of it as a wine shop owner, I've discovered that the guiding principal of selling is to give the customer precisely what they want (even though they might not be able to verbalize it immediately). This involves listening, a skill I fine-tuned in the shrink business, combined with asking a question or two to zero in on what the