Spirits Education for the Customer
“I am delighted to see that more and more businesses are recognising that education and well-trained staff are the foundations to better customer service and stronger profits,” says the CEO, Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). The WSTA concur stating that “consumers are increasingly favouring more premium brands”. We have always maintained that spirits education is key to the sale of our luxury brandies. There is a specific Trade Training page on our website and regular newsletters and Blogs ensure up to date industry news is frequently publicised. Those wishing to go one step further will be interested in the new improved Level 2 WSET Award in Spirits. Also trying to educate the customer is the #ForwardDrinking campaign which launches next month. It aims to target industry taboos such as ‘retros’ (when brands pay for bar listings) and ‘pay-to-play’ schemes (when brands offer monetary incentives, or otherwise, to gain a retail listing). Maverick Drinks, who initiated the campaign, said “We don’t want people using our product because there’s a deal attached, we want them to use it because it’s a great spirit“. Hear, hear, just what we were thinking.