Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on 1110 AM KTEK in Houston, TX, interviewed Greg Rudy who is the Director of Operations at the20 Wines. He handles the majority of its wine fulfillment and making sure that everything runs smoothly daily. He has a talent for writing, which gives him the opportunity to write for our blog when he gets the time. You can learn more about this and his other activities here
Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.)
We are a small wine business operating in Sonoma, CA. We take excessive and redundant packaging out of the fine-wine cycle by producing high-end bag-in-box wines and the re-usable casks from which to dispense them. We currently have three full-time employees and a shifting stable of great people in all aspects of the industry, from winemakers to accountants, working as consultants. We have worked with Google, the EG Conference, Apple, and WordPress, but are mostly focused on selling wine directly to consumers.
How do you demonstrate that your customers are appreciated?
We wanted to show our appreciation to loyal customers with a very personal experience. We decided the best way to do this was to throw a party for a valued customer at their home. We asked our local customers to submit an essay on why we should choose them to host this event. We got a number of great submissions, but one group of friends wrote a poem explaining why they were the most interesting drinkers in the world. It was clever, funny and heartfelt. Needless to say, they were selected as the winners. We went to their house and spent the night pouring wine for them and their friends. This experience was great for both sides. We made a lot of great friends and contacts, our customers were extremely thankful and they got a one-of-a-kind experience they will remember forever.
What do you do to make potential clients feel like they will be well taken care of if they hire your firm?
We like to say ‘we taste bad wine so you don’t have to.’ This means we are constantly scouring the bulk wine market for great wines at great prices. We go through samples almost every day. This leads to us tasting a lot of wine, most of which fails to impress. We select only the best to sell to our clients. The proof is in the bag. Our best conversion rates occur when potential clients have a chance to sample the wines we sell. This allows them to literally taste our commitment to quality. We also offer a money-back guarantee if a customer does not like the wine they purchase. We try to offer a wine club release each month. Sometimes we do not find a wine that passes muster, so we don’t offer a release that month. We would rather not sell than sell anything of an inferior quality.
How is your approach different than the competition?
We differ from many fine wine companies by removing extraneous, wasteful and expensive packaging from the production cycle, making our business more environmentally sustainable and allowing us to pass the savings onto our customers. We differ from boxed wine companies with our commitment to quality wines over quantity. We typically offer high-end, single-vineyard wines at rates much lower than their bottled equivalent. The unique bag-in-box packaging allows wine to stay fresh for weeks after the bag has been opened by preventing oxidation and making the last glass taste as good as the first. We make sure our customers can enjoy a glass of great wine without wasting most of a bottle. Unlike our boxed wine competitors, our selection of unique and custom casks makes your boxed wine a treat for the eyes as well as the palate.
Contact information: Provide website and other information that we can use on the radio (Business
customerservice@the20wines.com
