The Office

Today was spent in the Jessup Cellars office with the Dani, the Director of Hospitality and Guest Services, and Cristy and Stephanie, the two ladies who do wine club and hospitality. I sat in with Cristy today and she explained to me the behind the scenes work she has to do for the tasting room. First, she looks through all the new club memberships that the tasting associates did the previous day and divides them up between herself and Stephanie. Then, they upload the information into their database, which Cristy taught me how to use. The information is either put into the customer’s file or a new file is made. Next, she has to send emails to all the new members to remind them of the details of their membership. Finally, the wine orders are faxed to the shipping company so the customer’s can receive their wine.

Lindsay and I also learned about the process of shipping the wine. There are many variables that play a part that I have never thought of before, such as the weather. Wine cannot be shipped if it is too hot or too cold. In this case, a hold is put on the wine and it will be shipped to the customer when the weather is at a temperature that the wine can handle. However, the customer also has the option to upgrade from ground shipping to air, which can be sent anytime. Another factor is that each state has different shipping regulations and this makes the shipping process a little more complicated.

Our supervisor came and picked us up after working in the office. He gave us some great advise about hiring. In his opinion, hiring for passion is more important than what is on the resume. People can be taught how to do a job, but people cannot be taught how to have a passion. He also said that it is important for his employees to be themselves on the job, meaning that all the tasting associates can let their personality’s shine while conducting a tasting. They do not have a script they have to follow. They each just get to go with the flow until they find their niche on how to sell. I think that is pretty cool, but I know this cannot always work in all careers.