James Tidwell - All Comments

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Alex Bardsley — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 14:52:13 GMT

What do you do about reps who try to "go over your head"?

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Evan Davis CWE — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 14:11:34 GMT

Thanks for this James! Great resource for people on both sides.

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Kyla Knox — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 22:14:21 GMT

Great article. I found it after David Keck recommended it in his Wine Business Seminar. Fantastic advice!

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Ion Bratianu — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:29:36 GMT

James,

Thanks so much for the information. It is very helpful, and incredibly relevant to my career. Thanks again! I am passing this on to my team of reps today.

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

James Tidwell — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:09:54 GMT

[mention:eef23af7b7e74cb8bd77c421a56a7f97:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] and [mention:983f52e63b4f4f6cb764e1ab7db0eb9f:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] , please excuse the lapse in replying to each of you. I will reply to both, since you ask similar questions.

My parameters for the performance as regards the banquet list are simple:

- Guarantee the negotiated cost for a one-year period.

- Ensure supply of the wine for the one-year period. Due to Texas laws, I must rely on distributors for inventory control in their warehouses. I do not require the same vintage throughout, but do reserve the right to make changes should a new vintage prove substantially inferior or drastically different in style. And, a wine that switches appellations will be reviewed.

- Penalties for non-performance of what amounts to a contract is removal of the wine from the list, and replacement of the selection with another distributor's wine. There is a grace clause for stocking issues which allows for distributors to give fair warning that a product is low stock or that an issue is anticipated. This allows time for the hotel to react with guests, and to create a satisfactory solution.

Maintaining cost is not a concern, as almost all distributors are excellent at honoring agreements. Stocking is the main concern because the hotel's usage pattern can change due to business patterns. Therefore, I often do need to order wines on a quick turnaround. I work with the wholesalers to keep a reasonable stock at the hotel, and to help them determine reasonable stock for their warehouses.

All wholesalers are treated with equality under this system. All know the system, and there are no arbitrary penalties.

My commitment is to list the wines for a one-year period. There are various ways, all well-known, for negotiating cost. I utilize Four Seasons' small selection of core wines as much as possible, since I help select these and cost is quite good. For the rest of the selections, I utilize relationships with national accounts representatives and suppliers in addition to my distributor relationships to achieve cost targets. I do allow for proposals, but have experimented with several methods for determining selections. The list is not "bid out", but rather selected based on a number of factors. Essentially, the method used to create any other high-volume list.

Training consists of a roll-out tasting, either sit-down with presentations or a walk-around "wine fair" format. We do follow-up training on a regular basis, though most of this is in-house. Most wines perform as expected. In some cases, I will place incentives on a market basket of the wines, but never on individual items. My reasoning is that placing an incentive on a single item encourages salespeople to sell what benefits them and ultimately the supplier, rather than selling the wine that is best for the most important person,...the guest.

I hope this helps answer your questions.

All the best,

James

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Paula Rester — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 05:15:39 GMT

This is wonderful. Thank you, James!

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Tim Gaiser — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 05:42:48 GMT

Brilliant!

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

John Daugherty — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 01:29:57 GMT

Fantastic. You are a salesman's dream customer. If only I could turn this around and give it to all my customers esp. those who are new to the job of buying/managing. You make a number of salient points about how a sales rep should conduct business. With the pressure to perform such a large part of what we do, there are often times when we feel the need to move the boxes instead of understanding the customers business and working to offer the products that best fit their needs. I agree that offering items that fit the program works to build a longer-lasting, trusting relationship between buyer and seller. As a sales rep, I could amend this to make similar commitments to my buyers. Thank you for sharing this very well-thought out piece.

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Sophia Crawford — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 16:20:43 GMT

Thank you james If everybody followed your example of mutual respect for one another this business would be a much better industry to work in

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Ion Bratianu — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:59:45 GMT

Highly informative, I wish that other buyers were as even-handed in their dealings. I also know that one bad meeting/email can damage an entire relationship, and that is unfortunate for everyone, especially the end consumer. I will say it is interesting to me that the more experience one has in this industry the more even-handed their dealings become.

Definitely interested to hear about your parameters on banquet wine offerings, since those wines can turn an account from a top 20 account to a top 10, and change relationship dynamics dramatically.

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Edward Morgan — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 17:52:45 GMT

This is extremely concise and a very important piece of literature. Thank you for sharing this James! I love the "full of it" as a good way to end a heavy piece of info...well balanced and makes the relationship more human to human as it is sometimes forgotten.

-I understand no one wants to be the bad guy but, what are some of the penalties for non-performance you incorporate?

-How do you work with your vendors and staff alike to ensure you maximize this performance and not just say, if the product doesn't do well..."

-I am also interested to know what kind of business parameters are you setting on banquets and by-the-glass placements in order to max profit to placement?

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Scott Ota — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 17:35:17 GMT

James, thank you for the informative and thoughtful piece regarding our relationship between buyers and suppliers. Hopefully all can take note on the honesty and ethics presented in the article. Great piece and thank you for sharing!

And to follow up, what kind of business parameters are you setting on banquets and by-the-glass placements? With those spots being "prime real estate," are the parameters profit related, margin related, volume related, based on reliability and consistency of product, or a combination of the above? I'd be interested to know as an aspiring beverage director!

Many thanks!

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Wanda Cole-Nicholson — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 21:46:24 GMT

Great meeting you!! Thanks for your helpful input.

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Charles Butler — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 19:38:43 GMT

Great and thoughtful on all points. Thanks for putting this together and try to live by. Thanks, James!

RE: Buyers and Sellers: Building a Working Relationship that Works

Kevin Simback — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:08:26 GMT

Thanks - nicely written and a good example for folks to follow. I just passed it on to a team of reps.