Vineyard at Sunset

Workshops

Workshop tent

Illumination Hospitality Group specializes in customer service and sales training for winery tasting rooms.

THE PURPOSE OF YOUR TASTING ROOM IS TO SELL WINE.

Your tasting room is not the wine aisle at Safeway.  When people come to your tasting room, they come for an experience.  They come for a memorable experience...an outstanding experience.  The tasting room staff is essential to providing great hospitality.

Let's face it.  There's a lot of great wine out there.  Why leave hospitality to chance?  Training is the key to success.   Learn how to offer outstanding hospitality and set yourself apart!  Increase your daily tasting room sales.

                       HOSPITALITY SELLS!

We conduct hospitality workshops that teach tasting room staff real-world, real-winery techniques that demonstrate hospitality.  Real-life stories are used to make the points come alive and motivate you.

Every process needs a structure.  We provide that structure. 

Workshop Packages:

  • Two Hour Workshop held at your winery.
  • Half Day Workshop held at your winery.
  • Refresher Workshop held at your winery.
  • Mystery Shopping prior to your workshop.

Workshop Topics Covered:

  • REACH YOUR GOAL OF SELLING WINE!
  • How to make the customer feel special.
  • The power of observation.
  • How to ask appropriate questions.
  • How to improve listening skills.
  • How to accommodate different types of customers.
  • Self-discovery:  The key to learning.
  • How to handle mistakes.
  • Making the "match" (the sale).


Mystery Shopping:

Our clients find mystery shopping is an excellent way to gain insights to the customer experience. When conducted frequently, you can identity strengths, weaknesses and discover opportunities that would have otherwise gone undetected. 



quotePamela’s workshop from Illumination Hospitality Group was exceptional and full of great ideas! She is truly a high-caliber consultant. Her knowledge of the industry and her understanding of wine retail sales and high end customer service shine through in these workshops.close quote

Sincerely,
Garret Murphy
Vintner's Collective
Napa, CA


quotePam did an excellent job of teaching me skills to effectively communicate with different types of customers, even the inevitable difficult ones. Thanks
to her workshop I can now engage any customer who comes into my tasting room and make sure they
leave happy and with a great memory of Pessagno Winery!close quote

Robin Dodd
Tasting Room and Hospitality Manager
Pessagno Winery
Salinas Valley, CA


quoteI attended the Sonoma State University Hospitality Management for the Tasting Room Course, February 2nd and wanted to thank you for such a well organized and well presented course.  The content was rich and your teaching techniques are to be commended. close quote 

Beverley Heslop
Future Tasting Room Professional

 

quoteI enjoyed attending your workshop.  I think it would be especially helpful for anyone new to the winery tasting room and it was a good refresher course for those already working in hospitality and wine sales.

The material was presented in a clear and logical manner with good examples of how to apply some of the ideas to the actual tasting room experience.  The "BRASS" technique for dealing with mistakes is something I will (hopefully) remember when that next difficult situation occurs.close quote

Marianne Flegal
Hospitality
Twomey Cellars
Calistoga, CA


 

News

News

WINE BUSINESS MONTHLY has IHG's Pamela Personette splashed across a six-page spread!

Pick up WINE BUSINESS MONTHLY'S August 2009 edition. Turn to page 70 and read Pamela Personette's article, "Rapport is the Core."

Click here to read Pam's WINE BUSINESS MONTHLY article and get valuable tips you can use today in your tasting room.

"Rapport is the Core" details how winery staff can make a personal connection with each customer, listen to each customer's wants and thereby increase daily sales.

If you've already taken one of Illumination Hospitality Group's workshops, you know that this is just one of many subjects covered in a fun, interactive, practical way.

If you haven't taken one of our workshops yet, the best way to take one is for your winery to book it, possibly as part of a staff meeting. The workshop will be modified and tailored to address your needs at your winery.

You can also attend a workshop at Santa Rosa Junior College, Napa Valley College, Sonoma State or Sonoma Valley Adult School.

Give Pamela Personette a call at (707) 935-9500 or send her an email: pam@illuminationhospitality.com.

Increase your daily wine sales. Read "Rapport is the Core" in WINE BUSINESS MONTHLY'S August 2009 edition, page 70. You'll learn one important technique. Attend a workshop and learn the full range of hospitality and sales techniques that will move you toward your goal of making your customers happy and selling more wine.

Click here to read Pam's WINE BUSINESS MONTHLY article.

Illumination Hospitality Group is coming to a college near you! 

SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY

Wine Business Program
Tasting Room Management Certificate Program

"Introduction to Tasting Room Management"
If you missed the February 8, 2010 class, you can take it in Fall Semester 2010.  Date to be determined.

NAPA VALLEY COLLEGE
"Tasting Room Sales Workshop"
Date:  September 22, 2010
Location: Napa Valley College
1556 First Street
Napa, CA 94559
Time: 9:00-AM-11:30AM
Fee:$40.00
Registration: Please call NVC at

707.253.3210

SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE
Save the date: November 3, 2010

"Retail Sales:  Rapport is the Core"  
6:00PM-9:00PM
Registration information coming soon.


IHG WILL TAILOR A WORKSHOP TO MEET YOUR NEEDS AT YOUR WINERY! 

Are your tasting room sales where you want them to be?

Be prepared as the economy makes a comeback!

Imagine making a genuine connection with your customers and selling more wine every day!

Pamela Personette, Director of Hospitality Training, Illumination Hospitality Group will help you respond to the issues that most concern you in the tasting room.  Pam will tailor a workshop to address exactly those issues winery owners, tasting room managers, and tasting room staff face.  She'll present the workshop at your winery. 

Please call Pam now at (707) 935-9500 to schedule your workshop because hospitality sells!

QuoteI think the brass rings are brilliant!  Since I took the workshop, all of our Hill Family Estate tasting room employees are aware of the brass ring steps!close quote

Ryan Hill
Director of Sales
Proprietor
Hill Family Estate
Yountville, CA

 

Winery staff during one hour workshop