Monday, September 22 2008

Winexpert Western Canada Retailer Conference

A den of iniquity. And good buffet lunches.

For a guy who doesn't gamble (because I can do math) I spend an unusual amount of time in Casinos. However, it's not the lure of gaming that attracts me, nor showgirls or even lounge acts: nope, it's almost always work. Last Sunday it was our 2008 Western Canadian Retailer Conference at the Fabulous River Rock Casino in Richmond BC.

I really like our conferences. They tend to be a lot of work for our staff, so things get hectic, but it's a great chance to meet with our Retail Partners (corporate-speak for the folks who sell our wine products), many of whom I've known for over 15 years. I got a chance to see Harvey and Laura, Leon, Bruce, Roger, Jeff, Brad, Lisa, Stacy and Dino, and many others, along with new folks and some of our US customers from the West Coast. Winexpert isn't a huge company, so we spread ourselves thin, and I don't get to see everyone as often as I'd like, so bringing them to me is a wonderful way to catch up.

We've changed our conferences a little bit, and this year we launched the first step in a new theme of education and knowledge systems--Winexpert's Excellence program. It's going to span all aspects of retailing, merchandising, and customer service, but the first part was all in my court, Operations Excellence. It's a hybrid system of Value Stream Mapping, Toyota Production Systems, Lean Manufacturing, Theory of Constraints, Six Sigma and a whack of other stuff, all designed to help our Wine On Premise retailers make their stores as productive and efficient as possible.

The lecture went pretty well, and the manual I compiled looked pretty sharp, so I'm pleased with my part of it. Of course, that's just the beginning: first teach, then go into the field and help folks apply the knowledge. I've made more work for myself down the road, it seems!

Of course, I'll have to put it off until after Limited Edition Season, which starts . . . oh my, it starts in less than ten days! Time to hit the ground running again!

posted by Tim at 06:10AM

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