INC. Magazine Names VinoPRO to Coveted List for Second Year Running
Santa Rosa, CA (PRWEB) August 20, 2014 -- Inc. Magazine announced today that VinoPRO (http://www.vinopro.com), a rapidly expanding Santa Rosa, California-based direct-to-consumer wine sales, marketing and technology company, has made the Inc.500|5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. for the second straight year. VinoPRO makes history today with this award by becoming the only wine/technology business ever to achieve this prestigious honor two years in a row. Past Inc. Magazine alumni have included Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Jamba Juice, Timberland, Clif Bar, Pandora, Patagonia and Oracle. The 2014 Inc. Magazine list includes GoPro, Bridger, Fuhu, Tough Mudder, Bowlmor and Lending Club in addition to VinoPRO.
“This award is once again a tribute to our talented and hard-working team, and I’m incredibly proud of this accomplishment. We strive to provide the most professional customer experience possible for our winery clients, and as a result, our growth rate this year continues to accelerate,” said Stevenson.
VinoPRO of Santa Rosa sells ultra-premium wine, wine club memberships, data collection kiosks and technology solutions for companies such as Iron Horse Winery, Benziger Family Winery, Gloria Ferrer, Ferrari-Carano, WineTasting.com, Treasury Wine Estates, Jackson Family Wines, and dozens of other high-end wine brands, and has the only real-time, FCC/TPCA compliant solution in the wine industry.
The Most Profitable Sale is the DTC Sale
Wine sales for VinoPRO clients rose to almost $9 million in 2013 according to VinoPRO CEO Jeff Stevenson, “using the most antiquated technology on the planet – the telephone.” Gone are the dark ages of boiler room telemarketers making cold calls at dinnertime. VinoPRO is truly different; the company sells wine by creating long-term relationships with customers over the telephone instead of sending impersonal emails or trying to generate Facebook likes. There isn’t another product on the face of the planet that lends itself so well to telephone sales.
“Iron Horse signed up with VinoPRO over five years ago and we’ve seen double digit percentage increases in sales every single year. Their team is very much a part of the winery.” Joy Sterling, Partner/CEO Iron Horse Vineyards
Turbocharging Wine Club Sales
VinoPRO started their new Wine Club Sales Division in 2013 and sold over 4,000 wine club memberships over the phone that year. The company has sold almost 2,500 wine club memberships since the beginning of 2014.
“Our partnership with VinoPRO has produced amazing results and they consistently over-deliver on their commitments. Their technology innovation and sales leadership in the direct-to-consumer space is something we place tremendous value in,” said Kory Erickson, Vice President and General Manager, Treasury Wine Estates.
Customer Data Collection: The Holy Grail
Collecting customer contact information for future marketing efforts is a constant challenge for most wineries. VinoPRO recently introduced its Tasting Room Kiosk for this purpose and has collected over 10,000 new names for its clients since June 2014. The kiosk is free to VinoPRO clients and available at a nominal cost to others looking to increase the size of their customer list.
“Our guests have fun playing the kiosk game and our staff spends far less time on manual data entry. VinoPRO’s tasting room kiosk has been extremely successful and visitor signup rates and data collection have increased five-fold over our manual data collection efforts,” said Geraldine Flatt, Vice President, Human Resources & Retail Operations for Gloria-Ferrer Winery.
We Are Hiring Now
VinoPRO has become a major employer in Sonoma County employing over 50 people, and has once again been named one of North Bay Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” for 2014. The company has been so successful in brand sales, marketing and customer relationship management they have expanded their offices at The Lakes business complex twice, and are looking for additional locations to expand further in the coming months. VinoPRO is hiring as fast as it can to support its accelerated growth and the increased demand for its services. The company’s training program for new employees is so effective that several clients also enroll their tasting room staff in the program to boost sales.
“Jeff and his team have created a professional environment that inspires, encourages and empowers his people to do their best with a sense of fun, purpose and accomplishment…Bravo!” said Michael Houlihan, Investor and Founder, Barefoot Wines.
Inc Magazine’s annual list of fastest growing companies is ranked according to percentage revenue growth over a three-year period. To qualify, companies have to be U.S.-based, privately held, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies. Revenue in the initial year must have been at least $200,000, and revenue in the most recent year must have been at least $2 million.
http://www.vinopro.com
707-396-5061
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Jeff Stevenson, VinoPRO Inc, http://www.vinopro.com, +1 (707) 396-5061, [email protected]
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