Wine, beer and spirit sales and distribution industries offer a variety of lucrative careers for self-motivated, knowledgeable sales professionals.
One of the greatest attributes of alcohol distribution is that many careers do not require higher education. Additionally, many sales-related jobs in the industry offer salary and commission, so they can be quite lucrative. If you love wine, beer, or spirits and know a lot about them, consider a sales representative or management career in the alcohol distribution industry.
Wine Sales Representative
A fundamental quality of a successful wine sales representative is passionate knowledge of wine. To become a wine rep, study, taste and enjoy wine. Plan to meet new people every day, charm them, inform them about your product line and look good doing it. Your customers own and work in liquor stores, bars, nightclubs, hotels, restaurants and other businesses and organization that serve and sell wine. Your employer will usually provide you with a customer list and leads for developing new customers as well as office and communication support and product samples and information. You'll need your own car, a valid driver's license and a clean driving record; some employers pay mileage, some do not. Expect a salary with possible growth into commission and to be assigned a territory which may encompass one city, a couple states or even a number of countries.
Beer Distributor Area Sales Manager
Beer sales reps manage an assigned territory and market one or many of the labels under a manufacturing brand; moreover, they drink only the beer brands they distribute. Expect to develop a lot of new businesses and service many existing purveyors of beer in this career while managing the folks in your territory who actually deliver product and fulfill customer orders. Duties include identifying and securing new beer resellers, tracking sales, working with the marketing department to optimize branding opportunities at events and constant contact with clients and staff to ensure customer satisfaction and employee work quality. As an area sales manager you will be held accountable for the volume of sales in your region, profitability and customer satisfaction so expect to work long hours and exhibit uncompromising leadership and enthusiasm for the products you sell.
Liquor Brand or Territory Manager
As a brand manager for a hard liquor manufacturer or distributor you will attend many promotional events which are your responsibility to identify and develop. Brand managers typically have bachelor's degrees, superb communication skills, a bartending background and are expected to have unwavering loyalty to the brand they represent. Premium spirit brand managers are required to have previous experience with hard liquor sales and marketing programs, demographics and data. Expect to earn a good salary with potential for significant commission if you take on this career, and expect to be held accountable for developing new clients and maintaining existing customers.
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