We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joel Work. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joel below.

Hi Joel, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?

There is no one particular memory that I have from a customer but more of a collective of memories from our wine club members support. As a new local business, we have made our fair share of mistakes as we learn about the industry and the complexities of the business. Yet, our wine club members have been so supportive of our goals and believe in us to reach our full potential even when they have been on the receiving end of our mistakes. Our goal as a company is to strive for excellence in everything we do. However, excellence is not easily attained and comes from a lot of hard work and from learning from your mistakes. Thankfully our members have stuck with us through the roller coaster ride we have had these past couple of years and supported every step of our growth.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For those of you who are not familiar with Monserate Winery, we are a family-owned and operated business. Jade and Julie my parents are the owners and my brothers and I help support their dream and vision for the company. Monserate Winery is part of a lot of things stemming from winemaking, serving our customers at our restaurant, building a thriving wine club, and hosting beautiful events. What we like to say as a business is that we are a part of a lot of different forms of business but ultimately we are in the fun and joy business. In every single area of this vast business if we are not bringing fun and joy to our customers and staff then we are not doing it right. There are probably a million problems and challenges that I could write about stemming from managing a vineyard, to ensuring a wedding goes exactly the way the couple dreamed of. Ultimately it is not the specific challenges that have made our business who we are but how we face these challenges. We never an obstacle or challenge as something we can not overcome. If there is a will there is a way. Our family cares too much about this business and those who come to enjoy it to let obstacles and stress get in the way. That is what I am most proud of. I am very proud of the team that we have and our ability to overcome any obstacle.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

For us as a customer service business, our best source of new clients or new customers is word of mouth. We have spent countless money on different forms of marketing and it has brought business in but nowhere the same as the effect of word of mouth.

Word of mouth has been time and time again our most successful way of getting new customers. If we can wow our customers while they are here they have consistently spoken our praises for us to their friends and family. In marketing terms, it is referred to as a social currency. If we can give our customers a world-class experience then they will have something special to tell their friends and family about. People like to tell others about great things that they know about and it becomes a form of social currency. In essence, all of our business that comes in leaves and becomes our form of marketing. When we would do studies to track where our new customers were coming from on average 70-80% of them came from a friend or family member informing them of the business.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

The best advice I have when it comes to managing people is first to understand the role that you are managing. For example, I manage our tasting room but before I managed everything I worked in every person’s position. I food ran, bussed, barbacked, and served. I learned one what each person should be doing to be successful in their position day in and day out, but two I learned what the challenges are of the position. Learning what your team members will be challenged with is so important. That way I can try and aid them to succeed in their position. The other thing I firmly believe in is servant leadership. My goal as a manager is to serve my team so that their day is better than the last. By doing these two things I believe you can create an amazing and winning culture.

Contact Info:

• Website: monseratewinery.com

Image Credits
I don’t have any photos of myself except for this awkward photo.