We were lucky to catch up with Michael Verive recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a client that you appreciate them?

Working in the beverage alcohol industry, it’s important to be the person your account thinks of first when they need something, be it beer, spirits, wine, or even a non-alcoholic option like hydration water or energy drinks. The competition is so fierce and so present in the market and it’s impossible to be everywhere at once. So, I need to be the first person on their mind when they say, “I need this” or “I need that”. In the food industry, you’re limited to the hours it’s acceptable to visit an account, especially when that account is a restaurant or a bar that gets busy around the lunch and dinner hour. We need to be as impactful as we can with relatively limited amounts of time to do so. Imagine walking into a busy restaurant during the lunch rush asking them to sit down and sample whatever it is you have that day. They’ll tell you to leave it or come back another time.

One way I keep myself on the forefront is to simply stop into an account like a bar or restaurant and drop off a small sample of whatever it is I might have with me that day and leave it with the manager on duty or the bartender or even the kitchen staff (they deserve some love, too), usually on Fridays. What I’ve found over the past couple of years is that those small gestures add up to big opportunity, and when they need something for their bar, I’m usually the first person they call. They remember that sample of beer I left, or the small sample portion of bourbon I dropped off and will either call or text me to say thanks. It has been one of the best tools I have in my arsenal to get people to remember me and remember the product I have in my portfolio, and it shows the people at the account that I appreciate the business they’ve given us over the years and that I look forward to working with them more in the future.

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.

In 2018 I started a whiskey club in my hometown of Geneva, Illinois, called the Fox Valley Whiskey Society. After a few years it blossomed into becoming a huge group of aficionados, novices, industry professionals, and regular folks looking to learn more about whiskey. By the end of 2021 we had over 3,500 members in our Facebook group with even more email subscribers that would look forward to hearing about anything new we had going on, whether it be a private event or single barrel selection from a local distillery. I worked closely with distilleries, liquor stores, and restaurants to provide our members with fun, unique experiences that they wouldn’t get anywhere else. We hosted dozens of private dinners and whiskey pairings around town and selected our own barrels of whiskey from some of our favorite distilleries, all available to our club members and our club members only. It was and still is one of the highlights of my life. The knowledge I gained and the people I met and networked with proved to be invaluable as I started the next chapter of my life.

By January of 2021 I had moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with my wife, and with the help of several of my close friends, ran the Fox Valley Whiskey Society from afar. Something that, I would later learn, wasn’t as easy as I had expected. I had already taken a job with a beverage alcohol wholesaler in Myrtle Beach selling craft beer. By the end of 2022, I was working on the spirits team, where I am now a Beverage Specialist and help train our sales team on our growing portfolio of spirits across nearly 60 counties across South Carolina and Georgia. It is incredibly satisfying work and I genuinely love what I do and who I work for and with.

Having gathered experience from hosting private events, training bar staff, and getting certified in spirits education has helped me excel in the industry I am in now. To say I’m proud of where I started and where I ended up is an understatement, and looking back, I honestly didn’t think I’d be where I am at today. Had it not been for starting a little club of whiskey buffs, I think I’d still be stuck in Illinois.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think just being knowledgeable and experienced is the primary factor in building my reputation. I’m always looking to learn more and be better. I’ve hosted many public and private events around spirits since moving to South Carolina. I help train and educate bar and restaurant staff in spirits utilization and education. I am an Executive Bourbon Steward and Kentucky Colonel. I host a podcast in which I interview craft breweries and distilleries. I operate a website in which I review the spirits in my personal collection. I assist liquor stores in selecting private barrels of whiskey for their store. I’m currently working with a local distillery to create a single barrel program of their own. I think just the knowledge and expertise in my field has helped me immensely. I train my fellow employees on spirits so they can be better equipped to hit the market.

But I think even more so is just being honest and trustworthy and helping when and where I’m able to. If I don’t know something, I’ll tell you. This industry can be very cutthroat and fierce with lots of sales reps trying to deceive you into buying their products and that’s just not me. Listen, if I have a product in my portfolio and I think won’t fit your business, I’m not going to sell it to you. It doesn’t make sense for me to sell you a product that your customers won’t buy. Honesty and integrity go a long way in keeping my reputation the way it is.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

Social media these days is a driving force in keeping in touch with my clients and my accounts. I’m Facebook friends with many of the owners, managers, and staff at nearly every account I walk into in addition to following their business online. I want to know what their business is up to and how I can support them every chance I get, whether it’s just popping in for lunch or showing up for live music. Even more so than stopping in to visit them on a regular basis is keeping in touch outside of work as well. Wishing them a happy birthday, happy anniversary, happy holidays, etc… goes a long way in building brand loyalty and getting to know them better. I’m a huge proponent of selling the customer on the idea of buying from me, not just buying the product I sell. If the account and client isn’t comfortable with me as a person, they won’t be comfortable with the product.

I also have the added benefit of having a massive whiskey collection at home and often get asked by my clients and accounts if they can come over and do a sampling, to which I always reply with “YES!”.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whiskeycloset.net
• Instagram: @fox_valley_whiskey_society
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foxvalleywhiskeysociety
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GlassLessTraveledLivecast

Image Credits
Dina Karkowski