About

(0:45) Introduction -Jena Domingue is a highly accomplished senior executive with more than 20 years of success in the wine, eCommerce, digital marketing, luxury goods, and staffing industries. Throughout her career.She had held leadership positions with wine direct, Jan Marini, skin research, and other luxury goods companies,  and was a San Francisco Bay Area native. Also with over 20 years of experience and sales, Jena leads the wine direct sales team wine direct is a Napa Valley company offering world-class eCommerce and fulfillment solutions to wineries and in her current role as VP of global sales.She's responsible for developing national and international sales teams. Jena also manages that integrated payment program with over $1 billion in revenue. Jena has won multiple national awards for sales performance in the skincare and aesthetics industries. If this wouldn't be enough, Jena also served as VP on the woman for wine centre board of directors for two consecutive years.Her key areas of expertise include fulfilment and ecommerce sales, B2B technology, relationship management, digital strategy, negotiation, and sales, team management with a passion for wine, especially sparkling wine, then she brings best practices to direct to consumer sales, then loves sports and was a professional cheerleader for Oakland Raiders.The interview-(2:17)1. So you've had such success in a, you know, industry, which is typically very traditional, not related to technology, not related to e-commerce. So before we get down into all the questions, let me ask you, your journey. How has it been? How did you even get started in this industry? And was it difficult to figure things out as you're breaking new ground?(2:41) About eight years ago, I was the general wine consumer. And I thought to myself, you know, I'm not sure I'm being spoken to, in this sort of arena, or am I invited to the party. So what I decided to do was, I was going to start my own wine company. So I, a friend of mine, was working as a wine director.She said, you really should come meet with my CEO. I said, Okay, well, why don't we, we got together, how to put together a marketing plan. And I was sharing with him that there's a lot of wineries and a lot of consumers that are sort of underserved and not spoken to. And he said, Yes, absolutely.We'll support the initiative, we will back you, but what can you do for me? And I said, Well, sure. I thought I'll learn a lot. I can launch my company. Eight years later, here I am as a VP and have not launched my baby yet, but it's in the works.(2:56)2. That's great. So are there a lot of these types of companies selling wine online? Is this a trend that is catching on? Or? You guys are the pioneers? How's that industry?(3:10)I would absolutely say yes. I mean, in the past 12 months, our business has exploded, we were expecting some scale. You know, the past year has certainly progressed faster than we were expecting. But it's an exciting time, I can tell you the wineries that had a digital strategy, had a plan, had their supply chain in place, meaning e-commerce was built up, they had fulfilment in place. If that was what happened. They pivoted and they've done very well. Those who have not, are struggling, but they're catching up. So, but it's fine. But yes, the wineries that have embraced e-commerce are doing very well. Awesome.(3:53)3. How do you get so successful in so many different industries in so many different, you know, arenas, like, what is your success? Secret to success?(4:17)I've probably got this, a lot of it's probably an internal drive, I certainly have a certain internal drive that I think I was just sort of born with. And then the other part is you get a little bit of success, and then you kind of want more and so I'm not one to settle, I guess, and I'm very curious.So if I'm sort of mastering one area, I'm curious about what's going on over there as well. And so, I was sort of challenged myself, to learn more and so what's next I'm not, I'm never really comfortable. Yeah, I'm always sort of looking for that. What's next?(5:10)4.Can you share any stories, any anything that you had to sort of overcome during your career to like, break through for a major, sort of a major, you know, project that you were trying to accomplish your goal you were trying to accomplish?(5:24)You can imagine a woman of colour in the wine industry. It's not your typical every day.There were a lot of barriers to breakthrough. What's been very helpful is when you have strong advocates and allies that believe in you that believe in your work that believe in your mind and thought leadership, and say, yes, and hold doors open, but a lot of it had, you know, for me, it was I knew I was on the right trajectory and doing well.Then at some point, I said, Okay, I know what I know. But how do I prove what I know? And so I then went back to school, got my executive MBA last year and graduated. And so that was a really important step for me, I guess, to sort of put that stamp on it and go, Okay, I know these things are true, and never really no one can question that I can. (6:19)5.The term imposter syndrome comes to mind if anybody has that. So is that something that you're referring to?(6:32)No, I was just saying that sometimes people will question the room and they say, Wait, you know, they don't assume that, you know, you're there. But when it comes to imposter syndrome, I would say yes, I mean, that I think that many of us suffer from that, or different times in your career, you question, am I ready for this? You know, I certainly have had, I took on to about two and a half years ago, I've always been a salesperson.I've always led sales teams. And that was my trajectory. That was what I knew. And we needed a big overhaul in the client success department. And my, my CEO kept saying, We've got to fixthis, we've got to fix this.we tried hiring outside, and it just wasn't coming together. And I finally said, raise my hand, after ducking under the desk for a few times, when he was pointing fingers, finally stepped up and said, Okay, I'll do it, you know, I think I can handle this.Trust me, it was not an easy role to step into, for multiple reasons, internal external, and but I knew that I had, I knew what I had to do to fix it. Two and a half years later, I can tell you that our exit surveys, data, it's really sort of, I always say you're the heart of the company to my CS team, but it really is sort of the bright spot for us right now. Because we've got an amazing team, and they are driving success within the company through multiple channels. So very proud of what we've done with this successful team.(8:08)6. I took note of two things that you pointed out, one is taking initiative when opportunities come about raising hands, as you said, a lot of people don't do that. To what extent has that been part of your success as well just being there and making yourself available?(8:29)Yes, Every single step of the way, you know, because it goes back to payments, when I took on payment, integrated payments, nobody wanted to touch it, and my CEO said, you have to get $2 million, let me know or we have driven that to something pretty remarkable. But it started with me just saying no, I see something there being visible work, being willing to not know, but go in and ask questions. And that's really, I think, what's, and again, I'm not one, if I take on a project, it's because when I see that there's a path to success, and then I'm going to get on that path and drive it. And I'm not going to let it fail if it has anything to do with me and you know, my capabilities. So it very much as I would say very, you know, being able to say, you know, I could have easily said no to the success opportunity or or to at some of the others, but I said yes, I knew it would be you know, a learning curve longer days, you know, dealing with frustrated clients, and sometimes some things that maybe I didn't have to do in sales, but I said no, I knew that when I had an answer to that I had a solution to some of the problems. And I was not content to sit back and you know, not jump in.(9:49)7.The reason why we do these interviews is to inspire other people and, and this is one of the things you know, taking action and raising your hand when the opportunity strikes is One of the key things because most people say, No, I cannot accomplish what I want. And yet they don't realise they don't always keep saying no to the opportunities as they come along, right? (10:12)That's absolutely You're so right. If you're saying no, because it doesn't feel like a fit, or I'm not sure. Stop it. You can always, always say, you know, this, this wasn't the right fit, I assume. But get in there. Don't be afraid to take a risk. Be curious, try something new. Listen, every single one of us has a power of information in our hands with our smartphones. So if you don't know, Google it, look it up. Yeah. You know, look for someone who's done it before who's broken ground, but certainly, I think there's, there's more answers out there than questions. We just have to look and find them.(10:47)8. The second thing I noticed was that, you know, when you talked about the new department that you were heading, you gave a lot of credit to the team. So I find that to be a common trait within like, a really great leader. So what do you say about that? Like, how did you learn that? Do you give more credit to the team? Or was it innate? Or, like, tell us a little bit about your leadership?(11:12)Part of it was probably just my personality, kind of a team person and a team player, and I don't mind giving, I really want to give credit where credit's due. But, you know, my boss said something to me as I was sort of coming up the ranks, he said, take credit when things go wrong, give credit when things go right. Yeah. And that has set and stayed with me in that. I look at my team, they put, you know, God, they show up every day. And you know, every day is not a great day, but they show up, they continue to show up, and they have the right attitude. You know, and so when I came in, I said, Look, you guys, this is going to be easy, but we're going to fix this. for me, it's you know, I like to show my team a lot of love. I really like to recognise them for what they're doing well, we've put some programmes in place that we've got peer recognition, so that the peers are recognising. And then we actually every month you can submit your own if let's say you get a email of praise, and you want to submit it great, you put it in, and we'll show all the submissions as well as the winners. But it's always a good time to show off your skills. In this case, your people skills and in sales, you know, you're rewarded by those accounts you bring in. So I think sometimes we forget that CS needs to be recognised and rewarded for all that they do every day.(12:44)9. I come from an engineering background, and I've had to learn marketing and sales, it doesn't come easy at all. To me, I find it terribly difficult, like, you know, to ask for us for money, ask for things. But there is another level of luxury goods where, you know, and in the wine industry, you know, it's well known, like, certain wines cost so much more. And how are you? What is your strategy?Wow, do you convince somebody to understand the value of what we are selling at that price point, versus like, you know, the goods that we sell at a regular price point? I would like to understand a little bit of your thinking process when you sell luxury items.(13:38)Selling luxury is not something I think can be sold. It's something that's acquired, if you will, and so somebody who's looking at a luxury item is, it's usually, you know, that an idea you're getting into now the psychology of the buyer. What are they looking for? Is it that ego is it, they've, maybe they've reached a certain place in their career, and they want to signify that buy a certain bottle of wine a certain bag. So for me, it's understanding who my buyer is, and getting into the psychology of how this rewards them and what makes them feel good about this, about this acquisition. I'm also a big believer that luxury can be enjoyed in small doses. So it doesn't have to be this, you know, life of, you know, kill me a grape, right? But maybe on the weekend, I enjoy that special bottle of wine or we go when I go away, I stay in a nicer hotel than I might when I'm travelling for business. Finding little bits of luxury along the way, seems to be a much more palatable way of justifying that extra spender. I remind people when they are going for that more, you know, out of reach bottle of wine that you know, this is something very special, you've earned it. You've worked very hard. Congratulations that you've, you can acquire this. I make it sort of a mark of standard for them.(15:09)10.How do you? How do you get to know the customer so intimately? Like, we talked to them about surveys? Like, what? What are some of your? I mean, you don't have to reveal any secrets if you know if they are company secrets, but I'm just talking in general, how do you think? What are you? What is your approach?(15:42)In luxury, yes, you're doing a lot of learning, asking questions, and really about your lifestyle do you have? Do they have children? Are they married? or single? How do they spend their weekends? Is it with their girlfriends? Or? Or guy friends? Or is it with, you know, in the boat with the family? So how you enjoy your life is really going to oftentimes dictate or you know, are you a busy professional? Are you staying at home? Mom, those two lifestyles are a little different.You want to understand where they're coming from? And then where they want, where they want to go, where they want to be? And does this acquisition help them get there? And, again, the psychology of that buyer is so important. Does this make me feel good? Does it make me feel valued? I think about those things. And even when I go back to work, I look at it. As you know, I'm talking with my customers.How do I make them look good? How do I make them feel good? So if this solution I'm offering is going to make my decision maker and that buyer look good to their CEO, which their higher ups, that's a win? Yeah, I want to make sure my clients look great to their seniors and their higher ups, because they made a great decision. Now they've got new data points, they've got new insights that they can share. They're helping drive the business in a successful way. And so I'm always looking for the win. What's the win for my buyer?(17:09)11.  Can you share some insights around that, like wine in general? How, how is the industry changing in response to the pandemic and whatever is going on, around the health crisis?(17:38)I think behaviourally, it's changing, and that buyers who may have never bought one online before, because they like going to the tasting room, maybe or, you know, they just don't, maybe they're afraid to make a 2040 $50 bottle of wine without tasting it. I think that's definitely shifted. One and then I, we see probably more mature buyers who may have never bought wine online are also more comfortable making those purchases because they had to through some part of last year.I think from the point of view of the winery, and producer, you're seeing all sorts of new engagement. So you're seeing cans, you're seeing different size bottles, 187 miles, you know, the little tasters all sorts of different ways to enjoy wine outside of opening a 750 bottle on a Tuesday night.(18:31)12. Sounds like the disruption brought about some innovation, you better believe it does not always you, being in the industry? Like, you know, it inside out? How, how prepared are businesses or wineries for this transformation that is happening? Like, I obviously, you know, as you mentioned earlier, many people are sort of, you know, going with the flow and pivoting, but what is that percentage, like, how many people are thinking forward and how many people are sort of saying, okay, we'll come back to normal and whatever?(19:18)The wine industry, we tend to be a little slow to adopt. But we get there eventually. You know, we've got some tools in place. I think in particular, things like digital strategy. Yeah. Most wineries, you know, 80% of wineries or 5000. Cases are fewer, meaning they're small, producing wineries and so they don't have the bandwidth or, you know, most people are wearing multiple hats. The winemaker may also, you know, be ringing folks out on a Saturday, or you know, giving tours and so you don't have somebody who's committed to thinking about search engine optimization. If you ask somebody you know, you have a digital strategy, they go Yeah, I got Facebook and you know, and you wait, wait, wait, but but thinking about things like, you know, do you have a blog? Are you engaging partners to have backlinks? Are you looking at Seo? optimization? Are you using Google Tag Manager Google Analytics Are you looking at where your customers are coming from, so you know where to go when you do want to acquire new customers.so there's a lot of data points that are absolutely free to the business, the entrepreneurs, but they aren't necessarily engaged, they know how to pull those out. And so we're putting together a team that can help do the heavy lifting for the wineries because they are a bit behind when it comes to really manoeuvring through the digital space. It's tough, it's not easy for someone just getting into it, which, you know, opened a winery because they love to make wine.(20:44)13.  I really find it interesting how consumer trends are changing in many, many industries, like, you know, especially hospitality and all that. But wine seems to be taking a different, like a different path here. So how has it been going? In the past year? How has consumer behaviour changed buying behaviour? for wine?(21:57)More drinking, for sure. But I think that consumers are also becoming more curious, they're looking for maybe boutique brands, something that's not so easily acquired, but you know, what's that one sort of, you know, undercover fine that I you know, that that diamond in the rough that I can find and, and identify with, and people are finding sort of finding their favourites. We're seeing a lot of sort of cult favourites pop up, especially as younger drinkers emerge, and they're curious about wine.They don't want to drink what their parents drink, they're looking for what's my favourite now and, and also, if, you know, alignment with a company's values, looking for things like clean white and sustainable practices, you know, even you know, us as a third party shipper. You know, our consumers want to, you know, we don't want styrofoam anymore. We want to make sure that it's all, you know, recyclable, and it's earth friendly. And so we've got quite a few initiatives as well. And then, you know, we're shipping a whole lot of wine. And so how do we work on reducing our footprint. And so we've got some great initiatives around that as well. But it is important that wineries align with partners. And then the consumer also participates in that, and everybody feels good about the partnership and the wineries initiatives.(23:39)14. What do you see as ecommerce, obviously, is taking off? But do you see this trend going to the extent where maybe retail is going to be all digital or something like that? Or tasting rooms? I mean, what kind of, like, experiences can we expect in the future? From the industry?(24:18)I think the wine industry will last forever. You know, it's hand to hand. This is about experience and tell me a story. And it's the smell. It's the taste, I think until we get smellovision and you know, yeah, I think the Expedia we're while we're we've migrated, we've done some pivoting and we're doing digital tastings, remote tasting, that's, it's carried us through and it's great. I think inevitably, when it comes to wine, we still are looking for someone to you know, tell us the nuances I should be expecting and some of the hand holding but I do believe that the wine industry will benefit from taking advantage of things like you know, art Official intelligence recommendation engines, you know, blockchain in terms of protecting provenance of certain things, alternate, you know, payment methods, I think there's a lot that we can benefit from in technology and take advantage of while still holding on to those roots of you know, taste, smell, touch, and then of course, sharing of the fruit. (26:23)15. You have so much in depth knowledge about the digital world. And how has that changed in the past year? Have you noticed any trends which are, which caught you by surprise, obviously, the usage has gone up multiple times. But anything else that you notice online, people's behaviour has changed, or the kinds of things they are interested in has changed?(26:50)I think that we're going to say no, if I'm reading the tea leaves, right. And I'm, you know, I don't think it's magic but, you know, frictionless purchasing, frictionless payments are absolutely top of mind for people like me. And so I think about how do I allow my customers to make purchases in the app? So if they're looking at a story, maybe we don't, you know, they don't have to actually leave, you know, oh, I'm interested in that wine I saw on, you know, whatever show they were watching housewives or whatever, and they want to go, and then they've got to leave, and they've got to go purchase it. What if they can actually purchase that while they're watching that show? You know, maybe not being so overt when it comes to advertisement, but we actually do have a softer sell a softer approach. And the consumer can acquire, inquire more if they want. But you know, sometimes product placements are pretty obvious. I think there's some kind of cool, neat, new way of getting products in front of customers that isn't so in your face. And so looking, again, new technologies, your recommendation engines and using AI that really understand who your customers are, yeah, it's very interesting, because then you can place the product and align with that customer base in a way that's much more specific and targeted, versus, you know, blasting the universe and hoping half of a percent to show up.(28:23)16. So are there such initiatives going on? Around the industry? (28:29)I would say so I think you have slamet. And there's, again, you've got mostly small wineries. So there's a few larger houses that are looking at how to take advantage of technology, but it certainly benefits everyone top to bottom. I think we're all looking at, you know, how do we scale that in a way that's affordable, approachable, for the average, wondering.(28:51)17. The last questions I wanted to ask about the scholarship programmes that you offer, your company offers, how did that come about? What is the motivation? And you know, how, what are you trying to accomplish with that? I find it very, you know, admirable that your company is offering that, but tell us a little bit more about that.(29:17)I think you're thinking more about women for wind since they actually have the scholarships.That's a wonderful non profit group that exists to really promote wine for women, whether it's entrepreneurs or those enjoying it, but recognising women, women within this space, I think it's very important that we recognise you know, women, underserved communities, people of colour, producers of colour, that have not previously been recognised.There's a lot of energy behind this right now. I'm seeing a lot of different initiatives and groups pop up that say no, we actually want to make sure that you know, whether it's indigenous peoples or even, you know, field workers, you know that come here and do the heavy lifting the hard work of producing the wide and you know, the picking and the grafting and all the things that happen in the field, recognising every step of the way, and those who participated in that.(30:17)18. Can you tell us how people can reach out to you if they want to connect with you?(30:40)I'm terrible at socializing but LinkedIn is always the best way you can pay me. I actually respond to all my messages. So you can always find me on LinkedIn. My name Jena, I mean, you or you can get my email, Jena Domingue at wine, direct, calm. Awesome, great. We'll put those links in the show notes so that people can reach out to the list. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks. Thank you. All right.RESOURCESLinkedin:linkedin.com/in/jena-domingue-87642b48ツCONNECT WITH ME  ツ Leave a comment on this video and it'll get a response. Or you can connect with me on different social platforms too:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manujaggarwal/   • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manujagro/  • Website: https://manujaggarwal.com/   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.