Richard Siddle, Editor's blog May

Written by Richard Siddle

Thursday, 07 May 2009

When things get tough everyone starts looking around for the silver bullet or the "one big thing" that is going to get them out of trouble. But life, as they say, is a little more complicated than that. A fact that was drummed home to me whilst attending the Wine & Spirit Education Trust's breakthrough new Business and Commercial Knowledge course last week.

The course did exactly what it said on the tin, namely plug some of the perceived skills gaps that exist in the sector when it comes to really understanding the key commercial issues that will determine a business' success.

What came across loud and clear is that it all lies in the detail and how on top you are on every little aspect of your businesses' cost base.

The course brought people together from across the wine industry with very different skills sets - from national account and brand managers to company directors and yes, even editors - and involved taking part in Apprentice-style business case studies, like working out how a Rhone or Australian producer can increase wine sales in the UK.

But as in The Apprentice itself it was often the smallest detail in planning and understanding the financial and costs aspects of the various project work that was shown to be many of the delegates' Achilles heel.

It also demonstrated how we all relied on each other's areas of expertise to get the job done. Be it knowing harvesting and viniculture pressures in a winery, through to the pros and cons of different routes to market, to the strategies and knowledge needed to build convincing brand concepts that are going to catch the imagination of buyers and consumers alike. But lessons learnt in class will hopefully be implemented in the real world.

Sir Terry Leahy puts Tesco's ongoing success down to the fact it works tirelessly to get 100 things 1% better right through its business. Its every little helps mantra not only resonates so well with its consumers and it makes it one of the best retailers in the world.

The WSET course will have certainly helped everyone who was there go back and work with the rest of their colleagues on how they can run their businesses that little bit better than before.

I would urge you to sign up for the next one.