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Tim's Ravings

Posted by Tim Stevens on

Tim's Spring Ravings 2022

I have a new weapon in my battle with insomnia. Deleting and blocking the endless stream of junk emails that arrive in my inbox, obscuring the messages I actually need to see. It's like popping bubble wrap or peeling glue off your fingers... repetitive, mindless, almost meditative. I say almost, because after a while it gets me thinking.

I cannot for the life of me understand why so many businesses send the damn things... unsolicited, irrelevant, and as unwelcome and persistent as a mosquito. I can only assume it sometimes works. That there really are people out there who mark an email as junk 23 times, only to receive the same message again from a slightly different address, who finally crack on receipt of email number 24 and place an order for a pallet of goji berries from overseas, saying to themselves "To hell with it, they seem terribly nice (Dear Sir/Madam, It is glad to write to you with keen hope to open a business relationship...). I'm sure I can find a use for those little red berries of wonder. They're a super food don't you know".

Presumably there are others who respond really well to being told that they're doing a terrible job of marketing their business; or my absolute favourite - being sternly ticked off for not replying to a prior unsolicited communication. A while ago there were a LOT of toenail fungus emails (I don't even want to know) but those have stopped - was the world rid of this terrible scourge? They've been replaced by "Hot Housewives in your area". Give me strength. And before any of you get smart about my browsing habits, the most exciting thing my laptop sees are spreadsheets and school projects about bushrangers or dinosaurs.

Don't get me wrong, we're big fans of selling direct to the customer here at Huntington, it's how we've always done it. No middlemen between us and you - no shops (big or small), agents or distributors taking their cut and controlling what you are offered. But we do our "direct mail" differently.

For a start, everyone who receives a newsletter from us has asked for it - usually on a visit to the cellar door, or when they've purchased our wines. We used to bribe people to sign up with a bottle of wine, but Donald Duck of 221B Baker Street, didn't turn out to be the customer we hoped he might. Seriously though, we don't spam people we don't know.

Secondly, we use paper brochures to communicate. I'm often asked why we persist with print - surely emails and texts are the future? Never a cheap thing to do, costs are soaring, and Australia Post prioritises parcels over letters so delivery is slow. So why bother? Because it's better. A paper newsletter is something you sit down to read, glass of wine in hand. It's something you can annotate, discuss, and come back to. It allows us to tell our stories and share our news and passion for the wines we make and the land we tend. And we love getting your phone calls and continuing the conversations we've had - sometimes over the course of many years. Emails are great for reminders and updates, and online ordering is convenient, but we'll never replace paper. A little bit old-school? A lot more time-consuming? Sure. But it works for us, we've never been ones to rush or take short-cuts.

Finally, the choice is entirely yours. You choose whether to buy or not, and what/how much. While the benefits of Wine Clubs are obvious for the wineries (off-load whatever stock you want, when you want, lock people into regular purchases, efficient pack & pick), it doesn't strike us as a good foundation for the long-term relationships we seek. We'd rather put our faith in the quality, the range, and the value we offer - give you choice, and hope and trust you'll buy.­

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