"Vacuuming up the pennies."

That's how my friend Stephanie describes the process of cleaning up even the smallest cache of wine that might be lingering in a back room or under a counter or anywhere else that's essentially "out of sight, out of mind."

You might find that we tend to stumble upon those bottles and cases during the summertime, when there's lots of activity and shifting of things from one place to another.

It's like finding hidden treasure, which you could turn into valuable offerings for your DTC program above and beyond the bottle price.

Let's say that you uncover several cases at the winery that have long since been forgotten. (This happened to a friend of mine just last week.) You could...

• Open a few bottles to try them out. They might be in great shape. If they are, try telling the story to Club members who joined that particular year, and package them up for a special offer to just those people.

• Or maybe it's time for a "mystery case" sale, with particular information included about the unexpected bottles.

• Or maybe send those bottles along on a winemaker visit where you've asked Club members to invite a friend. Introduce new customers, and potentially new Club members, to the Club with special treatment.

 Or. Or. Or.

The point is that when you "vacuum up the pennies," even pennies start to add up. It also cleans up inventory and tidies your storage space.

I'd love to hear any other ideas in this vein that you might have. Please drop me a line anytime.

Thank you, as always, for reading –
Cathy