The Problem

Started in 1968, Southern Wine & Spirits has become the largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States. Their Eastern division, Coastal Wine & Spirits, operates in three markets, culminating in a sales force of 250 and over 40 brands. With ever changing promotional materials and seasonal products, Coastal needed to find a way to keep their sales force updated and with an easy way to communicate with their customers. This is where Train by Cell comes in; with our text messaging and mobile site combo, Coastal Wine and Spirits is pulling out all the stops to give the best customer service experience.

The Solution

Coastal’s mobile strategy is just like a one-two punch: the mobile website acts as a sales tool and resource for staff and customers, while the text messaging platform serves as a instant product alert system.

The mobile site’s versatility allows it to be a product handbook, inventory lists and marketing collateral all in one. When stock is low on a specific product, mass text messages are sent out to the staff, letting them know about the shortage and what they should try to up sell.

Because of the fluctuating of inventory, flash sales and promotion reminders, Coastal’s sales forces’ use of texting has certainly been the needed tool to keep their team on top of their customer service. What could have been a stressful situation is turned into a quick solution by crafting a simple text on our texting platform.

“Texting is the neatest feature,” said Marioly Perez, Talent Development Manager of Coastal Wine and Spirits. “Text messaging and mobile web makes our training sessions and meeting more engaged, fun and interactive.”