• Show spirit. Wine should be a feel-good product. That was the vision Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey had for Barefoot Cellars.
In "The Barefoot Spirit," the pair write about the distance they traveled between launching from a laundry room in 1986 and being purchased by E.&J. Gallo Winery nine years later.
Charitable organizations gave the grape smashers an early lift. Barefoot's founders donated bottles to nonprofits they believed in, worked at their events and talked about the causes — and their wine.
Supporters became patrons.
"One of the reasons we wrote the book is to show American businesses that worthy cause marketing really works and can actually be more effective than advertising," Houlihan told IBD.
• Keep them juiced. Barefoot's top salespeople sometimes earned more than the co-founders.
Harvey says the pay-for-performance approach attracted go-getters rather than clock punchers.
"You are paying too much for labor when you pay for attendance alone," he said. "It's their production you really want, because that is where your profits come from."
• Follow the vine. Harvey tells business owners to create a graphic of the money trail — going backward from the customer's wallet through marketing, distribution and production.
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