Brian Nelson Email & Phone Number

St Croix Falls, Wisconsin, United States

- Represent the winery brand in all sales and service opportunities for both off-premise and on-premise accounts in the State of Minnesota.- Grow wholesale outreach by visiting/upselling existing accounts, opening new retail, restaurant, bar and event center accounts.- Conduct customer tastings in stores, restaurants and at trade events.- Communicate and build rapport with, troubleshoot and conduct ride-alongs with our distribution partners in Minnesota.- Document and provide weekly recaps that detail account interactions to distribution partners.- Create strategies with distributors to increase accounts within their territory that are beneficial to new clients and that make sense for the winery brand.- Attend weekly Wholesale team meetings to provide an update on your week, field feedback, selling strategies, updates on tastings and leads, participate in professional development and provide feedback in bench trial tastings with the wine-making team.- Stay up to date on winery information and culture.- Inform customers of new winery products, sales/promotions, winery offerings/events and any changes in distribution channels.- Work to achieve monthly and quarterly sales goals, be aware of the monthly wholesale budget and assist both the Wholesale Manager and winery General Manager to adjust goals and budget, as necessary.- Communicate industry trends and field insight to the Wholesale Sales Manager and General Manager.- Provide staffing assistance to the winery for certain festivals and tasting room on occasion throughout the year.- Possess and drive company assigned vehicle to accounts and off-site tastings/events and report/schedule any vehicle servicing needs to the Wholesale Sales Manager and General Manager.- Participate in professional development programs or classes.

White Bear Lake, Minnesota, United States

-Greet and provide assistance to customers by locating items, making recommendations and sharing new products/sales.-Ensure departmental staff are greeting, engaging and assisting customers with their selections.-Actively suggestively sell products through education and recommendations to help build customer loyalty and trust.-Assist in selecting, purchasing and pricing products to ensure customer satisfaction, format integrity and the achievement of sales and gross profit objectives.-Support product quality assurance through the selection of premium products, procurement of appropriate quantities and proper rotation of all stock.-Supervise departmental personnel as directed by the department manager to ensure satisfactory completion of all job functions.-Coach, mentor and lead direct reports to accomplish goals of the location plan and personal goals for each staff member.-Assist with training staff to ensure compliance with all safety standards to maximize employee safety and minimize loss.-Help maintain department sanitation, cleanliness and maintain equipment. -Provide input into scheduling department personnel to ensure service standards and productivity, along with meeting labor objectives.

United States

- Coordinate and lead both winery tours and private guided wine/food tastings.- Tell the story of Rustic Roots Winery and our wine with energy and charisma.- Train new and existing winery tour guides.- Provide tasting room associate direction/supervision and serve as a customer service lead.- Conduct supervisory opening and closing procedures.- Monitor and respond to inquiries in the general winery info email box. - Deliver excellent customer service and hospitality to every guest through their entire visit at the winery.- Pour wine for tastings, glasses of wine and other offered beverages.- Effectively suggest and sell wine to customers.- Process online wine and gift certificate orders, as needed.- Assist with fulfilling quarterly wine club shipments.- Provide general tourist information.- Demonstrate willingness to learn and become knowledgeable about wines, accurately describe wines, winemaking techniques, winery history and unique aspects of wine.- Handle routine purchasing transactions in Revel POS system, including: operating the POS system, accounting of daily sales, make reservations using Tock and processing returns and discounts.- Assist with display and stocking of retail items and wines.- Work as a team to accomplish non-tasting experience tasks, such as: answering telephones, housekeeping, clearing tables, loading/unloading the dishwasher and keeping the winery tasting room neat, organized and clean.- Assist with special events, as needed.-Represent winery at outside functions, as needed.-Consistently represent the company in a professional and positive manner.

Saint Paul, Minnesota

- Assist customers with wine questions, bottle selection, food pairing ideas and payment.- Stock wine, beer, liquor and accessory items insuring items are kept organized and displayedaccording to Kowalski Market standards.- Open and close store with assistance of manager or front end supervisor.- Check in deliveries of wine, beer and liquor ensuring they match invoices/pick sheets andprovide payment to beer vendors.- Assist with in-store wine tasting demos by providing samples, education on the wines beingtasted and price information to store guests.- Build weekly wine feature displays near front of store.- Assist with inventory/distributor ordering, as needed and build relationships with sales representatives.- Attend distributor trade shows to enhance knowledge of our in-store wines and new products.

Dellwood, Minnesota

- Acquire and maintain thorough knowledge of 7 Vines Winery history and our wines to share that knowledge with our guests - Possess and articulate a strong understanding of winemaking/production processes.- Prepare the Winemaker's Cove area for taste & tours based on size of group.- Greet all visitors and pour wines for tasting.- Present, pour and educate the guest on selected wines for tasting. - Lead and conduct tours of various sizes inside and outside for guests.- Effectively inform and answer guest’s questions about wines and winery.- Check identification to ensure customers are the legal age to purchase alcohol.- Adhere to all food safety and quality regulations while preparing cheese pairing plates.- Greet and serve tour guests in a timely manner.- Project a friendly and helpful manner at all times.- Handle routine purchasing transactions, which include operating cash register and POS system, ensuring charges are accurate and returning correct change to guests.- Create a memorable experience for guests.- Sell wine and wine club memberships based on monthly goal.

Chisago City, Minnesota

- Greet guests, provide an overview of our wine and food offerings, collect tasting fees, pour wine flights and assist guests with their purchases.- Provide wine tasting samples, wine education, food pairing ideas, estate history and answer any guest questions about the winery and vineyard.- Set up and break down the tasting bar(s) at opening/closing ensuring bottles are dated, properly closed and stored, surfaces cleaned/disinfected and all dishes/tools are cleaned and stored according to health safety standards.- Build cheese and meat boards, bake flatbreads and maintain tasting room cleanliness throughout the day.- Assist tasting room manager and caterer with room changeover from daytime tasting hours to evening wedding or private event set up.- Pull wine back stock as needed to re-stock retail wine wall, chilled back-up bottles and guestcase orders.- Fulfill wine club shipment and pick-up boxes for wine club members.- Serve wine and beer for weddings, private events and happy hours.

Saint Paul, Minnesota

- Run daily reports to capture pending work items, determine associate coverage for those items and report work volumes to supervisors.- Provide daily work direction to 13 team members.- Interpret work volume reports and shift associate focus to ensure all items are completed within standard turnaround times.- Write and deliver daily training plans for new associates.- Coordinate with subject matter experts to update workflow processes and online documentation.- Serve as a department representative on projects to assess needs, develop workflow implementation, provide project updates and training to co-workers, determine any additional resources needed to implement projects.- Audit monthly suspense transfer reports for the Approval Team and report findings to ensure money transfers are properly documented according to audit standards.- Troubleshoot licensing-related issues that might delay new business applications or underwriting process.- Attend weekly business process analyst meetings for updates on system issues and enhancements to share with the supervisors and team.- Assist supervisor with new firm agent training for Life New Business processes and procedures.

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Responsible for licensing and FINRA registration needs for 12 Securian career firms including: new & transfer rep U4s, U4 amendments (adding states, opening test windows, location changes, etc.), partial and full U5s, office administrator field guide development, new state appointments & terminations, license and CE training certificate updates, outside carrier appointments, monitor daily FINRA queues, field communication improvement project, answer firm licensing & registration inquiries.

Minneapolis, Mn

-Oversaw the licensing, appointment and registrations of 225 agents and advisors across 40 offices in 17 states within the North Star Financial Group family.- Contracted new agents and advisors within the SFG system.- Led interns and new agents through the state insurance licensing procedures, obtaining study materials, onboarding, fingerprinting and obtaining registrations upon passing FINRA exams..- Assisted with advisor home state license transfers, associate terminations, team member training and periodic educational information to agents/advisors regarding state regulation changes for licensing and continuing education.- Starting role here was as a New Business Processor. Processed client new business applications and money to the Securian Financial home office and outside carriers.

- Temp position Temporary position through Robert Half International-Office Team.- Analyze, track and obtain missing documents from originating lenders for Freddie Mac and MI Company audit requests and repurchase demands received in wholesale operations. Serve as department communications contact for various internal teams in securing missing credit package documents.- Create and maintain detailed Excel spreadsheets for all electronic audit requests and rescission letters along with documentation of action taken on those requests.- Audit credit packages and servicing files for missing or alternative documentation to support US Bank’s lending procedures and underwriting decisions to Freddie Mac and MI companies.- Facilitate, submit and monitor Easy-D lender rebuttals and appeals with MI Companies via e-mail for reinstatement consideration of rescinded coverage. through Robert Half.

- Front office position dedicated to phone customer service and sales as our guests’ first point of contact.- Responsible for taking detailed reservation information via phone along with being able to describe various room types, amenities and hotel outlets to maximize revenue and ensure an enjoyable stay for our guests.- Monitor 12 online third-party reservation sites, fulfill those reservation requests and confirm them to the vender via electronic means.- Coordinate with reservations manager, front office director and group reservations on phone and in-person to add/release rooms or close stay dates upon sellout.

- Advanced customer service position responsible for maintaining centralized e-mail inquiry boxes and providing same-day electronic or phone replies to one of Securian’s largest field firms, North Star Resource Group, regarding service issues, life insurance coverage and product questions.- Accurately research and respond to complex written and phone-generated service inquires through e-mail and web account replies.- Support associates in the Life Customer Contact Center by providing back-up assistance in answering overflow calls from agencies and policy owners.- Identify and distribute written and phone-generated service requests for special or expedited handling by processing services associates.

Woodbury, Mn

- Responsible for day-to-day operations including meeting with new vendors, product evaluation and selection, ordering, stocking, opening/closing, planning public tastings and assist customers in-person with wine/gift selections.- Design written education materials and lead wine courses for customers that allow them to explore wine in relaxed setting and answer their questions.- Maintain and update store website. Fulfill monthly wine club payment and orders for pick-up by our customers.- Market product and services through personal store tours, education courses and public events.

Plymouth, Mn

- Sales and service position with the role of meeting face-to-face with customers, introducing products to market and placing them with retail stores and restaurants.- Serve as a tasting panel member to evaluate global wine submissions for quality, uniqueness, value and the ability to be placed in the local wine market.- Represent the company brands during in-store wine tastings, wine dinners and sales events.- Build and maintain relationships with store owners to establish trust in our brands and service while encouraging future sales.- Partner with visiting winemakers and vineyard owners through in-person visits to our clients’ stores to encourage retail sales of their wines.

Saint Paul, Mn

- Started as a Control Clerk in 1998 and worked my way up over the years to Administrative Representative, Policy Services Representative, Sr. Policy Services Representative and finally the Operations Specialist role.- Last role was responsible for providing product/procedural training to associates in a classroom setting, quality checking upon completion of training to test for understanding and spot-checking of associate processing to ensure accuracy in policy change processing.- Develop and manage written procedural documentation and communicate workflow updates to associates in person and via e-mail updates.- Serve as a resource for associates, field representatives and policy owners regarding product, contractual, procedural and system issues.- Research, document and resolve complex system and contract issues with underwriting, senior management and systems support via e-mail and personal interaction.- Monitor online program reports to intercept potential automatic processing errors.

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Speech Communication-Theatre Emphasis

Activities and Societies: Masquers Student Theatre Organization, Alpha Psi Omega, 10% Society, Saint Croix Valley Summer Theatre.

Certificate, Wine Professional Program