Sub-Contractor Guidelines and Supplier Expectations

Transcription

1 Sub-Contractor Guidelines and Supplier Expectations TABLE OF CONTENTS: First Crush Company Information Being a sub-contractor Specific job requirements as requested by supplier The online portal Store rules and Texas law Store Protocols by chain Payments Job History and Tax Information Process for recommending new sub-contractors

2 First Crush Company Info First Crush Tastings, Inc is located at the edge of north Austin in Round Rock, TX. We are a statewide company that operates in 24 major cities. Our custom built website is structured to let us efficiently and effectively approve people to work, post jobs, assign jobs, and collect recaps. Our office hours are Monday thru Friday, 9am-5pm. We are not in the office (and do not check ) over the weekend, but Jake and Christine are available for job issues. Physical address: Call us if you need to come by. Main office Number: Dedicated Fax Number: Jake Bright s cell: Christine s cell: Company structure: Jen Mehis: jen@firstcrushtastingsinc.com Jen inputs jobs, and assigns every job across the state. Cancellations through the week go to her. She is not on call on weekends! If she is out of the office or on vacation, we all try to get jobs covered. But she is your primary contact! Jake Bright: jake@firstcrushtastingsinc.com Jake handles ALL recaps, payments, mailings and s relating to job details as requested by the supplier. Jake is your main contact over the weekend for issues. Christine Hernandez is the President, and Daniel Hernandez is Co-owner in charge of hiring new sub-contractors. Beverly Ray is the market manager for Dallas, and Skip Herberger is the market manager for Houston. Annette, Joni and Leslie are new administrative support for the office.

3 Being a Sub-Contractor You are NOT an employee of First Crush. You are sub-contractor hired to execute job(s.) By our hiring standards you have been selected to conduct excellent demonstrations for the products detailed in each job. You represent yourself, First Crush, the store, and the product/customer when you are doing a job. We expect that you are professional, dress professionally, and engage every single customer you encounter. You are required to have the tools to do the job: table, tablecloth, cups, opener, etc. You agree to the rules of each retail chain. You will uphold Texas law per your TABC certification. You need to ask the account where to set-up, be responsible for the breakdown, and exercise safety precautions at all times, including having a secure, sturdy table, and ensuring champagne corks are secured when opening that they do not fly in the air. We strive to give you every tool provided by the supplier so you achieve a positive, sales driven demonstration. The whole point of what we do is to SELL PRODUCT!! This business is designed to market products to consumers and to sell them. You will promote the product(s) for the full time contracted, no matter the start time, with the only exception being specs. If the supplier pays for 3 hours, the supplier should have their product sampled for a full 3 hours. Although we are based in Austin, there are many people involved in the process. We hear back from the store and the distributor on how effective you are. Visual inspection and sales numbers from the store's POS system provide the exact sales. Your performance is monitored. You will ALWAYS call us in the event of a low stock scenario, or product change of any kind. Failure to do so may result in the non-payment of a job. NO S on the weekend. Each job booked has multiple parties involved. EACH JOB is important. You agree to do a job by applying online, and you chose to apply based on the date and time. We require 100% commitment from you. DO NOT sign up for jobs you cannot do. Contact us immediately VIA PHONE ONLY if you cannot do a job. These jobs are calendared and expected to be conducted on the date and time scheduled. We give you an excellent opportunity to make good money. We ask that you give your best and give the respect to this opportunity that it deserves. Jobs are awarded to those who demonstrate these principles.

4 Job Requirements by Supplier One fact that cannot be stated enough is what you are required to do on a job comes directly from the supplier. IE, they contract us to do jobs across the state, and then we sub-contract those jobs to you, and inform you of what that supplier wants. When you get a job, ALWAYS check the notes right above the map in your job details. ALWAYS double check the product and details right before your demo. And ALWAYS ALWAYS check your and VM from us for any specific info that may have been delivered late. So, when the supplier asks for a receipt and picture for every event, and wants certain talking points stated, we pass that to you. Our overall effectiveness depends on each of you adhering to that, and us being able to go back to the supplier with good sales results and the items they requested. It is also important to display any sales sheets provided, give out promotional material, and make sure any promotional items are in your picture. If you ever have a question about a product, the proper and ONLY protocol is to ask us and we will provide it for you. It is never acceptable to directly request information from a winery or brewery, including online requests through a website. **EVERY single job requires a picture: retailer, festival, bar promotion, etc It is also extremely important to know that MULTIPLE suppliers can go through 1 distributor. That means just because it came from the distributor, doesn t mean it belongs to that supplier! Always call us if a store wants you to add a brand that is NOT listed in your job details.

5 The Online Portal Our custom web portal is called that because it is not a published website. You are logging on to a private, secure web server. There is not a www in the address. If you save this link in your favorites, save it before you log-in. You should log out when leaving the site instead of just closing the window. You will use this site to: See new jobs Apply for jobs View the details of awarded jobs, including store contact, address, google map, and product information Complete recaps for jobs See monthly updates View your work history for your records

6 General Store Protocols 1. Always, always, always look for and sell from a display first! In some instances, your product may be located on a display AWAY from the alcohol dept. At grocery especially, these displays could be in bakery, seafood, or meat. Get someone from the store to help you look in the back. Beers are almost always backstocked because of shelf space. 2. You may sample your own product at the beginning of the demo to know what you are selling ONLY UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS At grocery in the presence of a steward or manager IF they consent, and you must spit the product out. For other chains, ask them. Per Texas law, you are not allowed to consume alcohol while working. 3. ALWAYS be prepared for a demo, that means having a table, cups, wine opener, and can purchase any and all products needed to finish a demo. Always have your TABC, First Crush permit and current driver s license with you at EVERY demo. 4. If a store or distributor asks you to add a brand NOT listed on your job, you must always call us for approval. If you are adding or swapping a varietal of the SAME brand, that is ok, always note this in your recap. 5. Each store has an expectation that you are dressed professionally, and do not wear open toed shoes. Also no shorts and no denim. Attire is requested and decided by each chain or specialty event you are working. 6. You should NEVER be on your cell phone during a demo. 7. The stores have requested you avoid eating or chewing gum. 8. Always call your store 72 hours in advance to confirm your demo. If you discover an issue; not on calendar, out of product, you need to contact us in the office immediately.

7 Texas Law 1. TX Law: Unused alcohol must be disposed of, or removed from the store. We will comply with ANY stores policy or request. Just about every grocery chain, especially HEB and Kroger require open bottles poured out before you leave. Many liquor stores will let you take any open products. Always ask and comply with what the store/mgr/wine steward wants. 2.. You should never consume alcohol before or while you are actively working a demo. You may not sample other products within the hours you are contracted to demonstrate. 3. You should never conduct a job under the influence of alcohol. 4. By law, you are only allowed to give someone a maximum of 1 ounce per wine or beer, and ½ ounce per liquor or spirit. 5. You must NEVER walk away from a demo and leave open product unattended. If you need to use the restroom, you must secure your product with a manager or steward. 6. If you are giving away items provided by a supplier (keychains, koozies, etc.) TX Law states you cannot require a purchase for a free item, and cannot give an item branded with an alcohol logo to a minor. 7. Your TABC must be up to date and not expired. You must carry a copy of your certificate and a copy of our First Crush promotional permit to every demo

8 Store Protocols Specific to Chain COSTCO Inside the warehouse demos are ALWAYS DRY! That means you will not purchase or sample the products listed in the job. Rather you will still set up a table, display the wine, display any sales sheets within the portal or ed to you, and talk about the wine. Your main focus is to still sell those products! COSTCO LIQUOR / WESTERN BEVERAGE If you are inside the Costco annex, which is the liquor store connected to the warehouse, you will ALWAYS sample the product. HEB Not all stores have a wine steward. You must always be prepared to set up and go without any store interaction. If you don t see your product, or it is low, get an employee to help you check the back stock. HEB requires all open product to be poured out before leaving the store. KROGER As with HEB, not all stores have a wine steward. Be prepared. If you don t see your product, or it is low, get an employee to help you check the back stock. MILITARY BASES Across the state of Texas, we demo on military bases, at a specific store. What is critical is making sure that all of your legal requirements are up to date, nothing can be expired.. Your license, car insurance, vehicle registration, and inspection sticker. If any one of these items is out of date, you will NOT be permitted on base. Always reference the details in the job s notes. SPECS Lots to know about Specs. First and foremost, you must always be on time and adhere to the products and times they have listed. There are no product substitutions or time changes!! We will not reimburse the amount Specs charges for cups, which is $11 to $13 a sleeve. We will only reimburse you $5 a sleeve, or the current overall average. We will not reimburse for use of their popcorn buckets. Ice is ok. CONTINUED NEXT PAGE

9 Store Protocols Specific to Chain SPECS CONTINUED If you are doing a Specs on an odd weekday, it is that store s monthly grand tasting. They advertise this, and you could likely encounter several hundred people. They encourage people to buy a wine glass, but they can bring their own glass or rely on sample people to have cups, have at least 500 cups. The product you are selling will be located in a center aisle, count this product before and after the demo to determine your sales. Always add to your sales total what you used. You will always fill out paperwork for the store, and leave it with them. Just put Austin for our address. It will also ask for your TABC number. If you don t have your TABC license, you cannot demo and we cannot pay you. We have an account there, and you will pay AT THE END of the demo. Go to the particular register, our account # is You absolutely must still turn in the register receipt to us, and log that amount in your recap. NEVER put zero. UNITED / MARKET STREET This is another chain that is very particular about you confirming your demo as early in the week as possible. Every location will have a beer/wine manager or steward. WHOLE FOODS These stores are very specialized and always have someone in charge of the wine dept. These stores are very busy, often with very savvy consumers. These stores have high expectations of promotional reps. You need to always consult with the steward on where to set up and how to break down (trash, ice and wine disposal. WORLD MARKET Always call in advance to confirm your demo, as early as Monday, and ALWAYS bring your own ice, if necessary. This is more of a home furnishings store that sells wine. Demos done at this chain are almost always part of their monthly grand tasting, with several different stations selling wine. They will generally have you set up, but take your table just in case. You need to be there 15 minutes early, so you can purchase your wine and get started at exactly at the beginning of the demo. They demand professional dress, close toed shoes, no denim and no shorts. As with EVERY demo, no cell phone usage at all!

10 Payments First Crush has 2 pay dates per month, and they do not change unless that date falls on a weekend or holiday. In that event we make every attempt to process payments early, but if a pay date falls on Sunday, we will process on that Monday. To be paid on these dates, all recaps within that date range must be complete, and must have been completed within enough time to review. 1 st thru the 15 th of every month is paid on the 20 th 16 th thru the 31 st of every month is paid on the 5 th **If you do not complete a recap in time, you may be paid on the next pay date. We close all jobs on a monthly basis, so if your recaps are exceptionally late, you may risk not getting paid at all. This is usually followed by your permanent removal of eligibility to work for us. COMPLETED RECAPS MEAN: An online recap was completed, and uploaded with 2 pictures AND readable receipt. Your receipt MUST display the time of purchase. **If you had a technical issue, you can still details, pictures, receipts to recaps@firstcrushtastingsinc.com PLEASE NOTE 3 VERY IMPORTANT THINGS ABOUT THIS 1. This is the ONLY place this info goes, do not anyone else 2. This is a plan B, you need to make every attempt to upload everything to the portal. 3. Use this to send cups receipts. Write your name on the receipts!! It is strongly advised that you keep all of your receipts and pictures for at least 30 days, and keep your own spreadsheet of jobs and payments to reconcile your checks or comdata payments. You do not receive a check stub from us. We also have an electronic payment option thru comdata which you may elect to use the direct deposit option, keeping all of your banking information private. After you have done a few jobs, ask about your eligibility.

11 Job History and Tax Info As a Sub-contractor, it is your responsibility to keep your work records. All of your completed job information is saved. NOTE: If you used the portal for the first part of 2016, you will still be able to access that information thru the beginning of That information is found under the My History tab next to the available jobs tab. At the very beginning of each calendar year, your 1099 statement will be mailed to the address we have on file for you. PLEASE NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure we have your correct address You are ONLY issued a 1099 if you are paid $600 or over, in a tax year. If you made less than that, we will not send you a 1099 form 1099 income will only include job payments. Reimbursable product and cups are NEVER included income is counted in the year it was PAID, not when the jobs were worked. If you work the last 2 weeks of the year, it isn t paid until the next year.