The Bottleneck

Hey Reader,

You all know I'm not in the anti-AI bucket. You also know that I adore data ❤️ But some things I've seen lately in the beverage space are raising some red flags for me and guess what? Yep, you're going to hear about them.

​TLDR folks, just click here to cut to the chase. For the rest of you, please continue!​

For most of the brands that I work with, a huge portion of our onboarding time is me getting under the hood of their business. That means connecting me to a gazillion data portals. Like a bazillion, quadrillion software platforms. In that journey I've noticed a cute little addition to most of these software dashboards - the AI powered bot 🤖

Cute. Useful. Convenient. I use them all the time, but here's the thing - most of them can summarize or select data points for you from your environment, or they can answer questions about your existing data set, but where's the strategy?

Another angle I'm seeing. IT professionals churning out AI dashboards faster than you can say cryptocurrency. Which again is cool, who doesn't like a good dashboard? But now you've just got another "thing" to look at. While the backend tech on these portals is top notch, good luck getting any sort of guidance from someone who knows the beverage space (or food or hospitality or festival or trade association space, for that matter).

So here's my big takeaway

So I did something about it and I've been working on it for months behind the scenes. Now I'm finally ready to share it with you...

It’s called PROOF. Proof is a program that, yes, builds you a dashboard that pulls your whole business (well honestly, the majority of it, it's not a unicorn), but it also tells you the story behind your data and hands you the action moves that matter. Not a pile of charts. Not a pretty graph without an analysis. An actual strategy. Based on your data. Custom to your brand (not just best practices) Yay!

And here's the best part: it comes with 20+ years of me behind it. Sales, marketing, chain accounts, regional management, data analysis, market launches, distributor relations, some light finance, a dash of HR, and product development experience. Like a big strategy burrito with data as the fillings and me as your tortilla that wraps it all together. Sorry I wrote this when I was hungry.

Plenty of tools these days will bolt AI onto your data. Fine. The tool is the easy part. Knowing what the hell to do with all those numbers is the challenge.

And on the flip side: a human from an analytics company might hand you a data dashboard that looks amazing, but they have no industry experience behind it. Either way, you're kind of where you started in the first place.

Lots of numbers. No direction.

That's the biggest benefit of PROOF. Technology + data + human advice + experience = less stress, more clarity, higher revenue.

You’re paying for a POS system, accounting software, a distributor portal, an email platform, maybe a loyalty app, an ERP, social media insights and other rando technology.

Every one of them is collecting numbers around the clock. And every one of them stops at the exact same place: a report you don’t have time to read, sitting in an inbox that's already jammed with more important stuff.

So the big calls still get made on gut feelings. Which SKUs to push. Whether expansion is worth the gas money. Whether taproom staffing is quietly eating your margin. Should we even be on TikTok?

The numbers can tell you a compelling business story, but you're not a data nerd and you don't have time to become one. But hey, I know a gal 😉

Three ways into PROOF:​

• The Read: a one-time look at your numbers for a set time period (usually 12 months), live dashboard with your overview for 90 days. Low risk. Flat fee. Simple. Direct. Invaluable.
• The Debrief: your comprehensive dashboard plus a monthly written game plan, updated for you every 30 days. The data you're paying for, presented in a digestible way, handed to you with your top priority action items. Like a strategy subscription designed just for you to view, absorb, and execute on your own time.
• The Huddle: same dashboard, updated every 30 days plus a 90 min one-on-one strategy call with me every month. Customized advice, no long term contracts. Not just data-led strategy, but a data-informed path to more revenue.

Not sure where to begin? Start here​

Next steps, book a call with me dig into more details and see if it's a good fit. No obligation to move forward. All prices listed on my website, no hiding behind demo calls. No BS.

Let's use your data to it's full power!

Julie

P.S. I’ll be at the NM Brewers Guild Technical Conference (Aug 21), the NJ Brewers Conference (Aug 25–26), and the Virginia Brewers Conference (Sept 21-23). Come find me and I’ll give you a look at some Proof examples! Reply to this email if you are planning to attend.

P.P.S. Don't forget to binge listen to my latest podcast episodes! On deck right now is Episode 22 - exploring how your wholesale customers are different from your direct customers, so your marketing to them should follow a different path. Listen here and submit a Bottleneck if you're feeling spicy.​

Are you tuned in yet? I have a podcast!

There's a lot of new folks around here lately, so here's the deal. If you enjoy tough love for your business and you actually read these emails, then you'll love the podcast. Bite sized episodes that pack a big punch. You can catch up on all episodes here or click those cute buttons below. You can also search for This Is Not Your Hobby wherever you get your podcasts. Have a Bottleneck for me to tackle on an upcoming episode? Submit your anonymous gripes and beverage business issues here.​

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