James Harvey on helping maximise Domaine Gayda’s sales potential
“Domaine Gayda’s a sleeping dragon (not giant). When you visit you can see its potential. It starts with the people, all great individuals with high skill sets and a real passion for the business.” It’s also what persuaded James Harvey to return to the wine industry after five years with Procter & Gamble and apply for the UK sales and marketing director position at the winery, a new dedicated role for the Languedoc-based business. Here Harvey explains to Richard Siddle why he thinks Domaine Gayda has so much potential, why its wines offer great quality and value, and how and why it wants to grow sales with particular targeted customers.
12th September 2024 by Richard Siddle
posted in People: Producer,Insight,
Tell us about your background in wine and how you started in the industry?
It all started in Central Otago. I was a ski instructor there in the early 2000’s teaching some local vineyard owners kids and I had a few invites to and visited some of the Otago vineyards on the weekends.It was great exposure to the industry in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. That was the catalyst to engage once back in UK.
Similarly to a lot of my peers I started in Oddbins in the early 2000 which was a great training ground and then progressed through PRUK, Freixenet, Mentzendorff and Distell.
What have the key developments in your career to date and why were they important to you?
Perspective from experience has been the main factor. I’ve transitioned from retail into a sales and marketing environment covering the on and off-trade, from independent customers to multi-nationals, working for small, medium and global businesses.
I have also benefited from exposure to multiple attitudes and processes for the same target result. That has helped to fine tune all the inputs into my own style.
Also learning how to listen to what the customer and consumer want and needs is really important.
Why did you want to take on this new role at sales and marketing director role at Domaine Gayda?
Domaine Gayda’s a sleeping dragon (not giant). When you visit you can see its potential. It starts with the people, all great individuals with high skill sets and a real passion for the business. The wines are absolutely fantastic and are some of the best value for money available. […]
