A diamond is an investment into a relationship, a lasting love. Diamonds were never meant to be sold to put into a 401K account. They are NOT that kind of an investment, and never should be sold as that kind of an investment.

The real value is in the gift itself. Diamonds come in a very small box, and when given to someone you love, nothing says or does what a diamond says and does.

Around the world, a diamond is the ultimate “I love you.” It speaks every language and has incredible sentimental value. I have my mother’s engagement ring that she received in 1945. She’s been gone more than 50 years, and it’s one of my family’s most important treasures.

A diamond is a visible and powerful representation of a relationship … and that’s what should matter to us. After all, we’re not actually in the “diamond industry” — we’re in the relationship industry. The relationship your client builds with the loved one they’re giving the diamond to, and the relationship they build with YOU.

And that relationship should never be taken for granted. Of all the places they could buy from, they chose your store and YOU to take care of a special occasion in their life or a just-because moment. What an honor. Make sure these clients coming in FEEL special.

There’s nothing in the “I love you” gifts that ranks higher than diamonds. They’re full of wild and untamed light, and they are forever.

When you give someone a diamond, you just said, “Will you marry me? I will spend the rest of my life with you.” Or it says “I’d marry you all over again” after you’ve been married 30 years. Diamonds celebrate life. Forever. Never forget. Family. Tradition. Beauty. The moment it was given. Achievement. Lifelong memories. Heirloom. History and stories.

A diamond stands for love, and that’s the business we’re in.

So learn to romance the reason your client came in. If you become awesome at this, the price of the diamond becomes insignificant and the closing ratio goes way up.

Over 90% of clients coming in have never held a loose 2-carat diamond, so be sure to show one to every client that walks in your door. Clients love to be wowed. Plus, it’s free advertising, it’s a silent compliment, and it plants seeds for upcoming special events in their lives.

The tradition of the diamond engagement ring actually all started in 1477 when Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave a diamond ring to Mary of Burgundy. Keep the tradition going, and happy selling!

The post Here’s How to Present a Diamond as an Investment into a Relationship (Not Someone’s 401K) appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Elevate In-Store Events

In-store events are proven to account for up to 10% of small businesses’ annual revenue when executed effectively. To harness this potential, begin by mapping out your event calendar in January. Analyze past events to understand crucial metrics like average sales, product performance, and customer demographics. Engage vendors to participate or ship products that can serve as event exclusives. By giving due diligence to in-store events, you’ll create memorable shopping experiences that leave a lasting impression on your clientele.

Shine with Platinum Engagement Rings

By focusing on selling platinum engagement rings, you have the opportunity to increase your average sale value. Despite having a similar customer base, the higher price point of platinum translates to a more substantial transaction. Train your sales team to effectively communicate the benefits of platinum and consider enlisting experts like Platinum Guild for comprehensive training. Strategically positioning platinum alongside 14K gold options empowers your team to upsell, ultimately driving revenue and building customer loyalty.

Optimize Marketing and Referral Strategies

Dive into your 2023 marketing expenditures and assess their effectiveness. Identify channels that yield the highest returns and consider reallocating resources to maximize ROI. Additionally, leverage your existing customer base by incentivizing referrals.

Encourage Reviews

Online reviews shape consumer perceptions and influence purchasing decisions. Take a critical look at your online presence from a customer’s perspective. Actively seek out reviews by implementing automated systems that prompt customers to share their experiences. Provide convenient avenues, such as QR codes on business cards, to make leaving a review a seamless process.

Use a Loss Leader

A loss leader is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales. Consider negotiating bulk pricing with a trusted vendor for a half-carat total-weight engagement ring priced at $1,499. Promote this special offer through various channels, including billboards, catalogs, and social media ads. The volume-based discount from the vendor will entice customers with an irresistible deal and increase the likelihood of add-on sales.

Expense Optimization

Scrutinize your expenses, paying particular attention to displays, packaging, and promotional materials. Create a spreadsheet to compare current costs and actively seek out alternatives to reduce expenses. Armed with this information, you’ll be in a strong position to negotiate favorable terms when attending trade shows.

The post Here Are 6 Strategies to Boost Your Store’s Success in 2024 appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

A “Good” Jeweler …

Runs the store by the seat of their pants. They buy lots of inventory because they like pretty things without thinking too much about price points and how well they turn in a year. They hardly ever get rid of years-old inventory, thinking they’ll make a killing as gold rises — it’s their retirement plan.

Inexpensive items are left in the showcase at night covered with bedsheets. This invites criminals to break into the store windows, taking worthless jewelry but causing $25,000 to $50,000 in damage.

They expect that if they hire a salesperson, they should already know how to sell. Ha!

They are still using handwritten receipts.

A “Better” Jeweler …

Has a point-of-sale program and looks at a Daily Activity report, including how much money they took in and how much was sold by each sales staffer.

A Better Jeweler might be on a jewelers Facebook group, responding often to questions or even asking questions and deciding which answer coincides with their beliefs.

They might even have a commission plan, but it’s so weak, the staff yawns at it.

A “Best” Jeweler …

Ah‚ the Best Jeweler. A delight. Runs a report each week of stock items sold last week that were in the store for less than six months and reorders this item until it doesn’t show up on the report anymore. This gives them a yearly turn of TWO! An awesome number, easy to achieve and it gives us more money.

In addition, a Best Jeweler knows inventory over 12 months old becomes stale, for customers and for cash flow. Over a year old increases accounts payable debt, credit card debt, loans from the owner and banks. It lowers our bank account balance as well, but a Best Jeweler uses many tactics to get rid of it.

• Returns it to vendor after 12 months
• Doubles commissions on aged inventory or gives spiffs.
• Puts it on sale.
• Sells it to other dealers.
• Takes it apart and makes new designs.
• If it reaches 18 months, scraps it.

A Best Jeweler has incentives for the staff, has bi-monthly sales training and even joins jewelers mentoring groups to enhance their ability to run a top-notch store and train themselves to be a better manager to their staff.

They also use advertising media that matches how sales came into the store. Consistently, not blowing big bucks only at year’s end.

A Best Jeweler is not a workaholic, giving more time to their family and the families of their staff as well.

Here’s hoping you had a cash-positive 2023, and here’s to an even better 2024.

The post Are You a Good, Better, or Best Jeweler? appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Fortunately, there are several actions you can take to help reduce the impact.

Look at your refinancing options. Your current arrangement may not be the best deal you can get, and it could pay to shop around and assess whether there are better options, at more attractive rates, that can meet your needs.

Pay down debt. December and January can be the best time for a business’s cash flow. If you’re confident you have surplus money available, then it could be a good time to reduce your debt by making additional payments.

Look at your fixed vs. floating options. If your current debt is fixed at a lower rate than current market, then it’s good news, especially if there is some time to go on the fixed period. If it’s going to end soon, then you need to decide whether you should revisit that fixed status earlier or wait for it to finish. This will depend on whether you feel rates may rise further or if the top has been reached and rates will either hold or come back down.

Negotiate with lenders. In some cases, lenders may be willing to negotiate terms, especially if you have a history of timely payments and a strong credit profile. You can explore better options without necessarily having to refinance with a new lender. Even if rates are higher, an extension of the loan length can lead to lower regular payments, taking pressure off cash flow.

Accelerate payments. Aside from lump sums, a small increase in your regular payment can have a huge impact over the long term in reducing your total liabilities and payments for the life of the loan.

Facing rising mortgage interest rates requires a strategic and proactive approach from jewelry store owners. Regularly reassessing financial strategies and staying vigilant to market trends will be essential in adapting to the evolving economic environment.

The post With Interest Rates Up, Here’s What You Need to Do appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Professional selling habits should be used and practiced all day every day, no matter how tired you get or how many clients you wait on. Here are the three biggest needle movers.

Team selling. Teamwork is how much work you do together in a day to get common goals done. A T.O. is a “team opportunity.” That’s when your personality isn’t working for a particular client, and you bring in another sales associate who has a better opportunity to match the client’s personality and their needs. A team-sell is when you bring someone in who has more gemological or product knowledge or they’re better at value-based selling or closing all the way through. In this case, both of you stay in the sale. A team runner or “servant seller” is a salesperson within earshot ready to go grab a catalog or get a diamond out of the vault or run the client’s jewelry back to be polished and checked. This makes the salesperson with the client look very professional. It also prevents them from walking away from the client, which drastically hurts your closing ratio.

Add-on sales. Around 95% of all sales today in jewelry retail are a single item on the ticket. The average Christmas buyer buys 15-20 gifts, and we only sell them one. After the first sale, don’t spin and walk to point of sale. Instead, once you’re sure the first sale is closed, use a lead-in line to lead the client into the next presentation. You can say, “How many others are on your list?” or “How many stockings are hanging from your mantle?” or “Who else do you need to take care of while you’re here?” As an example, little girls should always get their first pair of diamond studs from their dad, and that’s the least-returned item in our industry.

Wow everyone. Impulse sales skyrocket at Christmastime. So right before they leave, show something 3-5 times higher than your average ticket. A 2-3 carat round or oval diamond is a good place to start. Wow presentations take 3-15 minutes. The more money it is, the easier it is to close it and the less time it takes to sell it. Showing this type of product is a silent compliment because you’re telling the client you believe they can buy it. If not, you’re planting a seed that may pay off for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day or Christmas next year. Not only that, but people tell their friends and family about being wowed. They remember it; it changes their experience. And you gave them a luxury presentation at Christmas that none of your competitors did.

The post Close More Holiday Sales and Make Clients Happier by Doing These Three Things appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Every year, I’d pull up his GMROI report in The Edge and show him his terrible turn and how much aged inventory he had. I told him that aged inventory shows up almost dollar for dollar with accounts payable debt, credit card debt and bank loans.

He never listened to me, which is common. I can’t outdo Dad’s 1950 ways of doing business, when margins were 65 to 75%.

So, a year ago he joined two groups. One is Buyer’s Intelligence Group (BIG), similar to Edge Retail academy. Their software pulls reports every night, showing what’s old and what to reorder.

I don’t remember the name of the jewelers group he joined, but it’s similar to the Scull group I was in when I had my store. 12-15 jewelers in one group, scattered across the country, share financials and marketing. Twice a year, ALL stores meet for a few days in the city of one of the members. The jewelers go to the member’s store and critique it and tear it apart.

These two groups know merchandising. He now reorders EVERY MONDAY. He buys what will sell by price point and quantity.

He also got rid of aged inventory. His old/aged inventory now is only 20% of total inventory (the same amount that Dick Abbott of The Edge told me is right).

I then asked him an important question: “What is the group’s definition of aged inventory?”

Ready? 365 days.

That’s right, they get rid of old inventory once it reaches 366 days. OUT IT GOES.

This is his first year in these groups, and they got him to make a special case with anything over 366 days. All items are discounted 50% off everything. The sales staff gets special compensation/bonuses for selling from this case. During December, the staff took customers to this case first! The results:

A. His sales went up 30% for the year.

B. He has almost ZERO debt.

C. He has more cash than he’s ever had.

D. He gave out bonuses and BIG raises to the staff.

E. He reorders every Monday.

F. He dumps or returns merchandise to vendors after 366 days.

Since he had been in the group about 11 months, I asked him if he had any newer members. He said yes, one had just come on board. I asked him what this new member said when they told him old/aged inventory is 366 days and get rid of it. The new member just argued with them, saying things like, “You can’t sell from an empty wagon. Someone will buy it. You guys are crazy.”

All 12 members chewed the new member out.

So, at the end of our conversatoin, the jeweler told me, “David, they told me everything you’ve been telling me for years. It just took a group of 12 jewelers to tear me a new one to get me to do it, which was also different than what my dad was doing. I am sooo happy!””

So, go ahead, let’s hear your arguments.

David Geller
Director of “out with the old, in with the new” stuff

The post Think You Should Hang Onto Old Inventory? Think Again appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

If you are a free-standing, non-mall store, I have some great news for you. That customer that just walked in your door is there on purpose, with a mission. They are closed the moment they park in your parking lot. Think about this; they had to get in their car, drive through traffic, and park in your lot. Parking in your lot and entering your store is the buying signal. Nobody in their right mind is “just shopping around” this time of year, they are here to make a purchase.

Lucky for us, the blueprint for converting these sales is very straightforward, after all we have the benefit of knowing that time is of the essence and that our customers are motivated to buy. Three steps to follow this time of year and we should be converting the majority of our opportunities.

1. Greet Instantly – from the sweet spot

Two of Shane Decker’s famous 9 Absolutes tied into one. If my team were to tell you the thing that I’m the most persistent about, it’s this. It’s so simple, but it’s effective. Welcome people into your store, not from a position of power behind your case, but a welcoming position out in front of your case. Take the edge off, help your guest navigate to where they need to be or who they need to be working with.

2. Assume the Sale

Everyone, and I do mean every single person that visits your store over the next few weeks is going to buy something from someone. It may be your store, if it’s not it will be another store or online, but I promise you that between today and December 25th, they are going to buy something. The whole “well I have time” is bull. It’s something that people say to get us away from our mission. Why in the world would they waste time “thinking about it” when you have the thing they’re looking for, at a price they can afford. If they’re giving you smokescreen objections, you need to root out the real objection.

3. Believe That They are Better Off Than You Are

Three questions for all of you. First, how many of you have sold something over a year ago that you collected a commission on, which your customer is still happily enjoying? The answer is all of us, because even if you’re “not on commission” you’re paid to perform.

Second, how many of you still have every dollar from that sale you made over a year ago? I’m guessing none.

Just one more question, who got the better deal?

As salespeople, we believe that closing is something we “do” to our guests, rather than “for” our guests. We’re lucky, the things we sell last a lifetime. The gifts that our guests buy from us this year are the best gifts they will give this year. We are doing our guests a service by selling them, they are not doing us a favor when buying.

So, if you do nothing else this holiday season, greet your guests right away, assume they are going to make a purchase, and believe in your heart that you are doing right by them every time you make a sale. They’re pre-closed when they enter your store, it’s up to us to guide them the rest of the way.

The post These 3 Principles Will Help You <em>Close</em> More Holiday Sales appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

We understand how fast and furious things can get in a jewelry store in the month of December. So, we put together a story about 10 “daredevil” store owners. They thrive in situations that others (like me!) do their best to avoid. Our hope is that you can live vicariously through tales of their off-season exploits during this most hectic time of the year.

But this issue isn’t all fun and games. As always, we offer up advice on a myriad of topics, like Shane Decker on three good selling habits that could help you close more sales while also making your clients happy, and Jimmy DeGroot on why the holidays are the perfect time to get an outside perspective on your store (and some great ways to do that).

And it wouldn’t be our December issue without stories about jewelers who give back to their communities. Read about the team at CD Peacock, who spent a day together putting together bicycles and duffel bags for foster children, and Keith Leclerc and his team at International Diamond Center, whose Fifth C Foundation benefits several causes near and dear to their hearts.

All in all, there’s a wealth of must-read content in this issue. I only hope you can find the time to read it! Happy holidays, and thank you for supporting INSTORE in 2023!

Trace Shelton

Editor-in-Chief, INSTORE
trace@smartworkmedia.com

The post Our December Issue Has All You Want for Christmas appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

In the ever-evolving world of retail, one thing remains constant: the pursuit of customer loyalty. Loyalty and rewards programs are invaluable tools to acquire, retain, and engage your customers.

Here are several reasons why you should consider implementing a loyalty program.

Increased customer retention. Our loyalty to Sephora was not only a testament to the rewards but also to the brand itself. Loyalty programs are a proven means to retain customers by offering them incentives to return, a lifeline in today’s fiercely competitive retail landscape.

Increased purchase frequency. Being Sephora VIP members triggered a surge in our shopping excursions. The irresistible prospect of accruing additional rewards and ascending to loftier program tiers consistently acted as a compelling incentive.

Improved customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The sense of being valued and appreciated through exclusive benefits and rewards transformed us into loyal brand advocates.

Gathered customer data. Sephora skillfully leveraged our membership to collect valuable data, enabling tailored marketing campaigns and a deeper understanding of our customer preferences.

Reduced customer acquisition costs. While acquiring new customers can be costly, loyalty programs are an efficient way to keep existing customers coming back, reducing acquisition expenses.

Competitive distinction. In the bustling arena of modern retail, loyalty programs serve as a powerful tool for retailers to carve out their unique niche and set themselves apart from the competition. By offering exclusive benefits and rewards, these programs can showcase a brand’s uniqueness and appeal.

Reduced marketing costs. Targeted marketing to loyal customers is often more cost-effective than broad campaigns, as loyalty program members are already invested in the brand.

Our journey with Sephora exemplifies the real-world application of loyalty programs and their undeniable impact. When executed well, they foster a mutually beneficial relationship between retailers and their clients.

The post 7 Reasons Why Your Next Move Should Be Creating a Loyalty Program appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Diamonds are valuable for several reasons:

• They are rare. (People will argue this but try paying to get one out of the ground — it’s expensive!)
• They represent emotional magic.
• They confer status.

The slippery slope:

Diamond grading came along with GIA leading the charge. People started looking at grades more than magic. Greed had too many merchants selling based on paper and discounting. Salesmanship took a backseat. That eroded the magic. The internet added velocity to the equation.

Many felt they could make money via memo by selling from their kitchens. Minuscule margins but drop-shipping: easy money! They thought that they could take a $5,000 diamond and sell it for $5,200 and they were making $200. They were drastically wrong. That eventually proved out, and all those Internet sellers went under and disappeared. In the meantime, they put a pretty good ding in the diamond business.

Then came the problem that wholesalers, some out of greed, some out of desperation, started selling retail directly to the end consumer. To the dismay of many, De Beers has gone that route.

Now, many retailers are not stocking diamonds, but only getting them on memo when needed. Everyone is feeling the pinch.

But these are little problems. Now the big problem: Lab-created diamonds have come along and they’re creating a big flap.

Years ago, CZs were seen as a threat. They weren’t. This is different.

For the first time, “real” diamonds are available at very affordable prices and dropping fast. Years ago, they were expensive to produce, so they were no threat to the market. But that has changed. Production costs have dropped enormously, and so finished prices have, too.

Yes, some people are always going to want the “natural” diamond. But part of the reason people buy diamonds is because they can show them off. When people see a big diamond, they know it’s a very valuable purchase. With the advent of true synthetics, value is no longer obvious.

Prices of lab-grown diamonds have been heading for the basement. With uncertainty of origin, natural diamonds have dropped in price, too. Depending on who you talk to, 20% and more.

The magic of naturals is evaporating. It’s not a temporary blip. I saw this trend beginning over 20 years ago, and it’s going to continue. I hope I’m wrong, but it doesn’t look good.

The post With the Magic of Diamonds Diminished, the Trade Is Threatened appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.