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.

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.

You’ll then list each of your salespeople in the salesperson column. Total sales should include product sales, special orders, repairs, custom design, watch repair and batteries. Now divide their W-2 by their sales. This will show you what percentage of each dollar they bring in they get for their pay.

This exercise shows you that the lowest paid person, Tom, is the most efficient. His paycheck is only 9.78% of his sales. Meanwhile Mary, who is paid $33,000 more than Tom, maybe because she’s been there longer, is not as good on the sales floor as Tom (relative to earnings). Marvin is almost close to being as efficient as Tom, costing as a percentage much less than Mary.

The Friedman Group helped with my compensation plan years ago, and I was told sales staff should cost a store anywhere between 8 to 15% of their sales (8% is very efficient while 15% is inefficient).

When I did this exercise, I found that my highest-paid salesperson, who had been a sales manager at a major chain, brought in the lowest total sales and cost me 18%. Meanwhile, a young saleswoman who had no jewelry experience (and thus was the lowest paid) had the highest sales numbers and cost 8%.

We started paying the same commission system for everyone, and the numbers reversed. The salesperson who had the lowest sales had a drop in income while the highest salesperson’s pay increased greatly, as it should have.

Your sales commissions should give the staff something to look forward to and get paid well. If you’re paying a measly 1 to 3% commission, do you know what it costs to get lunch? Many stores commission checks hardly pay for lunch, much less a car note.

A good compensation plan should include a salary, but 50% or more of their pay should come from commissions/bonus and spiffs, which allow salespeople to earn more money based upon their hard work. If you pay people straight hourly or salary — no matter how hard or little they work — they receive the same amount of money.

Want to see if I’m right? Every store has old inventory. Put these items in a separate case, and if your commission is a number like 4%, double it to sell those old items and see what happens.

Don’t pay commission at all? Again, have an “old dogs” case and pay the staff 8% to sell anything out of that case. Have fun with it and put a sign on the case, allow the staff to discount, and no matter what it sells for, pay the 8%. Money to you is money, for crying out loud.

The post Here’s How to Figure Each Salesperson’s Productivity appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Jewelers buy two types of items over the counter: 1) gems, diamonds, watches and jewelry; and 2) meltable gold, silver and platinum.

No. 1 should be placed in the showcase to be sold or wholesaled out to a dealer. If you put it in the case, then it should be entered into your point-of-sale program as inventory. For example, if you buy a diamond for $1,500, it should be entered into your point-of-sale and QuickBooks at $1,500. But the Edge platform also has a “Re-cost” box, which is meant to record what it would cost to replace this diamond in case of theft at market value. The “Re-cost” value should be the price you would have paid if you had bought it wholesale. In this case, the replacement cost might be $2,500.

For insurance, you need to keep extra paperwork on OTC buys. Leo Anglo of Vincent’s Jewelers in St. Louis, a jeweler who is an expert in this field, says, “For every OTC Item, there is a ticket detailing check number, customer last name, accounting cost, and market or replacement cost, which is transferred to the inventory system for each item. When I renew my policy, I clearly indicate that I am listing the market value.”

So, either put it into inventory this way, or sell it to a dealer for quick profit.

As for the No. 2 category above (scrap metals), you should send it into a refiner twice a year. Ask the refiner to send back your dollar value in gold coins (and any residual dollars by check).

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve seen how many jewelers have been robbed and burglarized recently. Your insurance will cover everything that’s documented correctly in your POS program, and yes, many jewelers might just keep their scrap in their POS program.

You know one place that you don’t see robbers and burglars burglarizing? Banks. I’d get a safety deposit box and store your gold coins there. Many insurance companies give a discount on jewelry and coins stored in safety deposit boxes. Keep it there until your big payday comes around. Now you’re covered.

For more information on store security, join the Jewelers Helping Jewelers Crime Alert Network on Facebook, and check out security articles from Leo Anglo at jewelerprofit.com/jhj-jewelers-crime-alerts.html.

The post Enter Over-the-Counter Purchases Correctly to Save Yourself Headaches Later appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Here are some things to ponder.

Inventory levels. If you’re a multi-generational jeweler or just heard from others “you can’t sell from an empty wagon,” sure but how big of a wagon do you really need? Having more stock than you should causes a store to have a large amount of debt and less cash.

The right amount of inventory level is easy to figure for our industry. Find your gross profit dollars for stock inventory only for a 12-month period. Up or down by 20% equals the amount of inventory to stock and not have too much debt.

If stock sale sales are $900,000 and your gross profit is $420,000, then the inventory to stock is within 20% of $420,000 (within 20% up or down means keeping in a range of $336,000 up to $504,000). Inventory levels higher than $504,000 end up increasing accounts payable and credit card debt by a lot.

Inventory turn. Every industry has a “good” turn number.

There is a difference between making money and having money. Every jewelry store makes money and is profitable, but a poor turn ends up showing we have less cash in the bank and more debt. For our industry to have money, we need to have a turn overall of “1”. In other words, buy it in January, sell by December. Some items might turn 2-3 times a year (every 3 to 4 months and then reorder), while other items might take 15 months, but overall for the store, a turn of “1”. Point-of-sale programs will give this number, but to figure your own, divide your cost of goods amount for 12 months by average inventory.

Example: Sales of $1 million, profit $550,000, thus cost of goods = $450,000. If inventory is $425,000, turn would be 1.05. Great!

GMROI. At a doctor visit, she tells you your blood pressure, weight, cholesterol level and gives you three meds for each. Wouldn’t it be great if the doctor just gave you one number? “Hey, you’re an 8, just take this one pill daily and you’re good to go!”

Jewelry has the same system for good jewelry health. It’s GMROI (Gross Margin Return On Investment). This tells you with just one single number how well you are handling inventory (buying/selling/returning to vendor/scrapping).

It measures three jewelry numbers: How much money you make when you sell it (gross profit dollars for a 12-month period) plus how many times a year you’ve sold inventory (turn) plus how much inventory you had on average when you sold it.

Again, most POS systems have this report, but divide your gross profit dollars for a 12-month period by the average stock inventory level you had (no memo). Like turn, this number should be 1.00, give or take. Stores with a GMROI around .65 to .75 have a large amount of debt. Stores with a GMROI above 1.00 generally have very little debt and a good bit of cash in the bank.

Closing ratios. If 10 people come in the store, look in your case and ask, “Hey, how much is that ring?”, how many out of 10 customers do you sell? A typical store sells 3 out of ten, 30% closing ratio. Did you know if you could sell just one more and make it 4 out of 10, then product sales would increase by a whopping 33%?

Here are three that are typical in a store:

Closing Ratios:

a. Stock: 30%
b. Custom design: 70 to 80%
c. Jewelry Repair: 90%

Sales staff costs. Let’s assume that the owner doesn’t sell the majority of the store sales, here’s how to measure sales staff productivity.

Divide the salesperson’s W-2 by their total sales, and that will tell you what percentage of every sale they are paid. Generally speaking, staff should cost between 8% to 15%. At 8%, they are very efficient on the floor. Closer to 15%, they are not doing well on the floor or they don’t get a chance or you let them wait on easy-to-handle low-dollar transactions and you take all of the large dollar ones.

Product has turn, while shop sales only have time. A high turn is great for looking at product sales, but the shop doesn’t have turn, it has time. The more jobs done in a day — or better yet, the more dollars produced in a day by a jeweler — is how to measure the profitability. It’s compared to total shop costs. Profits should be double shop costs.

Generally speaking, a jeweler’s workbench should produce between $175,000 to $375,000 a year in dollars, considering a jeweler is paid $45,000 a year and up.

Have a checking account and a company savings account. Each week, put 7% of the deposits into the savings account. You won’t miss it. This is your rainy-day fund when things are really tight. Leave it alone, don’t touch it. I have more in my rainy-day fund than my checking account. You’ll thank me later.

The post Want to Make More Money? These Are the Numbers to Keep a Close Eye On appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

So let me tell you why I even bring this subject up. I help jewelry stores with three main things:

Pricing for the shop: repairs and custom sales. You know, that “Geller’s Blue Book.”

Setting up and running QuickBooks.

Kicking jewelry store owners in the butt about aged inventory.

Three to five days a week, 45-plus weeks a year, I get to look “behind the curtain” in most stores when I help them with their QuickBooks. I get to see everything — the naked truth. I don’t know if the staff likes a male boss or a female boss, I’m just looking at numbers.

I find the better operated stores, the ones with more money in the bank and those with less debt, are run women.

So why do I say this?

a. Women know why other women buy jewelry, and it’s not because of a sale or a discount. Women understand what a gift of jewelry really means and can put that idea out there to be received.

b. Women are more scared of debt. Meanwhile, men like to gamble. Go to Vegas and look at the craps table, you’ll see mostly men. Men go to the trade shows and buy a ton of inventory and say, “We can pay for it later.” Meanwhile, my wife Renie’s idea of going to Las Vegas and gambling is, “If I buy these shoes, will they fit me well when I get home?”

c. Women understand turn so much better than men because they shop in women’s clothing stores. These stores try to have a turn of 4.0. There are four seasons to a year, so every three to four months, clothing stores start to discount fashion that won’t be in style in a month or so. You’ll have a hard time finding leather jackets in May and an equally hard time finding flower-print dresses in November. A good turn number for jewelers is 1.0 or higher.

d. Women will tend to return to vendor styles that haven’t sold in a year. They’re not so married to old merchandise in any shape or form. Melt it for money? You bet.

When I look at the accounts payables for a store run by women, this account tends to be a lower amount. Bank account? Easily six figures, higher six figures. Inventory over a year old is the main reason for a lot of debt in a jewelry store. Women don’t like debt. (As a result, they also suffer less stress.)

Many years ago, I went to a store run by two women. They were mothers as well. I loved the fact that as partners, one took off the whole month of August and the other partner took off the whole month of September.

Whether you’re a man or a woman, I hope you can learn something from my analysis of female-led stores!

The post Here’s Why I Believe Women Generally Make Better Jewelry Store Owners Than Men appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Let me explain. When you size a ring, it takes about 20 minutes, and you charge for this service (say, $50). If you do even more work on it that takes another 20 minutes, shouldn’t you get another $50?

Has your jeweler ever sized a ring and stones became loose? Sure. Do they tighten them? Sure. Do you charge for that service? Most say no!

The customer says if you touch their jewelry and something happens, it’s your fault. Therefore, you should get extra money anytime you touch the jewelry.

If you take in jewelry for sizing or repair and it has four or fewer stones, you can tighten and guarantee stone tightness or loss at no charge. But if the ring has five to 20 stones, you should charge $35 to check and tighten the stones.

Many stores might charge extra only if the stones are loose, but you should charge extra just because there are stones that could become loose or fall out in the future.

My car insurance company has charged me $1,100 a year for the last five years and I haven’t had a single accident. Why charge me $1,100 when I didn’t cost them anything? So that when I do have a wreck, they never have to say, “It must have been your fault, we won’t pay.” Instead, they pay with a smile.

You should do the same thing. Here’s how to present it:

“Mrs. Jones, it’s only $85 to size your ring smaller. This includes our jeweler sizing your ring to fit, and you won’t notice where the work has been done. In addition, she will check all of the stones for tightness. If any stones are loose or become loose, we will make sure they are as snug as a bug when you pick it up. In addition, if during the next year the diamonds become loose, we’ll tighten them at no charge, and if you lose any, we’ll replace them for you at no charge. Furthermore, our jeweler will make your ring shine like the top of the Chrysler Building and it will be as pretty as the day your husband gave it to you. We can have it back to you on Friday.”

(I combined the price of $50 to size and $35 to check and tighten to make the money sound seamless.)

How much more money could you make if you earned $35 extra on every repair job of pieces with five stones or more? You do the math.

Quit giving customers such a hard time about whose fault it is that a stone fell out. Instead, do like my car insurance company: Guarantee it, take the money and treat them like a mensch.

The post Here’s Why You Should Charge $35 More on Certain Repairs appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

One day, we decided to try what Fast-Fix did: have a two-tiered battery price. We started charging $8 for a one-year guaranteed battery and $15 for a five-year guaranteed battery. (Same battery, we just guaranteed it for five years.)

No paperwork required; all you need is a sharp-pointed pen. We opened the back and wrote inside a “1” or a ”5” for the battery warrantee along with the date.

When a customer came in and needed a battery, we said, “Great, you have two choices: a one-year guaranteed battery for $8 or a five-year guaranteed battery for only $15.” 60 percent of customers chose the five-year guaranteed battery.

Our average battery sale went from $5 to $12. If the battery died before the guarantee expired, we gave them a new one, but it was only guaranteed for the remainder of the original time frame.

In addition, many people have started using our suggestion of a “Watch Spa”:

Watch Spa And Lifetime Battery – $117

1. Remove the movement, ultrasonically clean the case and band.
2. Install a new battery.
3. Install a new rubber gasket.
4. Using silicone, seal the back gasket and apply silicone to the stem/crown area.
5. If the crystal is removed, reglue.

People will pay. Not only that, but giving customers a menu of choices helps them and your store.

Funny story: I used to travel to stores to train and help with QuickBooks. One day, I was doing something at the store’s point-of-sale computer and I was the only person in the showroom (the rest of the staff was in the back). In walks a very elderly woman who said she needed a battery for her husband’s watch. I gave her what I just typed about the two choices of warranties. She stood there gazing at the ceiling and finally replied: “He’s 98, just give me the one-year guaranteed battery.” True story.

The post Why Offering Multiple Fees for Product Guarantees Could Net You More Profits appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

As someone who has visited stores in person and also sees their business and financials by connecting over the internet for almost 22 years, I can share with you what successful stores consistently do.

Most all jewelers make money, although many have very little of it in their checking account. Many years ago, I read a statistic that said well over 55% of companies who declared bankruptcy had a profitable profit-and-loss statement.

Here’s my list of what I’ve seen in the trenches, not in order of importance.

Successful stores charge easily double their shop’s actual costs for repairs and custom work.

Jewelers typically price by guilt rather than what they must charge to make a good shop profit. I hear all the time: “The customers won’t pay.” Not true. Across the country, the price to size a 14K yellow gold 1-carat round diamond engagement ring smaller ranges from $40 to over $125 (you read that right). Almost all of them enjoy a 90% closing ratio … the $40 jeweler AND the $125 jeweler. If you’re not making enough money from the shop, the only REAL solution is to charge more than you are now. But you’re scared. Think back to when you raised your prices. What happened when you did? NOTHING; they paid. If they squawked, that doesn’t matter.

Repairs and custom does not have TURN, so increasing the number of jobs coming in if a jeweler already has a full box doesn’t increase profits. Be more efficient? A laser machine will definitely do that, but for the most part, a jeweler’s efficiency can be increased about 50%. But if you’re short on profits, increasing a jeweler’s efficiency by 50% won’t help much. To increase shop profits, you have to charge more than you are now.

Successful stores handle inventory the way the very large successful retailers handle it: as if it were a block of melting ice. Before refrigerators became common, blocks of ice were delivered to homes. In the morning, a block of ice might have sold for $1.00. But as the horse-drawn carriage drove through town, the ice started to melt. By 3 p.m., the block was half its original size; who’d pay full price for half a block?

Most jewelers think ONLY margin: “How much can I sell this for above my cost?” That’s a good start, but that’s all it is. Have you noticed how retailers in other industries like clothing sell at their regular prices when new items arrive, and after 60 days or more, they start doing deep discounts to reduce stock? They understand turn. Clothing has a turn of 4 times a year because there are 4 seasons.

Why don’t the clothing retailers just seal the old shirts, slacks, shorts and swimwear in zip-lock bags and bring them out next season? If it cost them $5 for shorts that sell for $10, can’t they sell them for $10 next summer? Maybe, but here’s what they look at:

There might be a new style or “in” look next year, and many clothing retailers have to pay their bills in 30 days, unlike jewelers.

You can’t keep swimsuits on the rack with leather warm coats. No room. Of course, jewelers can pack showcases with more jewelry, just add another ring tray!

Merchandise has an obligation to give your store the profits you expected every year it sits in the store, not just the year it sells. If an item costs $100 and gives you a profit of $100 (keystone), then it should do THAT every year it sits in the case.

Stock the store by price point ranges that have sold in the past. Yes, experiment with some higher priced items, but don’t go overboard. If it sells within six months of its arrival, reorder and continue to do so until it doesn’t sell within six months.

For nine months, sell for “top dollar.” Discount a small amount if need be. After nine months, discount 25% to help move it out of the store.

After 12-15 months, be proactive about either returning the item to the vendor in exchange for other items or give the staff big bucks to move it for you.

Don’t have it in the store if it’s 18 months or older. If it stays, it has an 80% chance it will still be there 5 years later.

Find the dollar amount of inventory over one year old in your POS program. Leave out memo and consignment. Now multiply that number by 80%, and then go into your QuickBooks or accounting software and look at your accounts payables and credit card debt. You’ll see that about 80% of old inventory equals the store debt. Eliminate old inventory, and you lower debt dramatically, giving you more cash and availability to stock items that will move! Here’s some typical numbers:

In one full year, easily 60-80% of all sales made are those from inventory that is less then 6 months old.

Items that sell between six and 12 months of age comprise less than 10% of total sales. Look at the drop! Why? No one likes it anymore. Sales staff yawn when they see it now, customers aren’t interested and it just sits there not selling.

Sales of items that are one year old or older when it sold can be 20% of total sales, but to sell that 20% of total sales, the inventory required is an astonishing 57% of inventory .

Clearly, the golden age of inventory is the first six months of being adopted by you. After six months, it becomes the red-headed stepchild. After 12 months, it’s like a 40-year-old who never leaves home just draining mommy and daddy’s checking account.

Successful stores have ongoing sales training on a regular basis to take “just OK” staff and make them all STARS. A salesperson’s job description: Turn shoppers into buyers while increasing the store’s average dollar sale and their own closing ratio. This only happens with weekly or bi-weekly sales meetings, personal coaching and training.

There are a host of other things successful retailers do, too many to mention. But just a taste of some:

• Spend a budgeted amount on consistent ongoing advertising. Spending 6-10% of sales on advertising. Their advertising is not boring.
• Have several events a year, knowing collectively this enhances store sales.
• Send thank-you notes to customers.
• Have the staff personally contact customers all year long by notes or phone.
• Pay the sales staff a commission/bonus system that makes a difference in their paycheck.
• Renovate the store from time to time so it doesn’t get stale.
• Hire support staff to allow the owner to do what they do best.
• Take regular vacations.
• Have hours open that make it convenient for the customers.

The post Here’s The Difference Between Successful Stores and Those That Struggle appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

So how should you respond? A lot depends on the value of the stone. Melee usually has no intrinsic value to the customer. A center stone … now that’s a different question.

The first kind of loss may not be your fault. Prongs get pulled back on clothing or sheets. Well-set stones shouldn’t fall out. I’d ask the woman if she sleeps in her jewelry, and if she says “yes,” tell her, “Never sleep in your jewelry. The prongs on small stones are only twice as thick as an eyelash, and they can get caught on sheet and banket threads.”

The second kind of loss is if you worked on the ring and a stone fell out. I’d still mention not sleeping in the jewelry but add: “I’m so sorry. I will make sure my best jeweler goes over every prong with a fine-tooth comb and make sure there’s no space between the metal prong and the stone so it doesn’t snag anymore.”

Most consumers believe everything sold in America comes with a 12-month warranty. Heck, some jewelry customers believe it’s guaranteed forever. That’s why take-in is so important. As an example, we didn’t guarantee stone loss unless it had at least four prongs, sometimes we’d say must have six. Write that down on the envelope. We also didn’t warranty large stones, as a few hundred-dollar repair doesn’t have enough money to pay for replacing a $9,000 diamond. That’s why they should get the ring appraised and have additional coverage. But again, this must be written on the customer’s receipt at take-in.

Most stores don’t understand the collective monies received charging a customer an additional $35 or more to check, tighten and warranty stone loss. If you take in 3,000 to 5,000 jobs a year (we took in almost 9,000) and charge the minimum of $35, in a year you could collect $18,000 to $35,000. The typical store pays out less than $5,000 a year for stone loss. So now you can afford to be a mensch with a smile.

Never start by telling a customer it’s their fault or they must have caught the ring in a door. Instead, let them talk and don’t interrupt; let them get it off of their chest. These days, with Google and Yelp reviews so important to your business, fix the problem if you can. Apologize for the inconvenience and tell them up front, “We’ll take care of it for you.”

If you set a major stone or retipped or maybe even sized it, you’re probably to blame. Even if you’re not, you’re going to have to make the customer happy. (Of course, it’s different if a ring comes back bent in two.)

Training the staff who takes in the work is paramount; we trained for 15 minutes every other Friday for years. And if you charge to check and tighten and, as a result, take in $15,000 a year or more in fees, it’s easier to swallow.

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