Fake it ‘til You Make it?

<Wondering where I’ve been?  Much of my writing-time has been directed toward editorial contributions to Canadian Jeweller Magazine.  I’ll continue to send articles as they don’t conflict with that effort.  Enjoy a new game like “Where’s Waldo?” – see if you can find my articles buried in the back of Canadian Jeweller Magazine (not in every issue.) >

My good friend Quentin was talking about his experience in retail.  He began working at The House of Knives a few years back and when he started, he felt the all-too-familiar temptation to “fake it ‘til you make it.”  After getting caught giving misinformation by knowledgeable shoppers, he was embarrassed and he recognized the need to get ahead of the game.  He committed himself to learning about the different metals used in knife-blades.  He built his own collection of kitchen and pocket-knives, so that he could personally attest to the advantages of one product or another.  He now feels a sense of confidence that he can approach clients and almost never get “stumped” by a product knowledge question.  He approaches new and repeat clients with genuine conviction that they are going to get the best possible advice when selecting product, and his sales are impressive. 

Has a client ever asked you a question you didn’t know the answer to?  When that happens there are a few ways to handle it:

Bad Choices:

·      Invent:  Fabricate an answer that you think will help make the sale

·      Interpolate:  You can make something up that sounds like it might be correct, based loosely on your knowledge of jewellery

·      Impart:  You can give them an answer that you’ve heard someone else give, even though you’ve never actually verified the accuracy of that answer

 Better Choices:

·      Ignorance: you can admit your ignorance, and ask if the answer affects their desire to purchase the item in question.  If not, sell-away!

·      Interrupt:  You can ask the client to wait while you look-up the answer or attempt to get it from the manager or another staff member

Here’s the thing.  There’s no replacement for a wealth of product knowledge.  I’ve written before about how important it is not to overwhelm customers with unwanted facts, but when they ask and you don’t have the answers, you stand a chance of losing the sale.

Call to action – “Stump-Log:” When a customer stumps any one in your store with a question, deal with it the best way you can.  Once finished with the client, log the question at the top of the page of a notebook.  Make sure you go-back when you have time, research and write-down the best answer you can find and then share it with your teammates at the next staff meeting.  Add comments to the answer as the team collaborates on the best possible responses, and as the manager gives direction.  This notebook will become great reading and a valuable resource for new hires.  Managers, when there are few or no new entries in the stump-log, write-down an every-day question and task a staff member with writing their best answer.  Something like, “I saw an ‘SI’ clarity diamond at another store, but it didn’t look clear to me.  Why’s that?”, or “are dark Sapphires the best quality?”

Knowledge leads to confidence.  Confidence leads to effective selling.

The Road Behind

Last week I visited some stores in the Vancouver area.  One of the malls I visited was Lougheed Mall in Burnaby, BC.  I expected a degree of nostalgia.  You see, for a few very important months of my life in 1988-89 I worked there for Mappins Jewellers.  It was during that time that a friend of mine told me about a cousin who worked at the same mall.  I ventured downstairs to the Cotton Ginny to introduce myself to her one day.  A few days later in front of Mappin’s Sandicast display on December 2^nd, 1988, I asked Jana out on our first date.  I couldn’t wait for my shift to end.  After Christmas, the hours from Mappins weren’t quite so abundant and a friend recruited me to come work for him.  I returned to Lougheed Mall frequently over the following months to visit Jana, and buy her treats from the Cookies by George kiosk.

Fast-forward 25 years.  Mappins is gone from the mall, and I couldn’t really tell which clothing shop is in it’s place.  O.B. Allen and Ben Moss are gone.  Cookies by George moved and Cotton Ginny is gone.  The parking lot has been reconfigured and built-up so I couldn’t even envision where I used to park.  Businesses come and go but the people and experiences live-on.  I met my life-partner in that mall.  I remember Dwight, Tom, Irena, Demetre & Kelly with whom I worked, and I’ve seen and heard-tell that some are still in the jewellery business.

No trace of that store remains, but the impact of the people I worked with is an inescapable part of me.  I witnessed some very effective sales-people, and caught invaluable sales techniques.  I learned that individual commissions can lead to conflict and resentment.  I came to understand that chain-stores would never suit me quite right.  Even though I was low-man on a pretty high totem pole, I resented the cutting of my hours and it drove me to prove to them that they overlooked a “diamond in the rough.”

It makes me pause to take stock of where I’m at today.  If my future-life unfolds in unexpected directions, what will I take away from working with Steve, Lilian, the amazing retailers (some of whom will remain friends forever,) and from my valued industry colleagues?  Take a moment to thank God, or fate or the universe for the people around you who contribute to your success, to your character and who you’ll take with you as the years march on.  Better yet, find a way to thank them for being part of your life today!

How to Spot a Good Prospect

Two disparate thoughts crashed into my brain this morning.  The first was how difficult it is to find good staff; especially among the younger generation.  Many seem to lack the drive to acquire product knowledge and the confidence to ask for the sale.  It’s not universal by any means, but I hear the frustrations from retailers trying to identify effective prospects.

A second thought entered my head as I drove by my old highschool.  It brought-back memories of playing little league baseball on those fields, and the outstanding experience I had taking drama in highschool.  Our drama program was the best.  To our teacher, “Agrell” (Ken Agrell-Smith) drama was his life.  His dream was to one day portray King Lear, and he exuded incredible enthusiasm for stage-craft.  He confidently empowered us to direct and produce our own one-act plays in grade 12, and we always won scholarships at the Provincial one-act festival.  Being part of a most excellent team effort gave me the first-hand knowledge that even if you don’t know everything you need to know, you can work hard, acquire knowledge and achieve great things.  I’m not saying that I’m anything special, but I believe that what I achieved in my dramatic activities gave my confidence a huge boost at a young age.

Two conclusions.  If you have kids or grand-kids, look around and see where excellent leadership has a history of outstanding results, and get those kids involved.  Secondly, if anyone you interview has achieved highly in a team-sport, military, music, dance, academics or other cooperative achievements, that should be a sure sign that you’re looking at a good prospect.

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Smart Show Day 3

Today (Sunday) was by reputation the busiest day of the show.  I watched some of the bench challenges; where goldsmiths and designers squared-off in competitions to craft rings or build CAD models.  It’s a great show feature.  Now, as much as I’ve enjoyed the Smart Show, the keynote address this morning was entirely inappropriate.

The morning speaker was an expert in e-tailing, and spouted the benefits of shopping on-line to a smallish audience primarily comprised of bricks-and-mortar retailers.  I’m not sure if the Smart Show believe that she would help encourage the retailers in attendance to build their web-presence into a more effective tool or not. 

Nonetheless, one of the tactics that e-tailers should use that all of us could benefit from would be “staff-picks.”  Why not have a show-case where each of your staff’s photos are shown besides their top 5 jewellery picks each week, two weeks or month?  Wouldn’t that help engage the staff in your inventory and help connect them to your clients in a new way? 

Show-traffic proved to be busy, but we noticed that like any show, Sunday was the day for any Goldsmiths, Mom-and-Pop shops and quasi-jewellery-retailer to use their day-off to browse the show.  It was difficult to sort between retail prospects and the chaff.

The highlight of today was having a cocktail with friends from Saskatoon up at the 96^th floor bar at The John Hancock Centre.  The views were spectacular as we watched the sun set over Chicago’s flat and expansive skyline.

Inspiration

Where do you get yours?  This past week I was listening to an audiobook about the hard life of Johnny Cash.  Ahead of an album featuring songs about the “old West,” he got himself lost in the desert, had to kill a jack-rabbit with a bowie knife to eat, and at one point was found face-down on the ground by a park ranger.  He did this for inspiration.

What do we do for inspiration?  I’ve heard tell about jewellers found face-down on the ground by Las Vegas policemen.   As recently discussed with Stacey Gelmici, the jewellery shows seem to be a valuable source of inspiration.  I’m looking forward to the SmartShow in Chicago to learn, observe and share with retailers and wholesalers. 

Baron Carter worked at Independent Jewellers Superstore while he was going to school in Edmonton for inspiration and experience.  When I was in the business for less than six months, I visited Tony Cavelti’s store on a trip to Vancouver.

Magazines, training programs, blogs, jewellery TV:  inspiration is everywhere!  How about this one … ready for it?   Talk to your clients.  Ask them about their feelings about jewellery and about your store. 

Once inspired, you’re a much more interesting jeweller to talk to.  You’ve got more to talk about, and you’re more engaged.  When you’re engaged, it’s easier to engage your clients.

Beeeee Positive!

As some of you know, Mrs. Toddwaz is a realtor.  Jana hosted a “realtor open-house” for a new fourplex listing the other day.  Some of the realtors from her office spent time commenting about the hookers a few blocks away, the limited parking and all of the negative aspects of the property.  It’s actually in an area of rapid urban renewal, close to downtown and a perfect starter resident for an active young single or couple. In a B-to-B (business to business) situation, the onlooker might feel an inescapable obligation to tear-apart the product in front of them, fully believing that their expert criticism is helpful in some way.  It sometimes works that way with jewellery presentations. 

When I look at a line of 3-400 rings, I don’t see sellers and non-sellers.  I see each piece as the answer to someone’s quest.  There is a buyer out there for every design you’ve ever looked at in a travellers bag.  Maybe you haven’t conditioned your marketplace to respond to a certain styling.  Maybe the craziest looking design that you summarily dismissed would have sold to the tourist who came in the next day.  Maybe you’ve just overlooked a ring that would have sold 4 times in the coming year because in your opinion it was too high, too low, too wide, too narrow or too “froofie.”  (Don’t laugh, I’ve heard that before!)

This is a tough business and you can’t buy everything that comes along.  I appreciate a retailer telling me why they think a new design won’t sell quickly in their store.  I really do.  Maybe it will cause us to modify a design if few enough jewellers choose to stock it.  But, I’m invigorated by buyers who look at designs and identify what kind of client will love that piece.  Looking for the positive in jewellery designs makes for a more enjoyable supplier visit, and I believe a much more productive one for selecting profitable designs.  Looking for the positive in every customer that walks in has its’ own rewards.

Enjoy this video, featuring Sir Paul McCartney and Nanaimo’s very own Diana Krall…

Spinning or Winning?

Business or personal it’s all the same.  You can be positive by spinning or winning.

When I took my ARMS management training (where I first met Mr. Greg Bird,) the session leader asked us all how business was.  We mumbled various responses.  He corrected us and trained us to give the response, “UNBELIEVABLE!”  He was training us to put a positive “spin” on things.  He wanted us to allow our interlocutors to draw the conclusion that business was unbelievably GOOD when it just as easily could be unbelievably BAD.  Spinning is the art of deception.  Pick and choose truths and half-truths to build a conclusion for the sake of your own motives.

When someone asks, “How are you?” or “How’s business?” you can easily brush them off by saying “fine,” and get on with your day.  That’s fair because some people haven’t earned a close enough relationship with you to justify a deeper explanation.  If you want to present a perfectly positive and prosperous persona, you might proffer a passionate, “unbelievable!”

Here’s the thing.  If you have your eye on a far-off goal of a highly effective “you” or a highly successful business, and you’re doing things to make that happen, you’re on a winning path.  You’re either learning things that you’ll need to avoid as you approach your goal, or your doing things that work and get you closer to your goal.  Either way, you’re making genuine headway towards the positive future that surely awaits you.

As you keep your eyes on the prize (whatever that means to you) you can have a GENUINELY positive outlook.  You can honestly say, “fine,” “unbelievable,” or “super” in response to other people’s inquiries.  You can, not only say positive things, but you be honest about set-backs in light of their contribution to your journey.

This Too Shall Pass

How do you cap-off the achievement of a really daunting goal like publishing 300 blog posts in one year?  Well, since we’re approaching a new calendar year, maybe some thoughts about turning the calendar over to a fresh new start.

I’ll share with you a bible verse that has kept me both humble and motivated.  It comes from Matthew 13:53, which states “And it came to pass …”  Did you have an off-year this year?  Don’t worry, it will pass.  Did you have a great year?  This too shall pass.  (This message was borrowed from comedian Mark Lowry) 

We can’t control the results of our past efforts.  We did what we did and we got what we got.  Because we are in a business where so much of our success comes from the final part of the calendar year it makes sense to join the masses in reflecting on the past year and making plans for the new year now rather than at your fiscal year-end.  So go ahead.  Give yourself a kick-in-the-butt or a pat-on-the-back.  Make resolutions.  Don’t forget to announce your resolutions to people who care about you.  It will help you to keep them.

If you’re not big on making resolutions, here’s a great way to start the New Year.  Write yourself a job description.  Start with the phrase, “If I were training someone to take over my job, and I received a royalty from their performance, here’s what I’d tell them to do…”  Then staple it to the file where you put your pay-stubs or some other locale that you have to look at on a regular basis.

I’ll end with a nice story about a jeweller who on December 6^th had an SUV drive right through his store, and with a positive attitude, managed to make the best of it.  Click HERE to read the JCK Online story.

Happy New Year!

Blog post #300 with a 2012 tally of 88,054 words.

Shaving Cream

Wow, are you kidding me?  Here I am laying low, and not sending-out daily blog-posts because I know how busy you are (also because I’m extremely close to accomplishing my 300 blogs in 2013.)  Here’s what I’m seeing.  Due to a new product line with a time-limited offer, I’ve made a couple of sales pitches during the busiest month of the year and got timely responses back.  I’ve also received many thoughtful responses to some of my blog posts.  Is it that slow out there?  Nope.  Reports are pretty good so far.

I always wondered how long a can of shaving cream would last if I always used the small (but entirely sufficient) amount that I squeezed-out for the last couple of shaves before starting a new one.  In the same way I wonder how much we could accomplish if we worked as efficiently as we HAVE to in December.

This December, make sure you take just a few moments to observe how quickly product gets tagged and put into the showcase.  How much time it really takes to wipe-down the counters.  Note the urgency to call people when repairs or special orders are ready.  There’s no dilly-dallying.  No lolli-gagging, and certainly no shilly-shallying.  Now get back to work and enjoy the hustle (and the bustle!)

Independent - Schmindependent!

The billing on my blog and website talk about how I’m writing about best practices for the independent jewellers.  So what?  What’s the big whoop about independent jewellers???  I woke up this morning pondering this question.

Well, let me tell you a story.  When I worked for Mappins in Lougheed Mall, they had a pre-Christmas “scratch-and-save” event.  We gave store visitors a game-card so that they could scratch and receive a discount of 10 to 50% off at the cash register.  Of course in the large stack of 500 cards there were maybe one 50% off card, ten 35% off cards, twenty-five 25% off cards and the rest were 10%. When they arrived, our manager grabbed a few, handed me a small stack, and handed others on shift a small stack so that we could immediately start handing them out.  Well, the good folks at People’s head-office sent out cards that were not shuffled.  The cards in my sport-coat were all 35% and 25% off cards.  I caught on before long.

Did I care that my clients were getting a bigger discount?  Not really.  Was Mr. Mappin standing over my shoulder to see what went on?  Nope.  In fact when we got stuck with a chatty mall-walker who was wasting our time, someone would come out of the back and say, “Todd, Mr. Mappin is on the phone for you…”  This was quite the joke, because I don’t think anyone knew anything about the fellow whose name was on the front of our store.

The really skilled salespeople at Peoples or Mappins were not only good closers, they were good a working the system.  Special orders were frowned upon, but they could find a way to bring-in items from suppliers through closely guarded back channels.  One promotional item might feature a “one-carat total diamond” but some were I2, some were I1 and they could be anywhere from 1.00ct to 1.08ct and J to L color. The best chain-store staff knew how to trade their 1.01ct I2/L with another store for a 105ct I1/J.  And at the corporate Christmas party, you drank as much as you could possibly stand because it was a great opportunity to stick it to the faceless owners of the company.

Working for an independent store, you have the privilege of working alongside the person who signs your pay cheque.  It is they whose entire financial future is completely dependent upon your performance and your participation in much needed teamwork.  They’ve hand-selected the designs you carry and they have a close and direct relationship with the suppliers, so that special orders and custom orders are simple matters.  If you grant a generous discount, that comes off the bottom-line of the store you work in, not some monolithic corporation’s.  When you do good, it is the owner who says “well-done,” not some flunky.

That’s why I serve independents, write to (and about) independents, and why I enjoy working for a small company with a great leader.

1st Todd 13:4

David Squires of InStore Magazine inspired me to write about love after reading his article called Do You Love Your Customers?  He makes a good point and even uses a classic 1980s John Cusack video clip to illustrate the point.

What is love?  Well here’s a jewellers rendition of a popular bible verse used at nearly every wedding I’ve ever been to (1 Corinthians 13:4-8,13).

Love is patiently waiting for your customer to get to the point, love is being kind enough to give the smallest of customers your best service.  It does not envy big sales made by coworkers, it does not boast of one’s own big sales, it is only proud in the accomplishments of the whole store.  It does not dishonor competitors, puts the client’s needs above one’s own, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of the goofy things clients say.  Love does not delight in putting one over on a customer, but rejoices in good, honest and fair transactions.  It always protects the client, always trusts their motives, always holds a positive attitude, always perseveres even when it looks like the sale might be going sideways.  Extending that kind of love to clients will never let you down.  Where there is experience, new developments will prove you wrong; where there is fashion-sense, it will yield to the next fad; where there is knowledge, it will pass away...  And now these three remain: product knowledge, selling skills and love.  But the greatest of these is love.

Sell a Diamond, Feed a Starving Child

Remember 2006 when Warner Brothers sent shockwaves through the jewellery industry by releasing Blood Diamond?

The issue is still alive.  The Kimberly Process (K.P.) for those of you who don’t know is a committee of representatives from 80 countries and non-governmental organizations who seek to define and uphold sanctions against conflict diamonds.  Conflict diamonds had been roughly described as those whose profits had been earned by the African equivalent of Mexican drug lords.

Now, as we approach 2013, the Kimberly Process struggles with redefining the term “conflict diamond.”  The Responsible Jewellers Council has arisen from within the industry to address environmental and human rights issues in all raw material sourcing.  There are still unscrupulous dealers who will disregard any of these efforts for the sake of a quick buck.

In June, 2006 I wrote in my Road Reflections Newsletter:

Should the public ask you questions about “blood diamonds”, I would suggest four things.  First, I would refer to them (as Mr. Rapaport did) as “poverty diamonds,” as it puts the emphasis on the victims rather than the villains…

With the KP trying to include “fair trade” issues rather than just political ones in its’ definition of “conflict diamond” and with the work of RJC, the tide is finally starting to turn in favor of real people in third world countries who earn their only living from diamond mining.  As the industry works to protect and improve the prospects of these innocent players, you can take more and more pride in our product.

Jewellery is a luxury good, and you may have moments where you believe that your clients are better-off using their money for more beneficent purposes, but don’t forget that our world is global village.  Some of the poorest nations would be absolutely sunk without employment from the diamond industry.

Win Friends

There can’t be too many of you who’ve never heard of the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”  But have you read it?  For a book which was first published before my father was born, it has a lot of modern day relevance. 

If you’ve ever “won” an argument with a customer, but never saw them again…

If you’ve ever corrected someone and then wished you’d not bothered…

If you don’t always “click” with people you had hoped to win-over…

If you have found yourself defending your service against Internet retailers…

(I’m guilty on all counts so far)

If you could use more sales…

If you want to increase your charisma…

If you want a crash course in timeless principles of building clientele…

(I could definitely use these things)

If you read it a million years ago, but haven’t reviewed it in recent years…

…you might want to give it a look.  To borrow my copy, just let me know.

Todd’s Communication Theory

Following up on yesterday’s article on breaking bad news, I have come-up with a theory about communications.

There are very few people who could be described as “an open book.”  When you talk to someone face-to-face, in a specific context you can hear their words, along with inflection, see their eyes and their body language.  If they’re not completely an “open book,” and are holding something back from the conversation, you should be able to understand them 80 to 90%.

On the phone, you might hear their words and perceive intonations, but without actually seeing their eyes and reading body language, maybe you’re only getting 60 to 70% of the story.  While texting (144 characters at a time) or emailing, even with “emoticons” ;}>, and common abbreviations (lol!) you get no eyes, no body language and no context.

Let’s remind our junior staff that the most effective way to build clientele, sell and resolve problems is by far face-to-face.  If we focus on that as the primary way to do business, then, guess what?  We’re conditioning our marketplace away from doing business on the internet.

Breaking Bad News

I teach a lot about selling techniques, including scripts, product knowledge, motivation and closing.  Ours can be a “Barnum and Baily World” – a carnival that takes people’s money and then moves on down the road whether the client is satisfied or not.  Most of you are in business for the long-haul and have to deal with the odd unhappy client.  Here are a few thoughts on doing-so without harming your reputation.

My father was told to expect biopsy results in 10 days, but after 5 or 6 days the doctor called him in for an urgent meeting without specifying what it was about.  This is a good example of how to stress-out a client for nothing (and by the way, the urgent meeting held no firm conclusions, good, bad or otherwise.  The doctor just discovered he had some time to go over some of the potential outcomes of the tests.)  Jewellery is less critical than health, but it is still emotional.  It’s best to be direct if there’s a problem.

·      Due to quality control, there’s a chance that your job will be done later than expected.  Can we take a few extra days to get it done right for you?

·      While taking every precaution, a small chip was noticed in your emerald after it was reset, so we’ll have to discuss your preferred course of action.

·      Our gemologist has determined that your “investment gemstone” was actually a man-made variety.  Do you still wish to proceed with the design we’d planned for it, or would you like us to quote on a natural gemstone to replace it?

If you leave someone hanging with a message like, “we’ve got some concerns about your job,” someone in our stressed-out society will have time to wildly imagine their own conclusions.

When I was new to the industry (before call display,) knowing that sometimes jewellery is a surprise purchase, I avoided telling the voice at the other end of the phone what I was calling about.  When he asked, I panicked and said, “it’s a personal matter.”   Wrong answer!  I should have said, “it’s about a completed repair job at our jewellery store.”  It might have been a little white lie, but it would have done the trick without causing the poor fellow to wonder what “personal matter” she hadn’t told him about.

C2A - next staff meeting have everyone bring real-life stories of miscommunications.  I have the feeling that with text messaging, Facebook, voice-mail and call display, erroneous conclusions are on the rise.

Haiti Helpers Needed...

Thank you retailers who have already joined in to help me collect gold-scraps for Haitian Heroes.  I’ve had a much lower response than expected, so in case you missed it, I risk pestering you all a bit by asking again for an eager staff-member to take-on this task as a charitable in-store promotion.  I’d like to see 50 jewellers collect at least 40 grams each over the next 7 weeks (that’s less than a gram a day!!!)  Have your designated staff-member click HERE for a welcome video, counter-card download and simple instructions.

I will personally be delivering funds in February to Foursquare Relief and Compassion in Haiti.  This is a unique fundraiser in that there is ZERO administrative cost.  Customgold is picking up the tab for refining, and I’m letting you do the printing, and my friends in Haiti are already there ready to direct funds to our Haitian Heroes.  Each gram of gold collected can feed 20 kids for one day or pay two day’s wages for local workers to help build or maintain schools and orphanages.

Keeping Fresh - Part Deux

…still not talking about hygiene.  Yesterday I blogged about how us older folks need to keep fresh by taking advantage of modern technology such as smart-phones to broaden our horizons and remain active learners; just as the younger generation do quite naturally.

Now Young ‘uns… Your generation is leading the world into some new ways of relating and learning.  However, in order for you to be able to sell to the older generation who control a huge share of the wealth, you need to learn to relate to them. 

• ·      You need to learn to sit and talk with people face to face. 
• ·      You should try hosting a dinner party. 
• ·      Go to a music store and buy a CD, and experience the joy of breaking fingernails trying to get the cellophane off. 
• ·      Go to a chamber of commerce mixer and try real networking.
• ·      Research something at a library.
• ·      Try living without your cel-phone for one entire day.

I consider myself between two worlds.  I think I know how to relate to people in person, but I’d be a little lost without my smart-phone and laptop.  When it comes to generating rapport with people who you hope to sell to, it’s good to be able to relate to as many people on the planet as possible.  The best way to do that is to walk a mile in their penny-loafers.