Saturday Story Time - Can't Please 'em All

Sometimes you just can’t win.  At one time in my career, I was an insurance claim specialist.  An insurance adjuster referred a U. of A. psychology professor (who I will refer to as “Dr. B”) regarding some stolen jewellery.  My quote was acceptable and the professor allowed me to replace, among other things, his lapis lazuli ring.  We managed to nail-down a setting that was quite close to his original ring, so all we needed was to have a piece of lapis cut to fit.

I sent the ring to a local lapidary shop to have the stone cut.  The finished product looked great and all parties were happy with the result.  A few weeks later, I received a call from the insurance company because Dr. B had lodged a complaint that I had defrauded him by supplying a dyed piece of lapis.  It wasn’t my intention to shave dollars off of my cost by requesting the lowest cost alternative.  I was quite mortified that my integrity was being called into question in the eyes of Dr. B, and in the eyes of my trusting insurance adjusters.

I called Dr. B, who explained that his friend in the geology department had examined the ring and concluded that the piece of lapis was dyed, and therefore quite worthless.  I apologized and asked for the ring back so that I could replace the stone.  I once again sent the ring to the same lapidary and requested a non-dyed piece of the best lapis lazuli he could get his hands on. 

The stone was replaced and the ring returned (not at all fast enough for Dr. B.)  When his friend in the geology department drew the same conclusion about the second piece of laps this upset Dr. B to no end.  I first complained to the lapidary that he had deceived me, but he assured me that when cut from a larger piece of lapis and polished, there’s no way any of the possible surface deep dyes could have remained.

What would you do at this point?  I know some of you would tell the good Dr. where to go and what to do when he got there. 

Keeping in mind I had already lost money on this ring, I called my contacts in the jewellery business and tracked-down the king of lapis lazuli:  an importer of only the finest lapis in the world.  I asked him for the best piece of un-dyed lapis that money could buy.  The color was deep and rich.  It cost a fraction more, but in reality this stuff is sold by the kilo, and the custom cutting is what cost the most.

As soon as I had the ring back from the cutter, I called Dr. B and offered to personally hand-deliver it to him.  I pulled-up in front of his stately home in Riverbend.  I knocked on the door.  When he answered, I proudly gave him his ring and humbly apologized for the difficulties.  He slammed the door in my face and that was the last I heard of him or the ring.

Thinking about this episode still upsets me some 15 years later.  Sadly, there remains a piece of me that feels defeated that I failed my client in this case.  I can honestly say that I tried to impress Dr. B so much with my product and service that I would gain his business for a lifetime, not just for one little insurance claim. 

I’ve learned that when you’ve lost both the battle and the war, you can still demonstrate unwavering commitment to your own integrity.  But when it comes down to this true story, I’ve learned that you can’t please everyone all the time.  If you can, don’t tell Steve, I don’t want to lose my job to you.

The Jewellery Wardrobe

I don’t hear that phrase used enough.  Every time someone is looking for a piece of jewellery, you should be asking, “how will this fit into your (or his or her) jewellery wardrobe?”  Every time someone purchases a piece of jewellery, you should reinforce the purchase by saying “this will be a great addition to your (or his or her) jewellery wardrobe.”

This is free advertisement for the next jewellery purchase.  Not only is it free, it’s also being directed to someone who is in his or her most suggestive state.  It’s like the wife asking her husband about finally fixing that fence, just after a romantic interlude.  He’s in the mood to finally say, “sure honey, I’ll get started on that tomorrow.”  That sounds awfully manipulative doesn’t it?  Does it happen in real life?  Sure it does.

When you take hold of the opportunity to plant the seeds of future purchases, you’re not being any more manipulative than any other salesperson in any other industry.  If you believe that you can survive by just sitting-back and letting people come to you and buy what and when they want, you’re delusional!  By proclaiming yourself as a retailer of jewellery, you’ve thrown yourself headfirst into a shark-tank.  This tank is filled with other jewellers, furniture sellers, general contractors, travel agents, timeshare salesmen, motor-sports dealerships, electronics outlets, plastic surgeons, investment managers, realtors and thousands of other aggressive marketers and salespeople.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not insinuating that there’s anything unethical about promoting the concept of the jewellery wardrobe.  It’s just a very ingenious way of putting “dibs” on a portion of your client’s future spending.  Classic yellow gold ensembles for coordinating with fall colors, contemporary white gold pieces with black diamonds to go with your little black dress, colored stones to coordinate with seasons or outfits, formal jewellery, casual jewellery, every-day wear.  We’d love all of our clients to aspire to accumulating an amazing jewellery wardrobe. 

If the Canadian Jewellers Association had a windfall of money and wanted to promote jewellery via a national advertising campaign, I’d want them to build a series of advertisements that promoted the jewellery wardrobe concept.  Since that ain’t happening, I suggest we start with the people who come into our store.  How about the next person who comes in?

Passing the Buck

I love to play poker!  Can you imagine my excitement when I learned that the phrase “passing the buck” started as a poker term?  In current poker practices there is a “dealer button” which is put in front of the person who chooses the game and deals the cards.  In frontier days, they often used a buckhorn handled knife (or “buck”) to indicate the dealer.  If you “passed the buck” you were absolving yourself of the responsibility for making the decision about what game would be played and were letting someone else do the shuffling and dealing.

Harry S. Trueman had the famous sign on his desk; “the buck stops here.”  This meant that when a situation came his way, he would take the responsibility to make a decision and “deal” with the issue.

Here’s Todd’s challenge of the day:  write down the names of everyone in the store.  When a customer wants to return something outside (or in a grey-area) of your return policy, where does the buck stop?  When a good client asks for a discount, where does the buck stop?  When a client asks a technical question about a gemstone or jewellery, where does the buck stop?  How much “passing the buck” happens in your store?

If the buck sometimes stops with someone other than the owner, then congratulations, you have achieved LEVERAGE.  If the buck always gets passed to the owner, then you as a owner are a PRACTITIONER.  If you have leverage, you can go on vacation.  If you’re a practitioner, you lose business when you leave the store. 

Leverage can be gained through key-persons, through well-defined policies and procedures and through affiliation.  Train and authorize staff to take ownership of problems that come along.  Let them make mistakes, correct and redirect.  If your policies and practices are well-defined and articulated to staff, then they’ll know what to do under more circumstances.  Belonging to a buying-group, the CJA, service groups, BBB and/or Chamber of Commerce gives you a platform for developing your practices and policies.

Staffers: if you feel that you are ill equipped to handle certain circumstances, open a dialog with your owner or manager.  Nobody enjoys saying to a client, “gee, I don’t know, I’ll go get Janet, maybe she’ll know.”  That’s passing the buck!  If you are doing this business as more than just a job, you want to be seen as competent in the eyes of your clients.

Is this an advertisement?

I’ve been writing daily for a few weeks now.  In the email campaign, I’ve never overtly promoted the product I represent.  On Facebook, I published a diamond list from Steve’s recent buying trip (since removed from Facebook when Ann Marie pointed out that one of her clients was able to see the keystone price list – never intended for your clients eyes.  Sorry).

Apart from the short-lived diamond list, is this dialogue advertising?  No.  This is part of my marketing plan, but it is not advertising.  An advertisement contains a direct offer or a “call to action.”  An advertisement is a very specific device, used one placement or insertion or 30-second spot at a time.  An advertisement can and should be part of a marketing campaign.

Okay, now that I’ve explained that, wake-up and start paying attention – here’s the important part.  Your marketing campaign involves everything that you intentionally do to create long-term sales and client loyalty.  An advertisement for a specific design, promotion or product line should be aimed at making a sale.  Making a sale should be a tool to earning a client.  A healthy client list is what your future is based upon.  There are however other factors that go into turning a buyer into a client.

This week, take a look at your store from the perspective of a new visitor.  Pay attention to how you greet clients.  What do they see, hear, and smell?  Do you ask the question, “Have you been into our store before?”  Do you have a 30 second introductory “elevator pitch” or positioning statement or basic orientation for those who haven’t?

If you are the only independent retailer in your mall or your town, each new visitor should be told that along with the benefits of being so.  If you’re part of a buying group, maybe that affiliation is part of your introduction.  If you carry exclusive brands, include that.  Don’t use platitudes or clichés, like “we give the best customer service”.

If you are successful in intentionally crafting this experience for new visitors, this now becomes a free and effective part of your marketing campaign.  Once you’ve planted your positioning statement into the mind of the client, you become accountable for proving this in your sales presentation.

An example of an opening introduction is as follows:

Oh, this is your first time into our store?  Welcome.  We’ve been serving (your town or region) for 16 years.  The owners are a local couple who love jewellery so much they’ve hand-selected exclusive Canadian designers to give you unique, durable designs that appeal to us.  Because we belong to a national buying group, we can offer these great designs at the lowest possible price.  While chain-stores have let their average diamond quality drop by up to 5 grades over the past couple of decades, we choose to offer higher quality, more beautiful diamonds.  Our clients receive a stellar warranty, which we almost never have to use anyway, and we have a few special invitation-only events for them every year.  We’d like you to be one of them.  What can I show you…

My top 5 biggest jewellery pet peeves.

5. Stabbing myself in the finger while sizing a watch for a customer.

4. The phrase, “I’m looking for something that will jump out at me.” – one day, I’ll make that happen for them…

3. People who try to impress you with the crap-jewellery they bought while on a cruise.  Nothing honest you say will benefit you in the least.

2. The “best friend” who comes-in and tells the bride-to-be that the ring she adores is ugly.

1. Finger lickers.

Let’s hear your pet peeves.  What are you looking forward to appropriately responding to on your last day in this business?