Thoroughly Pleased…

My blog is a little later than normal today because I was in a rush to get my car into the dealer for some service work (okay, and I slept-in a bit).  My wife Jana had a meeting to get to, so I tried to tell the service receptionist what I wanted done and then get-out of there as quickly as possible.

He took the time to make sure he understood exactly what I expected and explained to me which items on my service schedule were overdue.  It really only took an extra two minutes for him to be completely thorough in making sure we were on the same page.  Jana made her meeting on time, and I left the dealership comfortable in the knowledge that they weren’t going to charge me for stuff I wasn’t willing to pay for.

The longer I’m in the jewellery business, the better I get at being thorough in my communications.  As some of you know, I not only sell wholesale, but work with retail clients at a few restyle and design shows. I still occasionally miss something, but by taking the extra 30 to 45 seconds to go over a work-order and point-out the karat, color, price, design elements and what will be returned, it not only helps me be thorough, it gives the client piece-of-mind that I’m earnestly committed to pleasing them.

Being thorough also allows you to cover your butt!

When taking in repairs you can communicate thoroughly by saying, “as far as I can see there are 6 claws that need retipping, so the total price will be $72 plus tax unless the goldsmith notices something I didn’t; in which case we’ll let you know before proceeding with any additional service.” 

When talking about time-frames for repairs, special orders and custom work try saying “assuming that courier schedules are on-time and there are no problems with doing a perfect job, we should have this ready for you by a week Friday.” 

Hey, life happens.  I think we all want to assume the best.  When you’re thorough and honest with your client, they’ll be much more understanding if something does go wrong.