Small Potatoes?

Maybe it’s because I’m preparing for a nice steak barbeque to celebrate my lovely wife’s birthday, or maybe I’m just weird.  I’ve been pondering the age-old question of “how much do we spend on potatoes?”  Spuds are so cheap, they’re almost free.  One meal’s worth is about $1 for a family of four.  If that’s the case, and we eat potatoes 150 days per year, the market for potatoes among 83,000 Nanaimoans (or whatever we’re supposed to call ourselves) is about $3 Million.  That’s a lot of ‘taters.

See how fast those numbers add-up?  Take your greater local population, divide it by the number of jewellery stores in town.  I’ll wait…  Take that number and multiply it by $5… That should be a decent sized number.  The result could be the profit, the bonus money (or just that much less credit-line) that is being lost if you’re not conscientiously adding-on to sales.

“We love to clean and polish your jewellery here in the store, but in-between visits this jewellery cleaner will help keep that ring sparkling.  Would you like one for your bedroom and one for the kitchen?”

“How about adding a personal touch by engraving this?”

“You might consider talking to your insurance agent about adding this to your insurance policy; in which case you’ll need an appraisal.  Can I have it appraised while it’s being sized?”

“Are there any other occasions coming up that we could cross off the list with these matching earrings?”

I did the calculation for my own hometown, and if I was a jeweller whose staff were not add-on selling, I’d be missing about $100,000.  You only see some of your clients every year or two, so each opportunity is precious.  The festive season is coming, so start practicing now.  This week, see how many add-ons you can earn.  Challenge other staff, or just challenge yourself and then keep doing it.  With another $100,000 in the kitty, your earning potential can only go up; and that ain’t no small potatoes!