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.

Hospitality

Everybody wants to make huge sales to the rich and famous in your marketplace.  “It’s not fair” is a common complaint against locals who buy big expensive pieces of jewellery elsewhere.  But ask yourself two questions. 

• ·      Do you have the ability to show them a selection of designs in their price range?
• ·      Do you have a facility that caters to the added comfort that “carriage trade” clients are fond of?

I got a two-bit tour of a jewellery store the other day that knocked my socks off.  Get a load of the first thing clients see as they walk-in.  Even if you don’t have professional-grade fridges, granite counter-tops, leather couches and wide selection of beverages, you might want to think about doing something.

The name of the game is to have a level of hospitality that caters to the kinds of clients you’d like to serve.  If you want to serve the masses, make shopping simple, quick and convenient.  If you want to serve high-end clients, make shopping relaxed and comfortable.  In order to move from the former to the latter, you might have to sacrifice some of your square footage (which makes shopping simple quick and convenient) to create a space where you can take the time to entertain, and build relationships with your higher-end clients while selling them fabulous designs.  It’s always a treat for a valued client to be invited into some sort of “inner sanctum” from which the riff-raff are excluded.  

Nice Math!

The Jewellery Factory in New Jersey obviously flunked math.  They advertise a $3,000 Tiffany anniversary ring that they sell for only $699.  Later in the ad they boast that their jewellery is guaranteed to appraise for double.  So that $699 ring will appraise for $1,400 … and it’s being compared to a $3,000 Tiffany ring … right!

David Ogilvy said, “the heart and soul of advertising is a BIG PROMISE.”  Just make sure your big promises make big sense.

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to notify me about who I can contact about collecting gold scraps for Haiti (see yesterday’s blog).  I need 50 jewellers to collect an average of 40 grams each to make my goal.  40 grams is not much but it will have a huge impact on the kids I visit in February.