Jewellery Humor!

Sorry, no video blog today.  I’m working on a new music video; my most ambitious yet and it’s not ready.  I will therefore give you one of my favorite jewellery jokes and then you can watch a few more from David Squires of InStore Magazine to brighten-up your Monday!

When Nester came into Bloomstein’s Jewellers, he had in mind a special graduation gift for his eldest son Nick.  Nester inquired of Mr. Bloomstein about a Gucci chain.  Mr. Bloomstein responded, “I have one.  It’s 24” long in 18kt gold.  At only $2,200 it will be a marvelous commemoration for your University Graduate.”  Nester had a look at the chain and remarked that it looked too shiny to be an original vintage Gucci chain.  Bloomstein explained that they’re very rare and very expensive.

Nester asked where he might find an original vintage Gucci chain.  Mr. Bloomstein thought about it for a few seconds and then said, “you know what, I think I have one in the back.  It will take me a few minutes to find it for you.”  The shop-keeper took the chain into the back, closed the door and then rummaged around for an old well-worn “Gucci”-labeled clasp.  He changed the clasp on the replica chain, dropped the chain on the floor, walked on it and then used a file to expertly give it that well-worn vintage look.

Mr. Bloomstein proudly returned to the sales floor and presented Nester with a very hard-to-get vintage Gucci chain.  Overjoyed, Nester asked “how much?”  The crafty proprietor thought for a moment and said, “well, because it’s not in pristine condition, I could let it go for a mere $3,200.”  After talking Mr. Bloomstein down to $2,900, Nester said, “and because you’ve given me such a good deal on this chain, I’ll also buy the other one for myself.”

Two Degrees of Separation

Six degrees of separation implies that through of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, you could connect with anyone in the world.  The math has been done, and the empirical results justify anywhere from 3 to 6.6 degrees of separation is about right.

Social media is a tool that is supposed to make the world and even smaller place with fewer degrees of separation.  Here’s the reality.  Your friends are your friends because you can spend time with them.  No matter how fast your internet connection is, there are still only 24 hours in a day.  Your close and personal contacts are based upon quality and quantity time.

When you use social media and social networking (through the Chamber of Commerce, or a service group) you may build numerous contacts who are 2 degrees separated from you.  You might also develop a few friends or business acquaintances who are only 1 degree away from you.  Just because you met them at a chamber mixer and gave them your card doesn’t mean they’ll trust you with a $10,000 diamond purchase.

Here’s where you can use this paradigm to your advantage.  When you really want to impress someone who is 2 degrees separated from you, find a common person who is 1 degree separated from them and 1 degree separated from you and your business.  It’s called “getting related.”  When you’re meeting someone new, you talk about various minutia until stumbling across a common interest.  Those common interests often have common contacts, like, “oh, you’re into curling?  I’ve got a client and good friend who is president of the men’s league.  Do you know Bob?  You do?....”

Think of it as connecting the dots.  Rather than talking about you and your business, talk about people you’ve served and try to find those common connections.  People want to deal with known quantities.

SST - How to sell a Diamond

Saturday Story Time – How to Sell a Diamond

They were the cutest couple you’ve ever seen.  Both in their 40s, it was her second time and his first time shopping for an engagement ring.  They came into the restyle and design show at Marjon Jewellers in Kamloops.  Lilian had shown them numerous shapes, and designs.  The one that she was most intrigued with was not necessarily designed to be an engagement ring, but flattered her hand and had a nice spot to feature a 1/3^rd ct or better diamond.

These guys were holding hands and she was giddy with excitement.  Lilian picked a diamond out of the selection we brought, installed it in a pair of tweezers and held it over the design on her finger.  They loved it!

He asked “how-much” and the price was acceptable and they said, “Yes please.  Go ahead.”  After he had his credit card-out, he said, “I assume that’s a nice diamond you’re putting in there.”  Indeed I believe it was an F/VS2 0.42ct diamond.  Lilian replied, “yes, it is one of our best quality diamonds.”  He just kept on smiling while he held her hand and paid his deposit.

That was it.  There was no “4-Cs” explanation, they never asked the carat-weight of the diamond and they were the happiest most appreciative clients I’ve ever seen. Everything else fell into place.  It doesn’t always unfold this way, but remember, this only happens when you engage the buyers personally, focusing on occasion and design.

Right? Right?

This is the single most hilarious sales close I’ve ever heard.  This story was told to me by Lisa Malone from The Canadian Jewellery Exchange in Kelowna.  They do business a little different than most of you; as they begin their sales presentation at a desk with dual computer screens.  Sales associate extraordinaire, Dil and her client talked about what kind of ring he might like to buy for his lady.  She believed that she had identified the perfect item for the occasion, she said, “I think I’ve got exactly what you need.  I’ll be right back.”

Rather than going into the vault and selecting two or three designs for him to choose from, she returned with one.  She sat-down, wearing an expectant smile, she presented him with the ring and said, “right?” (This was a test-close.)  He looked at the ring quizzically and arched an eye-brow.  She gave him a couple of moments to absorb the weight of her question before she went for the final close.  She flashed her million-watt smile, looked him square in the eyes and said, “RIGHT?”  He looked at her with resignation, and admitted, “right.”  That was it.  The sale was closed.

It doesn’t take the entire Webster’s dictionary to close a sale.  When you spend a bit of time to get to know the buyer, learn about the recipient and talk about the occasion you can zero-in on an appropriate solution pretty quickly.  By connecting with them on a personal level, you can ask for the sale in a very informal way, and get a positive result.

Here’s the bonus.  The next time he’s looking for a gift of jewellery, where’s he going to go?  He’ll go to see Dil because she listened to him and found the perfect solution quickly and efficiently.

The did it AGAIN!

Really, it doesn’t take much to impress people nowadays with the average level of customer service being so baaaaad!  There seems to be two trains of thought.  One is by the credit cards or lawn-care people who call and call and pester and mail and brow-beat you to subscribe, or upgrade your services.  On the other hand are the majority of businesses who put advertisements out there, but otherwise sit-back and wait for you to grace them with your presence.

I just had a call from Roger at Avis.  He was just checking in to let me know that he had taken over as my account manager.  I haven’t rented much this year because I’ve driven more than flown.  I’m small-potatoes to Avis, but I have someone I can call if I have any problems and his name is Roger.  As per my request, he emailed me his contact information and I’ve stored it in a “keeper” file in my email.

Out of all of the car rental companies I have used, Avis was the only one to personally ask me for all of my business.  I didn’t become loyal to them only because they asked; they actually gave me a pretty good offer that I could benefit from.  Then they followed-up AGAIN to make sure the arrangement was working for me.  Budget and National could do the same thing, but they don’t.  They rely on their websites, discount-travel websites and national advertising campaigns without ever reaching-out to clients and prospects on a personal level.

C2A (call to action) – If you don’t regularly call clients to follow-up on purchases or to invite them to visit you soon for a clean-and-check of their jewellery, make a list of 10 people to call this week.  Call until you get them in person.  Then keep track over the next two weeks how many of those people you see in your store.  Once you realize that this one small additional point of personal contact has value, set-up a follow-up system that regulates your efforts to reach-out to your clients.  Don’t call them weekly or monthly.  You’ll never keep it up and you might wear-out your welcome.  If all of your clients get a follow-up call to each purchase and maybe one or two seasonal calls, for many of you that will be a nice improvement in your personal marketing efforts.

Vanity's Fair

Greek mythology tells the legend of Narcissus who was incredibly handsome.  Nemesis lured him to a pool where one look at himself enraptured him so much that he couldn’t stop looking at himself; and consequently died there.

A little bit of vanity is good; narcissism, not so much.  I hope that you all realize that we’re in the fashion business.  Why do people buy jewellery?  To look good or to bestow upon someone the feeling of looking good.  One of the reasons I encourage you to view jewellery as a wardrobe is that it can integrate so well into our overall fashion-sense.  There are so many ladies out there who say, “I’m not a jewellery person – all I wear is my wedding set and a couple of pairs of earrings.”  To them I say, “would you wear the same outfit of clothing every day for 25 years???”

In everything we do, we must seek to embrace current fashion ourselves including jewellery.  Would you go to a hair stylist who looks like Don King?  Would you buy a Mercedes from a guy who drives a beat-up Datsun?  Would you invest your money with someone teetering on the brink of insolvency?  I don’t think so.

I’m preaching to the choir with many of you.  I serve a lot of well-dressed fashion conscious people.  If you’re one of the few who never really gave your own personal fashion a lot of thought, maybe it’s time to start.  Billy Crystal (as ‘Nando) used to say, “It’s better to look good than to feel good, my darlings…”  In actuality, when you look good, you feel good and you feel more confident in selling fashion.