New Year's Resolutions for The Independent Jeweler

New Year’s Resolutions For The Independent Jeweler

So…you’ve made it through yet another holiday season, paid the bills (hopefully), reviewed what worked and what didn’t and are ready for a fresh start in 2013!  Maybe you’ve had a wonderful season and wouldn’t change a thing for the coming year or perhaps you’re like a lot of jewelers I’ve talked with and are left scratching your head, wondering what to do for 2013.  Here are a few ideas:

·         Start collecting customer info to use in direct marketing including name, addresses, telephone numbers, email address, birthday & anniversary dates, children’s info

·         Get actively involved in social media most especially Facebook (I recommend a personal page for yourself and a fan page for your business)

·         Use the email addresses you’ve been collecting and start sending a weekly email blast to your clients with specials, new arrivals, repair specials, etc.  In case you’re afraid you might offend a customer, know that the larger jewelry chains send daily emails to their clients!

·         Have your staff as well as you make a point to reach out and contact at least 5 customers per day via telephone just to say, “Hello” without a hard sales pitch.  People like to know you’re human and not just trying to sell them something.

·         Make a commitment to send every customer who makes a purchase a thank you card or note along with a gift certificate for them to spend later (you choose the amount).

·         You’ve put it off for years, but this year is the time to get involved in local community civic affairs so that you can meet people and they can get to know you and what you are all about…it reaps benefits!

·         To increase your average ticket sale, train and retrain your sales force to develop a process of upselling or adding on to each transaction…it’s the quickest way to get to a higher ticket sale overall!

·         Increase the amount of times you touch your customer list (you do have one?).  Agree to touch everyone on your list via telephone, direct mail or email at least six or more times per year.  In my store, we reach out to our clients in some form almost monthly.

·         Host more events for your store rather than just another sale.  Events create buzz in the community and allow for more profit than when you just do another sale.

·         Look at what your customers are requesting as well as buying.  Do you have the right inventory and enough of it?

·         Remember to reorder your fast selling items weekly, not monthly…you’ll make more money if you do!

In the last week, many jewelers have told me about their holiday results and they’re both good and bad.  Amazingly, the one thing I noticed above all was that those who promoted their store actively thru the entire year, did better than those jewelers who only did it once in a while. 

My friend George Prout with Gems One and I have been exchanging emails discussing the changes taking place within our industry.  One thing is for sure, today’s jeweler simply cannot afford to sit on their duff because they won’t make it much longer.   

The piece of pie is getting smaller for each of us and I plan to get my store’s fair share…how about you?  The ideas above are only a few things that you can do today to impact your business in a positive way…think about it, meditate on it and then put them into implementation!  Your staff will thank you and more importantly, your thicker pocketbook will thank you!

Until Next Time,

Bill Warren, DDJM (Doctor of Dynamic Jewelry Marketing)

828-729-1020

Email:  goldman86@bellsouth.net