Don’t Wait For Repair
Money – Get Paid Now!
Have you ever looked at your finished repair box and found
it busting at the seams or running over?
Do your employees get tired of calling the same customers over and over
again to remind them to pick up the repair they left last year? Does it frustrate you that your goldsmith or
outside tradeshop gets paid now but you have to wait for payment months or even
years in some cases?
This is probably a scenario that plays out in many jewelry
stores across the land…at least until now! Yes, I’ve felt the pains of frustration from
this very thing. Probably like you, I
take no joy in selling my customer’s repaired jewelry to recoup my costs either
(not counting the bad will generated if the customer does ever return to pick
it up).
While looking at my
overly full repair box and trying to get paid for repair work done months ago,
a simple idea occurred to me. Why not
ask for payment in full up at the time we take it in?
Here’s a few ways that you could go about getting paid in
advance at not having to worry about collecting payment from those forgetful
jewelry & watch repair customers:
1.
Simply
“Ask” if they’d like to go ahead and pay now…many folks will without even
giving it a second thought! You may
also say something like, “Would you like to go ahead and get this out of the
way today or when you pick it up?”
2.
Offer a
discount of your choice if they go ahead and pay for the repair service
now! Yes, many clients still like to a
discount no matter what the amount! If
you’re using the Geller blue book prices (you
are aren’t you?)…then a small discount should be no problem!
3. Offer a “Freebie” for early payment! Perhaps you might say, “Mr. Customer,
because you came in today, you qualify for a FREE gift of bottled jewelry
cleaner if you pay upfront!”
Your jewelry store is probably a lot like mine and so I
predict you’ll get similar results that I have after trying the above
ideas. Slightly more than 60% of the
customers asked for upfront payment did just that without one problem! The rest of the clients in no way seemed
offended when we asked but said they didn’t bring enough money or would need to
wait until payday…which was just fine by me!
60% pay upfront was certainly much better than no money upfront and in
these times…just like you, I have to watch my cash flow very closely. Needless to say, this little exercise really
helped out and improved our cash flow immensely. Wouldn’t David Geller be proud?
Until Next Time,
Bill Warren, DDJM (Doctor of Dynamic Jewelry Marketing)
828-729-1020
Posts
