What Is My True Passion Here At The Gold Mine?

I'm often asked about why I love the jewelry business so much and what my true passion is.  Is it selling beautiful creations? Yes...is it repairing jewelry?  Why yes...but the number one thing that I simply love to do is to design and create beautiful custom one of a kind jewelry for my friends and clients.

With today's technology including laser welders/engravers, computer CAD design and casting...design work is so much easier than it was almost 40 years ago when I started. 

Imagine this...we goldsmiths used to sit down and carve a piece of jewelry out of a blue block of wax just so we could give our client's an idea of what something might look like.  Now with computer aided design software, I can show a customer in "Real Time" what their ring will look like and even picture it in realistic terms on their finger!  How cool is that?

Yes, things have come a long way in the way jewelry is designed & made these days.  Every day I hear of some new technology that makes our lives easier.  I think back to how long it used to take to create jewelry and I as well as my customers are thankful that now we can turn out a piece in days or a few weeks instead of a month!

Interestingly, we've had clients come in with designs scribbled on napkins...talk about unique :)  We were able to take their ideas and bring them to fruition.  So...if you enjoy unique pieces perhaps of your own creation or mine....I'm your guy!

Would love to chat anytime about jewelry design & creation...it truly is my passion!

Until next time,

Bill Warren, Owner & Gemologist
The Gold Mine
828-726-1009
www.hudsongoldmine.com

Noted Jeweler, Bill Warren Becomes Principle-Centered Marketing Coach

NOTED JEWELER, BILL WARREN BECOMES LICENSED, CERTIFIED PRINCIPLE-CENTERED MARKETING™ COACH Renowned independent jeweler, Bill Warren, has become our latest, Licensed, Certified, Principle-Centered Marketing™ Coach with Ascend Marketing. Warren is well known in the jewelry & gift industry for the extraordinary success he has enjoyed for the last 17 years, building a million-dollar plus retail jewelry business in an infinitesimally small market town of just 4,000 people; the North Carolina mountain village of Hudson. He has parlayed that success into a speaking and writing avocation, addressing jeweler groups around the country and regularly contributing to industry magazines like INSTORE and Southern Jewelry and Mid-America Jewelry News. “I am NOT giving up my jewelry store,” Warren emphatically states. “This is not a situation where I failed at one thing and am now moving on to something else. On the contrary, my jewelry business is as healthy as it’s ever been and my business is now set up in such a way that I can pursue my other passion… helping people. Coaching my independent jeweler colleagues is a great way for me to do that.” It hasn’t always been roses for Warren. Back in the early 2000s, he was struggling. Business was off over 25% and had slipped to annualized revenue of just $475,000 heading into the Fall. That’s when he hooked up with Marketing Coach, Jim Ackerman of Ascend, and life instantly began to turn around. By the time the year was out, the deficit was erased and Bill tallied nearly $750,000. Almost a 60% turnaround in just four months! Thus began a friendship and partnership between Bill and Jim that has now led to them joining forces to expand the Ascend footprint in the industry, and to reach more retailers who need the same kind of help Bill experienced. According to Ackerman, “Bill Warren is one of the consummate implementers I’ve ever worked with. As we worked together, he was all-in, doing whatever I asked. As a result his was one of the most remarkable turnarounds in our history. And the best part is, Bill has sustained his marketing focus ever since. It’s that kind of concerted effort that I’m confident he’ll bring to the world of marketing coaching, and any of his clients will be fortunate to work with him.” Ascend Marketing has worked with hundreds of retailers through their Coaching program which is unique in the industry. Coaches Ackerman, Paul Furse, Royce Blake, and now Warren, work with stores over an extended period to help them get more new customers, increase average transaction, and get existing customers buying more frequently. “Marketing is more than know-how. It’s DO-how,” Ackerman says. “ Retailers need sound marketing habits, skills and systems to succeed in today’s competitive environment. You can’t get those in hour-long seminars at trade shows. Skills take time and practice, and we’re the only ones who provide you with the feedback and accountability to acquire those vital attributes in business.” “I’m excited for what I can bring to the table. Jim’s program certainly changed my business and my life. Now I want to do the same for other retailers. With this program I know I can make a difference,” Warren says. Bill Warren has been in the jewelry business nearly 40 years, having started while in school. He’s owned and operated his store in Hudson for 26 years, and before that worked in jewelry chain-store operations. He’s a goldsmith, gemologist, appraiser, gem cutter and watch repairman, but says, “I found true success when I became a “marketer of jewelry, gemstones and jewelry-related products and services.” Bill is also an avid musician, playing acoustic and electric guitar, banjo, mandolin and bass. He and his wife of 30 years, Angie, have one son, Dillon. Warren recently completed his certification training with Ascend in Atlanta and is now certified to administer the program to clients. In celebration of Bill’s addition to the Ascend stable of Marketing Coaches, the company is providing FREE Marketing Fitness Check-ups through April 30, 2019. This diagnostic tool is a $397.00 value and helps identify weaknesses in the marketing systems and programs of independent jewelers. The administering Marketing Coach then provides three or more specific recommendations the jeweler can immediately implement to increase traffic and improve closing rates. Interested retailers can contact Bill Warren directly at goldman86@bellsouth.net or by phone at 828.729.1020. The may also contact Ascend Marketing at 800.584.7585 x3, or at mail@ascendmarketing.com.

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How To Develop The Marketing Mindset

You know you need to do it…you see other’s being successful because of it.  What is it that I speak of?  I’m so glad you asked…the answer is becoming the “Maverick Marketer” of your store!  Marketing truly is the engine that drives your store’s business.  Dare you neglect it?

Early in my career as a store owner we were doing ok.  However, larger, older and better financed competitors still were getting the lion’s market share in our area.  So what did I do?  I got help from those who knew what I didn’t in the marketing realm.  Coaching and developing a marketing mindset is what set our store on fire!

While so many retailers concentrated on brand building otherwise known as “Image Marketing”, I started learning about “Direct Response” marketing.  After putting direct response principles in place, I noticed an uptick in sales the very first month.  Therefore, I started crafting more offers, writing better headlines that would elicit a “Direct Response” to my marketing efforts.

You’ll discover as I did that building your in house mailing list is the center post that you build your marketing efforts on and everything else should follow and connect to it after that.  Here’s a marketing tip you shouldn’t ignore…with direct mail, postcards, etc…your client has to at least look at it.  If you do your job well in crafting a good offer, they’ll do more than just look!

Let me give you one more tip about direct response marketing.  The next time you go to your mailbox, carefully look at the offers being made to you from other businesses.  The best direct marketing minds in the world craft offers every day and send them to you.  So before you throw it away…look at the headlines, the offers, coupons and subscriptions they send you to see how you might use them in your operation.

Quit building a brand for someone else…if you create the right offers and store traffic, you’ll build your own brand in the minds of your customers.  When you develop the “Marketing Mindset” using sound direct response marketing principles, you’ll beat the “Image Marketers” every time!