Making a Marketing Splash - Stuller

S T O R E S T R AT E G Y
custom jewelers have a unique business proposition
in their bench. The talents comprising this area
include metalsmiths, stone setters, engravers,
model makers, and designers, all providing
you with products and services that bring in
business, even in slow times. Touting this highprofit
center will increase traffic, sales and
recognition of your store as the jewelry source
in your community. Consider the ideas of these
savvy jewelers who love to boast about their bench:
1. Counter Chat — Susan Eisen of Susan Eisen Jewelry, with two
stores in El Paso, TX, loves to create custom jewelry designs and
her passion is to talk about it with everyone who visits her store.
“We love to take jewelry apart and put things together, remake,
modify, enlarge, reduce — it’s a lot of fun,” shares Eisen. “I like to
give customers lots of ideas. I keep many catalogues around and
love to do drawings to show them what is possible. Customers seem
appreciative when you take the time to explain how your services
can benefit them.”
2. Talk Tech — Many jewelers who make the investment to buy
a laser welder say that it pays for itself almost instantly. “When we
did cash flow projections, we discovered that this tool allowed us
to produce more work, therefore more volume. It’s one of our most
important profit centers,” touts Daniel Gordon, president of Samuel
Gordon Jewelers in Oklahoma City, OK. “Before laser welders, some
repairs simply could not be done. The laser welder has changed all of
that.” Gordon’s advertising sings the praises of lasers. “If you’ve got
one, you’ve got to talk about it! It will distinguish your store from
the competition.”
3. Host a Party — Designer T. Lee is a fan of gemstone
roundtables, something she learned in a seminar during the
AGTA Tucson Gem Fair and hosted in her Minneapolis, MN
gallery. “It has been an amazing event that exposes my customers
to a range of interesting gems that they can touch and play with,
store strategy
9 ways your bench
can bolster sales
generating tons of loose gem sales, and offering incentives for
custom work,” she explains. “This has become our best promotion.
The roundtables have added significantly to our bottom line.”
4. Push Personalization — Fine jewelers who boast custom services
have an advantage in closing sales by promoting personalization
options. “Often these details are subtle, like engraving initials and
hearts inside the shank or sculpting symbols into the gallery of a
ring such as treble clef to signify a client’s affinity with music,”
explains Lee Krombholz of Krombholz Jewelers, Cincinnati, OH.
“These elements elevate the piece to one-of-a-kind status. It often
makes the difference between someone buying from you or the guy
down the street.”
5. Engage the Experience — Wayne Werner of Wayne Werner
Designs, Havre de Grace, MD believes in involving his customers
in the custom experience. “I even had a woman, so amazed that
metal could be stretched, take a hammer and begin forging her
own piece. I feel the life force of the maker is something customers
want. It’s the connection that has been lost over the years. I love
that people think jewelry making is fascinating. They always have
a ton of questions. They get involved the moment they walk into
my studio.”
6. Create Converts — By offering options for adaptability, custom
jewelers can create simple add-on sales in earrings with detachable
drops, pendants that become brooches, or necklaces that break
down into bracelets. Eve Alfillé of Eve Alfillé Design Gallery in
Evanston, IL advises brides-to-be to take their diamond studs or
even ready-made earring jackets that she has in stock and create
detachable drops for the wedding day.
7. Instantly Gratify — Many custom jewelers advocate the instant
gratification a bench onsite can provide customers. Recently retired
jeweler Greg Christian of Sturgeon Bay, WI tells of how he would
offer engagement ring shoppers immediate satisfaction by simply
replacing the center crown on a semi mount. “I had couples who
would fell in love with a setting that takes a carat-size diamond, but
they could not afford a full carat. So, I would suggest they consider
three-quarters of a carat, by simply replacing the center crown in a
three-quarter carat size. I also applied the same concept to changing
the crown type in a preferred style from prong to semi-bezel. It’s a
simple task that emphasizes your flexibility.”
Flexing your muscle as a custom jeweler by pressing your bench
can cultivate steady business for the long haul.
roundtable demonstrations: Designer T. Lee
swears by their effectiveness with customers.
By Deborah A. Yonick
JULY 2007 www.stuller.com the stuller standard 13
Retail-July.pdf 12
5/30/07 1:24:44 PM