Some things to say to customers with silver repairs or custom
designs
I just had a jeweler ask me about how to handle a customer with a
silver ring sizing and another jeweler emailed me about a silver
custom letter pendant sale he lost.
The first jeweler had a customer bring a silver ring for sizing and
her response was “That’s more than I paid for the ring.”
The second jeweler quoted a lady for a silver pendant and silver
chain $150 and her response was the pendant should cost about $20
and the chain $50. The jeweler wasn’t worried about losing the sale,
he didn’t want it for such a cheap price.
The silver sizing jeweler has a laser welder and I suggested using
it in his sales pitch.
Here’s what I emailed the silver sizing jeweler
Here’s a short story to tell your customer with the silver ring “My
dad used to own a Cadillac and he was frugal.” The Caddy needed a
new alternator so he bought one on his own at Pep boys for $300. He
took it to his favorite car mechanic who charged him $150 to install
it. Wouldn’t you know it the alternator in my Honda died so I went
to Pep boys and got mine for my Honda for $75 and went to dad’s
mechanic. He wanted $150 to install my alternator too. I said to him
‘but the alternator only costs me $75 and that’s double to install
it for what it costs me.’
“He said to me”
“Boy, it takes 2 hours to install it in your dad’s caddy or in your
Honda and all I’m selling is time and expertise.”
“And so lady that’s all I’m selling to you today is time and
expertise. I personally have worked on jewelry valued at $100,000
plus and have been doing this for over 25 years. I might be over
qualified to size your silver ring but I promise you that you won’t
be able to see where it’s been sized and that’s because of my
expertise and my $25,000 laser welding machine. The laser welder is
perfectly made to size silver rings because it won’t harm the metal,
stones or the finish and you won’t see where it’s been sized. It
would be my pleasure to do this for you but it takes me longer to
size a silver ring than a gold ring. But if you do take it someplace
PLEASE make sure they size your ring with a laser machine or they
might ruin it (This puts fear in them).”
(Yes I know you can size a ring with a torch for those who don’t
have a laser machine)
I then posted this on Polygon (a jewelers network) and one jeweler
posted that whether he takes in a $75 jacket or a $350 jacket to be
dry cleaned they charge him the same amount.
Onto the silver pendant jeweler. This is what I’d say and I “assume”
he looked in catalogs where he could have ordered a silver letter
which would have been lower priced. That said…
"Mrs. Jones I agree with you 100%, it’s a lot. But as you can see
we’re not able to find what YOU want for a lower price. I had the
same exact problem a few years ago. In our bedroom we placed our TV
in a caddy-corner spot so we both could watch Jay Leno while lying
in bed at night. We went to IKEA and there were plenty of cabinets
to hold the TV with shelves below for our DVD collection for under
$250 but none were the right size NOR matched the color of our
bedroom furniture. So we had a cabinet guy build it for us for $700
and we absolutely love it. I cringed when he told me the price then
I got over it because it was exactly what we wanted and I have not
thought about the price until this moment.
Please allow me to make this just for you and you’ll love it forever
and you’ll think about the price one minute and then love it from
this day on."
As the jeweler told me “I didn’t get the job”, and he was not
worried about it. It’s impossible to sell 100% of everybody who
comes into the store for anything. Most jewelers worry about the 2
or 3 people out of 10 who say no to a custom job while over 75% of
showcase customers walk without buying. That’s a lot of leftover/non
sold inventory in the case! But that’s another story.
I’m sure you have your own stories of how and why you personally
paid more than you thought you would of for a purchase. Use those
stories with customers. Spend time being empathetic and exchange
stories why you paid more for something. At staff meetings have
everyone share one story openly o they can practice it openly so
they’ll be ready when the time comes.
Have a great season
David Geller
JewelerProfit.com