Capitalising on the festive season

You have to agree that December is the easiest moth to close sales. Customers are so eager to buy, almost anyone could sell to them – and that’s the problem.

Sales assistants are not motivated and too often do not try to use creative sales techniques to increase their sales. Why make the effort? There are two main reasons. One is there is no supervision or training from the owner or manager; the second, there is no financial incentive. Why should salespeople bother?

The result? They encourage order taking, meaning ask customers what they want, write it up and say, ‘Have a nice day’. This is crunch time and jewellers should not wait until January to look at your comparative December sales figures. By then it’s too late.

Look now, at the past three years to compare and see if there were increases. If there were none, then you lost money, because you did not keep up with inflation. You needed a good plumber to stop the sales leaks. Why? Customers are in the mood to buy more, especially during the holidays, but are brushed off with, ‘Have a nice day’. The sales assistant couldn’t wait to get to the next customer because he felt that he was a sure thing. Some think, why wait to take the time to create an additional sale? However, when I ask my students which sale takes longer to close, the first sale or the add-on, they all answer it was the add-on sale and they realised they should pay more attention to it.

If this sounds familiar, let me tell you what you are missing. I have lost track of the number of times sales assistants have told me they made up to 15 sales to a customer when they suggested: “Why not do all of your Christmas shopping here? Your friends and family will keep what you select forever, compared to anything else you give.” You will be surprised how many extra sales are closed and how much your customers appreciate your suggestion.

What about your most expensive jewellery? If your sales staff do not voluntarily show it in December then when do they? If you do not believe me then go through this reality check before your store opens. Get your three most expensive pieces of jewellery and place them on the counter and ask your salespeople: “When was the last time any of you voluntarily showed any of these?” Emphasise: ‘voluntarily’. Don’t be surprised if you get a zero.

The reason is that they had no sales training on how to romanticise those pieces of jewellery to create desire so their customers will want to see them. They were left to do the one thing you do not want them to do: prejudging their customers. They would only show that jewellery to someone they were sure could afford it, or have asked to see it.

Here is another winner, but when I recommend this to jewellers their answer is: “Leonard, are you nuts, in December?” No, I am not. You are. Volunteer to clean and check your customers’ diamond jewellery. I know you are busy, but so what? Loosen up your pocket book and hire someone that your salespeople can signal to come out on the sales floor and give the rings to them to be cleaned and checked.

Think of the surprise to your customer when they get their diamond ring back sparkling like new. They are so appreciative they almost feel obligated to buy. This is called real service because it was volunteered. Some jewellers rarely volunteer to clean customer’s rings the rest of the year. Customers have to ask them. When customers have to ask that is not service, that’s a courtesy. Volunteering any service is a big plus because they have raised their selling standards so high they make their competition look less. Raising your standards is the best way to get great word-of-mouth advertising and make your competition look inferior without saying anything.

What else can that extra person you hired do? They can answer the phone to take calls so your customers do not receive voicemails or worse yet interrupt a salesperson during a sale. Most jewellers have no idea what a turn-off it is to their customers when they reach a voicemail instead of a human being.

Jewellery is the most emotional product ever sold. Nothing equals it. If a customer calls to find out about their diamond ring and gets a voice message, or worse yet a busy signal, it implies the jeweller is too cheap to put in an extra telephone line or hire a person to answer their call. This is why the investment in that extra person will more than pay for itself.

What about that financial incentive? I wrote about this previously in Jewellery Focus, a piece called ‘Rewarding Your Over Achievers’. Everyone needs a carrot and if you want to see increased sales, pay your salespeople a meaningful level of commission. After all, owners get a piece of every sale, why not your salespeople? They are on the front line, doing the selling. Reward them and you will reward yourself.

There you have it, four proven sales and management ideas that make good sense, will increase your sales and add to your good reputation. Get started now and get on the phone and hire that person and make sure they are cheerful. Customers want to hear a smile on the phone.

Train your salespeople how to make those add­-on sales and show them how to show your most expensive jewellery. This is an easy way to increase your sales this December and better yet, the rest of the year.

By Leonard Zell. This article first appeared in the December 2015 issue of Jewellery Focus