Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Jeweler brings Midwest to the Southwest
    Tara Fine Jewelry: Atlanta’s not-so-secret, best-kept secret
    Finding the Big Ones; Zambian Trophies for the Ages
    The Golden Girls of Gemstones
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Education, networking, hospitality featured at Spring Atlanta Jewelry Show
    Designer Brenda Smith announces new Black ’n Gold ’n Diamonds Collection
    JBT-logo-cover
    Richard Katz, Richline Group appointed Chairman of The Jewelers Board of Trade®
    Alan Revere
    AJDC elects Alan Revere as President
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    Is the customer always right?
    Successful Custom: Stressing the bench jeweler
    The Story Behind the Stone: Diamonds on Pins and Needles
    Jewelry Marketing Survival Guide
    The Story Behind the Stone: Out of the Blue
    What’s Hot Now!: Latest Designer Trends 2023
    A Winning Strategy: How SEO and buying intent can skyrocket your sales
    business people shaking hands
    Networking for small business owners
    Is the customer always right?
    Successful Custom: A Clean Disaster
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Jeweler brings Midwest to the Southwest
    Tara Fine Jewelry: Atlanta’s not-so-secret, best-kept secret
    Finding the Big Ones; Zambian Trophies for the Ages
    The Golden Girls of Gemstones
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    Education, networking, hospitality featured at Spring Atlanta Jewelry Show
    Designer Brenda Smith announces new Black ’n Gold ’n Diamonds Collection
    JBT-logo-cover
    Richard Katz, Richline Group appointed Chairman of The Jewelers Board of Trade®
    Alan Revere
    AJDC elects Alan Revere as President
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
    Is the customer always right?
    Successful Custom: Stressing the bench jeweler
    The Story Behind the Stone: Diamonds on Pins and Needles
    Jewelry Marketing Survival Guide
    The Story Behind the Stone: Out of the Blue
    What’s Hot Now!: Latest Designer Trends 2023
    A Winning Strategy: How SEO and buying intent can skyrocket your sales
    business people shaking hands
    Networking for small business owners
    Is the customer always right?
    Successful Custom: A Clean Disaster
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Columnists

Has your business had its annual servicing?

David Brown by David Brown
October 31, 2012
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Reading Time: 5 minutes

No, you haven’t got your jewelry publications mixed up with your favorite car magazine! There are a lot of similarities between your vehicle and your business… both have a responsibility to get you from point A to point B, and both are only effective if you show them proper care and attention.

1. Make sure you’re running on the right fuel. In the same way that your car needs to have the right resources put in if it’s going to perform properly, your business is exactly the same. The wrong inventory is not going to give you the right business. If your target market are engagement couples and your store looks like a grandfather clock factory, you’re probably giving out the wrong message!

2. Get those tires rotated. Not wearing your tires evenly can lead to excessive wear and tear and a greater expense on new ones. The same can be true of your staff. Not that you need to rotate them, but making sure they are enjoying their work and are getting new challenges will ensure that they stay around and keep being productive. Wages are not the number one reason for staff to leave. Often it’s because they feel underappreciated or are lacking a challenge. You don’t want the extra cost of new tires before they are due, and you don’t want the high cost of staff turnover to become an issue either.

3. Change the oil regularly. Are you moving old items on? Or, does your staff find themselves cleaning the same pieces they cleaned last year and the year before? Old dirty inventory items will clog the engine of your business and stop sales from happening. It’s noble to claim that you don’t have a sale or offer discount, but it doesn’t lead to your business being maximized. A regular change is healthy and normal.

4. Recharge the battery. You need fresh energy regularly to jump start your business. The energy to get the engine moving comes from you. Make sure you stay fresh and take the time out for yourself that you need. Working a 7 day week leads to errors and inefficiencies. If your business is that dependent on you, then you don’t have a business… you have a millstone.

5. Use the antifreeze when you need it. In the same way that a motor needs help during the tougher months of the year, so will your business. You will always have quiet periods come along. How you deal with them is the key issue. Have plans in place for when things are quiet. Know what promotions you can rely on to bring people in. Have ways of cutting your overhead you can implement to get you through these quieter periods.

6. Brake gently and accelerate slowly. Don’t get caught making reactive decisions. In the same way that a good driver will see the traffic 3 cars ahead you need to see potential quiet periods before they come. Likewise, when things pick up again be ready to add to your inventory – a sudden acceleration of product can be tough on cash flow.

7. Have your best driver behind the wheel. Your top salespeople will get the maximum performance from the business. Make sure they are in position to deal with the crucial sales. The rest of the team should function like mechanics, getting everything ready to maximize their results.

8. Tighten the nuts and bolts. Prevention is always better than cure. Don’t leave things to get out of hand before you deal with them, particularly issues with staff and basic store maintenance. A little preparation and planning can go a long way.

9. Don’t forget to clean the windows. Getting anywhere on a journey is all about visibility. You need to make sure you can see where you are going. Take the time to step back and look at the bigger picture of where your business journey is headed.

David Brown is President of the Edge Retail Academy, an organization devoted to the ongoing measurement and growth of jewelry store performance and profitability. For further information about the Academy’s management mentoring and industry benchmarking reports, contact inquiries@edgeretailacademy.com or call 877-569-8657.

David Brown

David Brown

David Brown is the President of The Edge Retail Academy (sister company of The Edge), a jewelry business consulting company that provides expert advisory services to help with all facets of your business including improved financials, healthier inventory, sales growth, staff performance, retirement/succession planning - all custom-tailored to your store’s needs. By utilizing the power of The Edge, we analyze Key Performance Indicators that point to current challenges and future opportunities. Edge Pulse is the ideal add-on to better understand critical sales data and industry market trends to improve profitability. It benchmarks your store against 1200+ other Edge Users and ensures you stay on top of industry stats. 877-569-8657, ext. 001, Inquiries@EdgeRetailAcademy.com or www.EdgeRetailAcademy.com.

Related Posts

Is the customer always right?

Successful Custom: Stressing the bench jeweler

March 27, 2023

The Story Behind the Stone: Diamonds on Pins and Needles

March 20, 2023

Jewelry Marketing Survival Guide

March 15, 2023

The Story Behind the Stone: Out of the Blue

March 15, 2023

Latest News

Industry Events

Education, networking, hospitality featured at Spring Atlanta Jewelry Show

March 27, 2023
Columnists

Successful Custom: Stressing the bench jeweler

March 27, 2023
What's New

Designer Brenda Smith announces new Black ’n Gold ’n Diamonds Collection

March 27, 2023

Other News

Richard Katz, Richline Group appointed Chairman of The Jewelers Board of Trade®

AJDC elects Alan Revere as President

Kingswood Company President and CEO Kristie Nicolosi inducted into Private Label Industry Hall of Fame

Hardrock Summit to return to Denver in September 2023

Iconic Jewelry Firms is theme of ASJRA’s 18th annual Conference

DMIA members meet-and-greet and hear updates from GIA, NDC

Southern Jewelry News

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.

Additional Information

  • About
  • 2023 Jewelry Trade Shows & Events
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Sitemap
  • Newsletter Signup

Get Social with Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured Articles
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Supplier Spotlight
    • Sponsored Content
  • Latest News
    • What’s New
    • Industry Events
    • Tradeshow News
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Furry Friends
  • Podcast
  • Columnists
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription

© 2022 Southern Jewelry News.