Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Corinth Jewelers opens fabulous standalone store
    Positive Outlook for Holiday Sales
    Riding the Wave with Essential Lab Grown Diamonds in a Changing Market
    Saban Onyx helps independent retail jewelers get fancy
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    JA members push for security, credit reform in D.C.
    Columbia Gem House opens raffle to support Sea Turtle Rehabilitation
    CD Peacock partners with Foster Love to support Chicago’s foster youth
    NDC and Lorraine Schwartz announce the 2023 Class of Emerging Designers
  • Podcast
    Episode 44 -John Carter, From Small Town to Big Dreams of Jack Lewis Jewelers
    Episode 44 -John Carter, From Small Town to Big Dreams of Jack Lewis Jewelers
    Dangers of Jewelry theft and how to prevent them 350
    Episode 43 -Kenny Mullins, Dangers of Jewelry Theft and How to Prevent Them
    Inside the Generational Legacy of David Douglas Diamonds
    Episode 42 -Doug Meadows, Inside the Generational Legacy of David Douglas Diamonds
    An-Inspiring-Tale-Behind-50-Years-of-Jewelry-Design-and-More
    Episode 41 -John Atencio, An Inspiring Tale Behind 50 Years of Jewelry Design and More
    Episode 39 -Brittany Jones,95 Years of Excellence and Legacy of JF Jones Jewelers
    Episode 40 -Brittany Jones,95 Years of Excellence and Legacy of JF Jones Jewelers
    The Rise of Luxury Handbag Trend in Jewelry Stores
    Episode 39 -Frederick Mannella, The Rise of Luxury Handbag Trend in Jewelry Stores
    Episode 38 – Kevin Patton, Gem-preneur Family Legacy of Pattons Fine Jewelry
    Episode 38 – Kevin Patton, Gem-preneur Family Legacy of Pattons Fine Jewelry
    Technology Meets Our Values
    Episode 37 – Kyle Bullock, Technology Meets Our Values
    A Pandemic-Born Success of Two Jewelry Visionaries
    Episode 36 – Brooke and Chase Brinson, A Pandemic-Born Success of Two Jewelry Visionaries
  • Columnists
    The Story Behind the Stone: Just Jewels
    Safeguarding High-Value Retailers: Unveiling the cyber risks and effective countermeasures
    4Cs of Diamonds? Here are the 4Cs of Jewelry Marketing to help you sell them
    Applied Marketing 101: The Next Big Thing
    Applied Marketing 101: The Asteroid Approaches
    The Story Behind the Stone: Oops there it is!
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    Cool New Things from the Atlanta Jewelry Show
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: It’s Springtime in September
    Barbiecore Bling! Are you in?
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • Digital Magazine
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archive
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
  • Featured
    • All
    • Featured
    • Featured Retailers
    • Retailer Roundtable
    • Sponsored Content
    • Supplier Spotlight
    Corinth Jewelers opens fabulous standalone store
    Positive Outlook for Holiday Sales
    Riding the Wave with Essential Lab Grown Diamonds in a Changing Market
    Saban Onyx helps independent retail jewelers get fancy
  • Latest News
    • All
    • COVID-19
    • Furry Friends
    • Industry Awards
    • Industry Events
    • NRF
    • On The Move
    • Other News
    • Tradeshow News
    • Video
    • What's New
    JA members push for security, credit reform in D.C.
    Columbia Gem House opens raffle to support Sea Turtle Rehabilitation
    CD Peacock partners with Foster Love to support Chicago’s foster youth
    NDC and Lorraine Schwartz announce the 2023 Class of Emerging Designers
  • Podcast
    Episode 44 -John Carter, From Small Town to Big Dreams of Jack Lewis Jewelers
    Episode 44 -John Carter, From Small Town to Big Dreams of Jack Lewis Jewelers
    Dangers of Jewelry theft and how to prevent them 350
    Episode 43 -Kenny Mullins, Dangers of Jewelry Theft and How to Prevent Them
    Inside the Generational Legacy of David Douglas Diamonds
    Episode 42 -Doug Meadows, Inside the Generational Legacy of David Douglas Diamonds
    An-Inspiring-Tale-Behind-50-Years-of-Jewelry-Design-and-More
    Episode 41 -John Atencio, An Inspiring Tale Behind 50 Years of Jewelry Design and More
    Episode 39 -Brittany Jones,95 Years of Excellence and Legacy of JF Jones Jewelers
    Episode 40 -Brittany Jones,95 Years of Excellence and Legacy of JF Jones Jewelers
    The Rise of Luxury Handbag Trend in Jewelry Stores
    Episode 39 -Frederick Mannella, The Rise of Luxury Handbag Trend in Jewelry Stores
    Episode 38 – Kevin Patton, Gem-preneur Family Legacy of Pattons Fine Jewelry
    Episode 38 – Kevin Patton, Gem-preneur Family Legacy of Pattons Fine Jewelry
    Technology Meets Our Values
    Episode 37 – Kyle Bullock, Technology Meets Our Values
    A Pandemic-Born Success of Two Jewelry Visionaries
    Episode 36 – Brooke and Chase Brinson, A Pandemic-Born Success of Two Jewelry Visionaries
  • Columnists
    The Story Behind the Stone: Just Jewels
    Safeguarding High-Value Retailers: Unveiling the cyber risks and effective countermeasures
    4Cs of Diamonds? Here are the 4Cs of Jewelry Marketing to help you sell them
    Applied Marketing 101: The Next Big Thing
    Applied Marketing 101: The Asteroid Approaches
    The Story Behind the Stone: Oops there it is!
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    Cool New Things from the Atlanta Jewelry Show
    Image of Chuck Koehler
    The Retailer’s Perspective: It’s Springtime in September
    Barbiecore Bling! Are you in?
  • Classifieds
  • Subscriptions
    • Newsletter Signup
    • Print Subscription
  • Digital Magazine
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archive
No Result
View All Result
Southern Jewelry News
No Result
View All Result
Home Columnists

It’s time you got Lazy

David Brown by David Brown
July 1, 2011
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Many of you will be familiar with the 4 quadrants style of management that has developed in the last twenty years or so. In this process it often talks about the 4 types of problems that a business has to deal with each day. They can generally be broken down into 4 categories:

  1. The urgent and unimportant
  2. The non urgent and unimportant
  3. The urgent and important
  4. The non urgent and important

We’ve found over the years that the most successful jewelers have been the one’s who have the greatest ability to avoid being caught up in the urgent but unimportant, and are able to concentrate their time in the non urgent and important.

Let’s give you an example of each type.

  1. Mrs. Smith brings in her watch for a battery and insists on speaking with the owner about getting a new strap fitted while it is being done.
  2. The marketing plan for the next 12 months needs to be completed.
  3. More rubbish bags are needed as you are down to the last three.
  4. The pricing tickets need to be completed for the sale starting tomorrow.

So how did you do matching them up? The urgent tasks are obviously Mrs. Smith and the sale tickets, but it would be fair to say that Mrs. Smith may fit into the category of unimportant (not to Mrs. Smith of course, but if you weren’t there to help her I’m sure she would be quite happy to deal with one of the staff) with the sales tickets being urgent and important.

The non urgent tasks are the rubbish bags (which are not important) and the marketing plan.

It’s at this point where many jewelers fall into a trap. Understandably every store wants to offer that personal service for their customers, that is the point of difference that the chains don’t offer. However, you need to do it in a way that you don’t finish up at your customers beck and call. Mrs. Smith’s strap is important; but not as important to you as getting your marketing plan prepared. It’s important you offer that special service to Mrs. Smith, but you must not compromise your business in the process – if you went out every time a Mrs. Smith asks to have her strap changed you would never get anything else done.

The urgent tasks, by their very urgency, tend to draw attention to themselves. The non urgent and unimportant are either not critical, or eventually become urgent and are dealt with. The great shame is the non urgent but important tasks that get left – such as preparing a marketing plan for the coming 12 months. The consequences of not completing these types of tasks are, on the surface, minimal, however their long term impact can often go unnoticed. Much like the frog that slowly boils to death when the heat gets turned up, these important areas can be neglected until it is too late.

Although these four types of tasks have been a relatively recent addition to management theory, the principles have been around for many years. The German Army over 100 years ago, used to divide it’s officers into 4 different types.

  1. The hard working and incompetent
  2. The lazy and incompetent
  3. The hard working and competent
  4. The lazy and competent

The first category were the most frightening and were effectively isolated. Their incompetence could result in loss of life, but because of their hard working nature they had the ability to cause even greater havoc than the lazy officer.

So which category did they prefer to promote? The German army sought to identify and promote the lazy and competent officer. They saw the laziness as a virtue as they realized a lazy yet competent officer would not waste time on matters that were of no consequence. These types of people had the ability to pinpoint the areas that got them the greatest results for the least effort – and they would conserve resources better as a result.

So take a lesson from the military handbook. Start practicing being lazy and force yourself to only work on those areas that will bring you the greatest results – the important but non urgent.

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 Carol Druan at carol@edgeretailacademy.com or 877-569-8657.

David Brown

David Brown

David Brown is the President of Edge Retail Academy, the leading jewelry business consulting and data aggregation firm, who provide expert business improvement plans, to help with all facets of your business including improved financials, healthier inventory, sales growth, increased staff performance, recruiting, and retirement/succession planning - all custom-tailored to your store’s needs. They offer Edge Pulse, to better understand critical sales and inventory data, to improve business profitability, benchmark your store against 1200+ other Edge Users, and ensure you stay on top of market trends with our $3 Billion+ of industry sales data. Contact David at 877-569-8657, ext. 001, Inquiries@EdgeRetailAcademy.com or www.EdgeRetailAcademy.com

Related Posts

The Story Behind the Stone: Just Jewels

October 1, 2023

Safeguarding High-Value Retailers: Unveiling the cyber risks and effective countermeasures

September 27, 2023

4Cs of Diamonds? Here are the 4Cs of Jewelry Marketing to help you sell them

September 25, 2023
Applied Marketing 101: The Next Big Thing

Applied Marketing 101: The Asteroid Approaches

September 18, 2023

Latest News

Other News

JA members push for security, credit reform in D.C.

October 2, 2023
Other News

Columbia Gem House opens raffle to support Sea Turtle Rehabilitation

October 2, 2023
On The Move

CD Peacock partners with Foster Love to support Chicago’s foster youth

October 2, 2023

Other News

NDC and Lorraine Schwartz announce the 2023 Class of Emerging Designers

Punchmark introduces new jewelry web technology features

GIA supports diamond traceability solutions

Corinth Jewelers opens fabulous standalone store

Positive Outlook for Holiday Sales

Riding the Wave with Essential Lab Grown Diamonds in a Changing Market

Southern Jewelry News

© 2023 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
  • DIGITAL MAGAZINE
    • Southern Jewelry News
    • Mid-America Jewelry News
    • Archives

© 2023 Southern Jewelry News.