Sell your higher end jewelry and gifts by daring to sell differently
An old gentleman lived alone. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love,
Papa
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.
There is more than one way to sell! Be aggressive and Dare To Do It Different with your marketing and selling!
When I opened my jewelry store I shopped my competition to discover how they sold. They all sold the same way and most are still doing it. The customer comes in, they ask, “Can I help you?” and if the customer happens not to say, “Just looking!” and tells the sales professionals or clerk what they are in the market for, the sales professional or clerk waits for the customer to point to a product, gets it out of the case and hopes the customer will buy it.
In our jewelry store we completely made the buying experience for the customer different than they experienced at our competitors’ stores. No matter what quality (price) item the customer was looking at we would first show them (by putting the jewelry on them) a more expensive piece (for example a bracelet) and we would challenge them by saying, “If I put this bracelet on your wrist you will never want to take it off.”
No more words were needed. They have now, if they were not there, moved into a higher range item. Oh sure, some would ask to put on a lower cost item, but we never took off the original margin maker. If they said they could not afford the more expensive item, we did our best to show them how they could. Very few times did the customer move down more than one or two price points.
Gain more referrals by daring to ask differently. I do not mean by having a program that offers them a cash or credit reward. Most sellers have them but don’t really use them. Are you and your staff really pushing the program? The referral program I see work best is simply asking your satisfied customers over and over again (5-6 times a year) for referrals. If you have built a relationship with them, it works. Even if you only ask every satisfied customer for a referral two times a year I am sure you will receive enough referrals to reduce your marketing costs.
There is a lot more than one way to sell.
Bob Janet – Sales consultant/trainer, speaker, author of “Join The Profit Club” combines 40 plus years as owner/operator of professional, retail, manufacturing and service businesses with his unique teaching and storytelling ability to motivate, educate and inspire business professionals of all levels and all industries for increased sales & profits. Contact Bob at 704-882-6100, or e-mail Bob@BobJanet.com.
