Practicing the sales axiom of “listening more and talking less” does more than just sell jewelry. This common sales technique can also be the secret for writing a book. For Andy Koehn, co-owner of West Bend, Wisconsin-based Koehn & Koehn Jewelers, the recent release of his buying guide for engagement rings was mainly sourced by decades of helping average folks buying bridal jewelry.
“Material for the book was sourced from store experiences mostly,” says Andy. “Decades of helping real people. The Buy Like a Guy podcast helped shape it too. But most of it came from listening – really listening – to what guys were asking me day after day.”
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that guys need a little hand holding making one of the largest purchases in their lifetime. For decades more and more women have moved into the primary income-earning position in American households. And, with that earning power is control of the family purse.
Advertisements are geared mainly toward women as household decision makers from laundry detergents to washing machines – and everything in between. “In most advertising the average guy has been reduced to an affable dunce that needs help only a product or service can provide,” says Andy. “In the advertising world it seems men are only capable of buying three things on their own: trucks, fishing gear and on a good day his own blue jeans.”
Andy’s Buy Like a Guy podcast came to the rescue for men in 2022. Although Andy’s recent tome The Inappropriate Guide to Buying an Engagement Ring was mainly sourced from store sales presentations to customers, his podcasts were part of the source mix. Jewelry, diamonds and engagement rings currently dominate the 90-plus podcast episodes.
“Men need this [book] because the buying experience is often built for someone else,” says Andy. “They’re not being spoken to as men, just bombarded with opinions and data. Women appreciate the effort. One reviewer said, ‘I really wish my husband had read this book before proposing, bless his heart!’ That says a lot.”
Another key motivational factor to penning this book came from his sales staff. “More than one staffer said: ‘Can you write a book about how to buy diamonds?’” says Andy. “That’s where it started. But once I began writing I realized I wasn’t talking to my team. I was talking to guys. Good guys who want to get this right and just need someone in their corner.”
Instead of a water bottle, sponge and metal bucket, Andy has a 78-page book. In it is straight-talk advice on pretty much every aspect of the diamond engagement ring buying experience, from finances and saving for the purchase and timing, to mined versus lab-grown diamonds, diamond essentials along with advice on choosing the best precious metal.
The 4Cs of diamonds is a noteworthy sample in a book written with the male diamond-buying reader as the primary audience. For example, Andy’s “Diamond-to-Steak” conversion chart is topped with three columns: Diamond feature; Steak Equivalent; and What It Means. The 4Cs are explained in steak terminology starting with the diamond cut being the chef’s skill, color is beef grade, clarity is marbling distribution and carat is portion size.
This chapter on diamond essentials focuses on the 4Cs truism that cut is most important. “A master chef can make a good steak amazing. A bad chef can ruin Wagyu,” according to the book’s Diamond-to-Steak conversion chart. “Guys get this,” says Andy.
Chapter 2 of Andy’s book gives the reader fair warning that the book contains some “adult language” and “straight talk.” Andy added: “I’ve spent three decades in the jewelry business, and I’ve learned that sugar-coating advice doesn’t help anyone. So, I’m giving it to you straight – the same way I’d talk to a friend over a drink.”
Andy on the book’s title: “I was writing it and realized that some of the things I was writing would be considered inappropriate in today’s world. I started to sanitize it a little and then thought ‘screw it.’ I want to write closer to how I talk. Some may find it inappropriate, so be it. And that’s when the title was born.”
Released in April, Andy, his wife and store co-owner Jenn Koehn, along with their staff, are pleased with the spring rollout. The 78-page book has a Kindle price of $9.99 and the paperback cost is $16.99. Free copies to first takers have helped get the book in the hands of local customers. And, at press time, the “just lookers” are getting copies gratis. Consumer and customer responses to the book have been “solid,” says Andy.
Book purchasing info has a hover link on the Koehn & Koehn website. The Buy Like a Guy website has a book link, and social media platforms for the store, and store counter copies are getting the word out. But it’s not just a book for diamond customers.
Andy encourages fellow retail jewelers and their sales staff to use his book to help better understand male bridal jewelry buyers. This in turn could help sales staff sell more bridal jewelry. The source material for Andy’s book may also be used as fodder for morning set up meetings with sales staff.
And, Andy suggests adding business cards as an upgrade. “My wife Jenn purchased plastic windows so our sales staff can slide in their business cards for a professional sales and book presentation,” says Andy.
The Inappropriate Guide to Buying an Engagement Ring is available on Amazon.
