If you see or suspect any suspicious activity – always alert show organizers, security and any onsite law enforcement.

Personal Safety

• Only wear badges on the show floor and at events organized by the trade show operator as well as at private events related to the show. Always remove your badge when leaving the show floor and events.
• Don’t advertise your exact location, room number or anything that could compromise your safety.
• Always avoid keeping your hotel key card inside the hotel-provided envelope that displays your room number. Losing or misplacing the card and envelope together could potentially grant someone immediate entry to your room.
• Don’t share that you work with high-valuable merchandise especially to strangers such as service workers, other hotel guests or staff, taxi drivers, etc.
• Even if you are not carrying or wearing merchandise, be cautious about carrying any swag or marketing collateral that could make it obvious for a criminal that you work with jewelry or other high value merchandise.
• Be on alert when returning to your hotel room that you are not being followed. If you feel unsafe, contact hotel security immediately.

Exhibitor Precautions

• Be aware of your inventory values and assure that you are carrying sufficient insurance limits for your business at the show.
• Despite the hustle and bustle, always be alert and follow security procedures when transporting jewelry to and from your booth.
• Always ship high valuable product through armored services.
• Don’t assume that just because there is trade show security, you’re protected from theft. Anyone in charge of the booth is also in charge of security. Make sure all members of your staff understand that part of their role is being vigilant to ensure the booth and products stay secure.
• Make sure your booth is properly staffed during show hours.
• Keep valuables in locked showcases. Keep the keys in a secure spot, and never leave keys on a counter or in a place they could easily be snatched.
• For high value pieces show only one at a time and inspect every piece before returning to the showcase.
• Keep jewelry trays and displays fully stocked so it is easy to identify if a piece is missing.
• If possible, utilize safes and guarded storage areas.
• Don’t leave personal items, electronics and other valuables in booth overnight.
• Only show product to attendees that have identified themselves and businesses, especially if they are wearing a mask or face covering. It’s wise to ask for identification and also take a picture of the badge or use the QR scanner, if available. This also helps with sales follow up in addition to security.
• If an attendee is not wearing a badge on the show floor, report it immediately to show organizers or security.
• Be vigilant for signs that someone is casing your booth to commit theft, e.g., a visitor without visible badge credentials, who fidgets, avoids eye contact, wears a large hat or face coverings or seems like they are trying to distract you.
• Review your internal plan for potential thefts. Make sure all employees know a predetermined phrase that alerts them to a potential threat without alarming customers.
• Employees should know the proper steps to take when the code phrase is used. Practice this before and during the trade show events.
• Never show product in an unsecured location like a hotel room or public place during a business meeting.

For additional Loss Control tips, visit BerkleyAssetPro.com/LossPrevention.

If you have questions, please contact Berkley Asset Protection: 212-922-0659 or marketing@berkleyassetpro.com.

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We’re betting you have. That’s why we’re bringing together Kate Peterson, Sherry Smith, Jimmy DeGroot and Megan Crabtree to conduct a one-day workshop at The INSTORE Show in August, which includes hands-on teaching and feedback for each participant. We’re calling it The Brain Trust Workshop. And you can attend for less than $700 (assuming you register quickly — the workshop is limited to 64 participants).

I hope you’re as excited about this concept as I am. When we began brainstorming about The INSTORE Show last summer, we asked ourselves the question, “How can we do something at this show that’s never been done in the jewelry industry?” After all, INSTORE’s original SMART Jewelry Show had innovations like The Bench Pressure Challenge. We wanted to match that level of coolness but also do something that only INSTORE could really pull off … and something that our readers could profit from in a big way. If you’re free on Aug. 12 for a business-changing experience, you can reap the benefits.

If you haven’t registered yet, now’s the time! You’ll also enjoy networking opportunities and an exhibitor list featuring the top wholesalers in the jewelry business. Register at theinstoreshow.com today, and we’ll see you in Chicago!

Trace Shelton

Editor-in-Chief, INSTORE
trace@smartworkmedia.com

The post Want to Jumpstart Your Business Growth? Register for The Brain Trust Workshop appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Marketing and sales automation are the use of technology to automate marketing and selling tasks, using customer journeys and data for heightened relevance.

The most effective tools for marketing and sales automation are CRM systems like HubSpot and Keap. Here is an example of an automated marketing and sales workflow.

TRIGGER: A visitor submits a form asking to be added to your email marketing list or requesting to download an e-book about building a jewelry wardrobe.
ACTION: The visitor’s information is checked against the CRM database. If this is a contact that has been identified as a high-net-worth (HNW) prospect, the contact is delivered to a salesperson for follow-up.
ACTION: If the visitor has not been identified as a HNW prospect, the request is fulfilled and the visitor is added to an email drip campaign that delivers three introductory emails over the next two weeks.
ACTION: The visitor is added to a retargeting campaign that displays targeted ads to them across social media and news feeds.
ACTION: Following the introductory campaign, the visitor is added to a nurturing campaign that delivers relevant content and offers to them for the next four months.

TRIGGER: The visitor opens an email from the drip campaign.
ACTION: The visitor’s lead score is increased, indicating a higher level of interest.
ACTION: When a lead score reaches a pre-determined value, the lead is assigned as a task to a salesperson to follow up personally.
ACTION: The visitor is added to a sales follow-up campaign that includes a series of emails and phone calls from a sales representative. The emails include a meeting link to book a private consultation.

TRIGGER: The visitor schedules a consultation.
ACTION: The visitor’s lead score is increased, indicating a higher likelihood of conversion.

TRIGGER: The visitor places an order following the consultation.
ACTION: The visitor is added to a customer onboarding campaign that delivers helpful resources.
ACTION: An email is sent at 14 days post-purchase asking the customer if they are satisfied and requesting that they provide a testimonial.

TRIGGER: A testimonial is provided by the new client.
ACTION: The testimonial is automatically fed to both Google and Facebook, while simultaneously being queued for display on the website.

As you can see, the system handles repetitive tasks that would have otherwise been done by a human. Automation systems can track, respond to, and score volumes of individual transactions in a way that store personnel do not have time (or will not remember) to do.

The post Here’s How Automated Marketing Can Help You Close More Sales appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

The 2023 champs bring fresh ideas to jewelry design, as well as some of the most gorgeous gem and precious metal combos you’ve ever laid eyes on. A total of 246 entries and three new categories offer plenty to gaze at for any jewelry lover. If you can’t get excited about this level of creativity and eye for colors and shapes, you probably shouldn’t be in this business.

While working on this issue, I also received a surprising phone call from sales guru Shane Decker saying that he wanted to write columns for us again. It took me all of a half-second to answer “Yes!” Shane is the all-time leading sales trainer in this industry for good reason, and we’ll take all of his wisdom that we can get.

Lastly, I would be remiss not to honor our colleague Kate Peterson here. Kate was taken from this world too soon by a house fire in April, and we mourn her loss along with the rest of the industry. Please take a moment to read our special edition of The Real Deal — a section that Kate wrote for INSTORE for 20-plus years — as our readers pour out their heartfelt condolences and fond memories of Kate.

Trace Shelton

Editor-in-Chief, INSTORE
trace@smartworkmedia.com

The post In This Issue, We Honor New Champions, Welcome Back an Old Friend and Mourn Another appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

The second client was one who we’ve been working with for a few months. Started with a watch battery, which led to multiple watch repairs, which led to a diamond necklace for his wife’s birthday. He came in to pay a few hundred dollars at a time over the course of a couple of months.

He sent me a text the day that he was coming to pick it up asking to have it boxed and ready; he was bringing his wife in for a surprise. They sat down at a desk, I brought out our gift box with our special Husar blue bag, and she couldn’t believe the box was for her. She opened it and cried, thanking her husband profusely. Even more than I wanted that diamond sale, my guest wanted not only a special something for his wife, but a special moment with his wife.

We seem to be conditioned as salespeople to think that the sales process is something we do TO people, not FOR people. The shift in mindset is powerful. Those of us in retail are lucky if customers come to see us: Most of the time, they already want something, and a want is a problem waiting to be solved.

More than you want the sale, your customer wants their problem solved. We must stop thinking about the sale as ours to have, but rather, a customer’s problem that needs solving.

Next time you’re with a client and you’re trying to pull out all the closes you’ve memorized over the years, you must begin with the idea that your client is better off to buy than not to buy.

Don’t sell it for yourself because you want the sale. Sell it because it will solve the client’s problem and leave them better off for having made a purchase with you.

The post How a New Mindset Could Help You Close More Sales and Make More Clients Happy appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

To begin with, your entire team must understand the risks involved in all money transactions. In most bad deals, we all add one ingredient: our own greed and hunger to make a sale.

The “forced” or “offline” transaction is pretty basic. The Bad Guy comes in to make a purchase (usually a large one), and the card may get declined at first or you can’t get a good chip read. The Bad Guy may act like they are on the phone with their bank to let them know they are making a purchase at your store.

They will often put you on the phone with “their bank.” They have you go into the menu on your credit card terminal to bypass your merchant processor. They will walk you through a forced or offline transaction. You may have to key in the card info or sometimes even swipe the info. Any authorization number will be accepted because it is not being looked at or processed by your processor — hence the name “forced” or “offline” transaction. Then a few weeks or even months later, you’ll get notification that you are getting a chargeback.

Rule of thumb: If you don’t get a clean chip read, you are at risk. You have to be able to prove you had a good, active credit card in your possession. Chip read is best, swipe is next best … an imprint and picture of the card follow far behind today. 99 percent of cards these days have a chip (not counting gift cards). Always think, “I need to do everything I can to prevent a chargeback.”

There is nothing wrong with asking to see ID. You can say your bank requires it for any transaction over whatever amount you set. We often make a copy or picture of the ID with the credit card. Make sure the name of cardholder on the credit card receipt matches the name on the ID.

Again, never let a customer hand you their phone to talk to the bank; never let the customer have you go through an abnormal procedure on your credit card terminal. If you can’t get a clean chip read, you are at risk. If you manually enter a credit card, you have no recourse on a chargeback. Never let anyone other than your own processor walk you through some abnormal procedure on your credit card terminal. Make sure your entire staff knows and understands this, and you’ll save yourself a lot of money and headaches later on.

The post Why The “Forced Transaction” Is an Unforced Error appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

This month, I want to talk about how to deliver a luxury presentation. The word “luxury” infers high quality. I don’t eat at fast food joints, but if I did, I wouldn’t have any expectations. But if you said, “Shane, take your wife to this high-end restaurant and order the main course, sides, dessert and wine for $500,” my expectations will go through the roof.

It’s amazing how price can raise the bar.

When you get 5-star reviews, they always talk about the experience they received first. Yes, they may mention what they bought, but the experience is always the main thing.

So to deliver a luxury presentation, the following actions need to happen every time. They take constant training and consistency.

• Smile.
• Have a positive attitude
• Use your presentation skills
• Be professional
• Give product and gemological knowledge when needed
• Give inventory and brand knowledge when needed
• Sell your store’s culture
• Ask relationship questions
• Ask selling-specific questions
• Make it all about the client
• Dress well
• Respect their time
• Understand the power, wealth and status of your client
• Be confident
• Know the nine “absolutes”
• Demonstrate knowledge of trends, fashion and diamond prices
• Understand high quality and high ticket items in all areas of the store
• Build integrity in your product
• Know everything about your “wow” pieces
• Know your client
• Follow up in a timely manner
• Use teamwork and T.O.s; team sell and be a servant seller
• Utilize professional closes
• Use proper vocabulary
• Respect all people coming in
• Listen closely
• Keep the sale private
• Sell with honor
• Be genuinely interested in all the client’s needs
• Becoming a personal business friend
• Do not pre-judge
• Be glad they came in
• Wow them in a big way before they go

Today, the experience is more important than the item purchased. How many of these bullet points are missing in your salespeople’s presentations? When the experience is awesome, people don’t shop anywhere else and they send in their friends. Clients retain 100% of how they’re treated. We remember where we’ll never go back and we remember where we’ll always go. Change your standards and become awesome all the time!

The post Follow These Steps to Deliver a Luxury Sales Presentation appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

Let me explain. When you size a ring, it takes about 20 minutes, and you charge for this service (say, $50). If you do even more work on it that takes another 20 minutes, shouldn’t you get another $50?

Has your jeweler ever sized a ring and stones became loose? Sure. Do they tighten them? Sure. Do you charge for that service? Most say no!

The customer says if you touch their jewelry and something happens, it’s your fault. Therefore, you should get extra money anytime you touch the jewelry.

If you take in jewelry for sizing or repair and it has four or fewer stones, you can tighten and guarantee stone tightness or loss at no charge. But if the ring has five to 20 stones, you should charge $35 to check and tighten the stones.

Many stores might charge extra only if the stones are loose, but you should charge extra just because there are stones that could become loose or fall out in the future.

My car insurance company has charged me $1,100 a year for the last five years and I haven’t had a single accident. Why charge me $1,100 when I didn’t cost them anything? So that when I do have a wreck, they never have to say, “It must have been your fault, we won’t pay.” Instead, they pay with a smile.

You should do the same thing. Here’s how to present it:

“Mrs. Jones, it’s only $85 to size your ring smaller. This includes our jeweler sizing your ring to fit, and you won’t notice where the work has been done. In addition, she will check all of the stones for tightness. If any stones are loose or become loose, we will make sure they are as snug as a bug when you pick it up. In addition, if during the next year the diamonds become loose, we’ll tighten them at no charge, and if you lose any, we’ll replace them for you at no charge. Furthermore, our jeweler will make your ring shine like the top of the Chrysler Building and it will be as pretty as the day your husband gave it to you. We can have it back to you on Friday.”

(I combined the price of $50 to size and $35 to check and tighten to make the money sound seamless.)

How much more money could you make if you earned $35 extra on every repair job of pieces with five stones or more? You do the math.

Quit giving customers such a hard time about whose fault it is that a stone fell out. Instead, do like my car insurance company: Guarantee it, take the money and treat them like a mensch.

The post Here’s Why You Should Charge $35 More on Certain Repairs appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

SVB, Credit Suisse and concerns around other financial institutions have resulted in a loss of confidence in holding money in deposit accounts, despite assurances being made by the federal government and Treasury that they will do whatever is necessary to bring calm to the market. Depositors have continued to withdraw funds from banks, and this is having an impact on lending for many financial institutions.

In the last two weeks of March, federal statistics showed a decline of over $105 billion in the amount of money lent by U.S. financial institutions — the largest decline recorded since records began in the 1970s. With credit being the largest contributor to the financial sector and growth of the economy, many pundits see this having an impact on economic growth in the coming months, particularly in sectors heavily dependent on borrowing. Banks need money if they are going to lend, and less money in means less money to go out. The reality is banking and the economy are as much dependent on confidence as they are on reality — the assurances of the Treasury Department are only as good as people’s faith in the government and the belief in the people who run it to have a firm grasp of the situation.

The media tend to focus on Wall Street, but this will play out on Main Street also, with smaller businesses likely to be impacted as well. If you are planning to be in the market for finance in the near future, or are intending to refinance your existing debt, it may be a good time to start this exercise. Money supply could become considerably tighter, and rates have yet to pause their increase, so locking in your interest rate might also give you more certainty. It’s certainly worth a conversation with your broker or bank manager to get a feel for how the market is playing out and whether the changing situation could put a constraint on cashflow over the balance of this year.

The post Here’s Why Now is a Good Time to Review Your Debts appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.

These processes consume most days. After a while, it begins to seem like the whole purpose of work is to create days with just the right balance … the right number of tasks to fit the number of hours and people available.

Which is when we begin to lose the throughline of our business.

A throughline is a concept normally applied to writing stories. The throughline is the thread that binds the story together. When you read a poorly constructed story, the first things you notice are events or details that don’t make sense, or that distract from the main point of the story. In a well-written story, each detail makes sense in the context of the whole and helps bring the story to life.

If your brand lacks a throughline, then all those processes are being done without a central theme binding them together. To the people experiencing your brand, everything will seem transactional. Pleasant? Sure. Satisfactory? Of course. But still transactional, because they will fail to be connected by a single, meaningful thread.

So how do you create a throughline for your business? It starts with your business culture.

Your business culture sets the tone for what you prioritize and how everyone in your organization communicates and behaves. What do you value, why do you value it, and how do you express those values? Most people think the story of a business starts with brand, but brands cannot be sustained without attaching them to intentional, nurtured cultures.

Your brand is where the throughline of your values turns into stories. It is how you weave the story of your values through everything every employee does.

As a brand ambassador for your business, ask yourself: “What do our culture and brand tell us about how the merchandise should be displayed? How do we answer the phone relative to our brand story? How does every surface in our store, from the floor to the ceiling, reflect our brand story? How to we treat customers according to our brand? What about our vendors and other community members? When customers listen to the way we communicate with each other, is that consistent with our brand story?”

If you’ve been focused on weaving your brand story through every social media post, blog, photograph, and web page, that’s good. But it’s not enough. Your business is literally a marketing machine, churning out messages from every surface, from the fixtures and flooring to the trays and display forms. The throughline of your brand story is conveyed in the sound bites of conversation among your employees and the clutter (or not) on the counter behind your register.

Take the collection of processes that make up each day and thoughtfully integrate them as part of your brand’s throughline. This is exactly what your customers are looking for, and the ultimate goal of marketing.

The post Why Everything You Do in Your Business Should Start with Your “Throughline” appeared first on INSTOREMAG.COM.