Want Customers to Buy More? Then Sell ‘Em More

Jewelers should not be afraid to reach out to existing customers at least five times a year, Jim Ackerman writes.

Jim Ackerman is a retail jewelry marketing expert who has spoken to jewelry retailers at JA New York, JCK, The Smart Jewelry Show and others.

If you want your customers to be more loyal to you, to make you “their” jeweler, to stay off the Internet, to eschew all competitors in favor you and you alone … sell to them more.

The vast majority of jewelers are overly concerned with the wrong end of the equation.

They’re afraid to approach their clients often about buying from them because they’re afraid of being offensive, of coming off too “salesy” or pushy.

In the process of being too careful, however, they actually wind up neglecting their existing clients, unintentionally sending them the message, “we really just don’t care about you that much.”

Colossal mistake.

Remember, although you might become friends with some of your clients, the only real reason you have a relationship with them, from their perspective, is so they can get their jewelry and jewelry services from you.

Remember, too, that the only real reason you have a relationship with them, from your perspective, is to sell them jewelry and jewelry services.

When you inadvertently send the “we don’t care” message through neglect, well, where is the “relationship” in that? Why should they be loyal to you and you only? Why shouldn’t they check out other options?

When they only hear from you at the holidays, you can’t reasonably expect them to think of you as “their” jeweler.

Look, you have a minimum of five annual opportunities to invite your clients to do business with you. They are as follows:
-- Birthday;
-- Anniversary;
-- Valentine’s Day;
-- Mother’s Day; and
-- Christmas.

Any fewer than these five opportunities to invite them to do business with you is practically inexcusable.

But these should not be considered the only times to reach out and solicit their business. You may have other in-store events, annual promotions, special buys, trunk shows, gemstone roundtables and more.

They simply will not be bothered by your invitations to do more business with you. If they’re not in the market, they just won’t come. But you’ll still be reinforcing the relationship with them, in the very act of informing them and inviting them.

“When (customers) only hear from you at the holidays, you can’t reasonably expect them to think of you as ‘their’ jeweler.”

And now, remaining in contact with your clients is easier and less expensive than ever.

Email and the social media are all but free, of course, but text messaging and robo calls (executed correctly) can be

Banner will be right here …

remarkably effective and feel intimately personal at the same time.

Also, do not forget that old standby, direct mail.

While mailed solicitations used to be considered junk and clutter, the shift to digital communications, mega-overflowing inboxes on email servers, and the resulting reduction in “snail mail,” research indicates that consumers are now, once again, appreciating their business mail.

It must be executed elegantly, of course, but direct mail can bring remarkable results. Let’s face it, unlike a whole lot of your email, just about every piece of snail mail that comes to your door at least gets a glance.

The most successful jewelers are reaching out to their clients at least monthly, some as often as weekly. It’s done in a mix of all the media suggested here, but the cumulative effect is what counts.

When you are consistently communicating with your existing clients, telling them why they should do business with you and asking them to do business with you, three important things happen.

1. They will, in fact, buy more frequently, so you’ll make more money.

2. They will feel better about their relationship with you, recognizing your attempts to take care of them as a gift and invoking their human desire to reciprocate, thereby locking in the rock-solid loyalty you’re looking for.

3. You’ll be programming and pre-programming them for how to do business with you going forward. This is also something they will appreciate.

Will this level of frequency of contact and solicitation turn off some clients; might you actually lose some clients because of it? Possibly.

But the number will be remarkably small, and will be gratifyingly offset by vast majority of happy, programmed-to-buy clients you have and the tens--and perhaps hundreds--of thousands of dollars in increased sales and profits you will enjoy. It’s not a bad consolation prize for the few who may say adieu.

Jim Ackerman is a retail jewelry marketing expert who has spoken at JA New York, JCK, The Smart Jewelry Show and others. He is offering National Jeweler readers a complimentary Marketing Fitness Check-up. He can be reached at 800-584-7585, ext. 3 or by email at mail@ascendmarketing.com, and his jeweler’s website is JewelersMarketingGems.com.

Jim Ackermanis a retail jewelry marketing expert who has spoken at JA New York, JCK and other jewelry trade shows.