On Running Your Shop: Old Spice Guy is Right: It Comes Down to Confidence

BY DAVID GELLER

Published in the February 2013 issue.

Repair prices are all about how you present them

Wouldn’t it be nice if getting money from jewelry repairs were as wonderfully guaranteed as getting the person of your dreams like in a perfume or cologne ad?

Well, I’m here to tell you that this easy-to-come-by success in the repair department may not be available in an expensive bottle, but it’s almost as simple as dabbing on some manly (or womanly) fragrance.

As with high school, the main issue is one of confidence.

If the ads were to be believed, with a few splashes of Old Spice or Brut, we would have the reassurance we needed to walk right up to the prettiest girl in school and say, “Hey Suzie, want to go to the show this Saturday? Great! Pick you up at 8!”

But when it comes to your repair department it really is almost that easy: “Hi Mrs. Jones. It’s only $245 to install a new half shank on your mother’s engagement ring. My best jeweler will do it for you. Great! We’ll have it ready in a week.”

Want to know why you’ll get the price for repairs you ask for 90 percent of the time?

Because repairs are not price sensitive they are trust sensitive.

This doesn’t mean you’ll get every potential job that comes in but typically 85-90 percent of repair customers will say yes.

Remember a few short years ago when gas was $2 a gallon? Now it’s $3.60 and up? Don’t like it, do you? Why does your gas station charge more? Because the price of oil has gone from $40 a barrel to $100 and every human knows it.

Why did a ring shank or lobster claw go up? Because the cost of gold went up and every human knows it. If they want it fixed they will get it done. Even with higher gold prices, shops doing custom are still busy.

Your objective is not to size every ring or replace every lobster claw in town. Your job is to have a profitable shop and to do that you must strive to bring in three times your costs.

So how do you splash on the “repair cologne?” Just say it. Ask for the money with confidence just like when asking the pretty girl or handsome guy to dance. As Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman, “It’s a sure thing,” it’ll happen for you.

The funny thing is as I talk to jewelers I find their success rate is 90 percent whether they charge $25 or $39 for a ring sizing. You choose which one to charge and it’ll happen. Because it’s about trust.

Set aside your fears about overcharging your customer. I know what the costs are and if you have QuickBooks set up like I suggest you’d be able to see if you are getting keystone overall. You expect keystone from the showroom, why shouldn’t you expect it from the shop? Besides, there’s a chance some work will have to be redone and your customer base must pay for that. You need the money.

So take a week and try raising your most common repair prices by $5 each Monday morning for a month, and see what happens at the end of four weeks.

What you’ll find is you’ll be dancing with the prettiest girl, the most handsome guy and there’ll be more than enough change in your pocket for soda pop and movies!

Just as the cologne and perfume commercials promised you.