Gene the Jeweler

Gene the Jeweler’s ‘Free Range’ Employees Set Their Own Sales Goals

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Published

6 years ago

February 5, 2018

Jimmy DeGroot

EMPLOYEES NEED SOMETHING to shoot for — a guideline to let them know whether they’re succeeding. In a jewelry store, that’s often a sales goal.

Gene the Jeweler, the fictional character created by marketing specialist Jimmy DeGroot, lets his staff members set such goals themselves. Which is to say, there are no sales goals.

“That’s sort of the beauty of how I run this business,” Gene says in the video below. “Everyone has the freedom to go and be the best ‘them’ they can be.”

They’re basically free-range employees. Gene doesn’t want to impose his own definition of success on anyone else.

If the business adage “what you measure is what you get” is true, you have to wonder what’s in store for Gene’s business.

Gene the Jeweler’s ‘Free Range’ Employees Set Their Own Sales Goals

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Jimmy DeGroot

Jimmy DeGroot is a jewelry store manager who has been in the business for over 20 years. Now he spends his time training teams around the world at jewelrystoretraining.com and sharing marketing advice through his blog site at jewelrymarketingguy.com. Sign up for training videos here.

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Wilkerson: “They Feel Like Family”

Newton’s Jewelers in Fort Smith, Ark., was a true institution. But after being at the helm for most of his life, owner (and descendent of the original founder) Kelly Newton decided it was time to retire. He chose Wilkerson to handle the sale. “I’ve known the owners of Wilkerson for a long, long time. I felt at home with them,” he says. The final retirement sale was just a “blast” and the Wilkerson sales team made it so very simple and straightforward, says Newton. Would he recommend Wilkerson to others? Absolutely. “They’ve done incredible work,” says Newton. “They feel like family.”