WE ALL KNOW the madness of attending the Las Vegas jewelry show, and no matter whether you are there for two days or eight days, it seems there is never enough time to accomplish everything you need to. Based on my years of experience as a buyer and a consultant to retail jewelers worldwide, I have compiled my top four tips to ensure that your trip to the Vegas Jewelry show is not only productive, but worth the time and money you invested in it.
Make the Most Out of Your Meetings
If you have multiple individuals from your establishment attending the show, such as owners, buyers, and management, I highly suggest you split up your team to tackle more appointments. One person can only see so many vendors in one day, so splitting up will allow your collective organization to see more vendors.
Aside from discussing the sell-through of the product and viewing the new styles launched at the show, don’t forget to discuss marketing. Whether you have an in-house employee handling marketing or it’s something the owner handles, the show is a great time to go over marketing details such as updating your in-store Duratrans images, discussing use of co-op dollars, or reviewing assets included in new marketing campaigns to ensure they’re up to date.
Schedule Time For Non-Vendor Appointments
While you may be extremely busy in Vegas, that doesn’t mean your day-to-day business operations have stopped. Do yourself and your staff a huge favor by allotting one hour, at the same time every day with management or your pre-determined contact, to go over daily numbers, customer complaints, and address any discussions that may be urgent and require your assistance.
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If you take my advice of having your management or buying team split up to tackle more appointments, be sure to set aside time with your team at the end of each day to summarize the day’s findings, appointments, and proposals. On many occasions, appointments are forgotten later due to the sheer volume of vendors you see, and this devoted time will help make sure everyone is filled in and accountable, able to brainstorm and compare proposals, and help organize whatever needs to be executed.
Don’t Be Shy: Network
While many vendors will offer to take you to dinners that you are unable to attend, everyone should be sure to attend as many as you can. They’re not just vendors; they’re your partners. Get to know them personally, have a cocktail, and enjoy! Also, to make the dinners even more productive, encourage the vendors to invite other retail partners of theirs that do similar volume as you or even more volume to hear out their successes. You might learn something that you can implement in your market.
Give Vendors the Time You Allotted For a Meeting
As a retailer, while you may have many appointments, vendors do as well, so respect the scheduled meeting time as much as possible. To stay on time, I recommend setting up calendar invites for each appointment with an alert 15 minutes before the appointment is scheduled to start. This way, you will know it is time to start wrapping up your appointment or scheduling an additional appointment if you need more time. Believe me, I get it! It is not easy to always be on time, and yes, meetings run over, but if they do, give the next vendor a courtesy text letting them know you’re running late.
