SOME JEWELERS WILL make millions from lab-grown diamonds. Some by going all-in, some by refusing to sell them at all.
It’s the very brouhaha that spells opportunity for aggressive jewelers who take a stand early, one way or the other, to exploit the dispute and cash in.
If you want to make a boatload of money, be a catalyst for the debate. Go public in a big way for whichever position you advocate. If you sit on the sideline and “wait for the market to demand the product,” the parade will pass you by, and you’ll miss the windfall that could have come.
You can actually win by adopting any of three positions:
1. Become the lab-grown specialist in your market. Go all in and shout it from the rooftops and go public with all of the benefits of buying lab-grown diamonds that the average consumer knows little or nothing about at this point. Do that and you’ll have a torrent of intrigued customers flocking to your doors.
2. On the other hand, you may be able to do just as well by scorning lab-growns altogether. “We’ll never stoop to selling those assembly-line diamonds,” would be your cry, and you raise the alarm just as loudly about all the challenges they present the consumer. The pro-lab-grown consumers will desert you, but your high-brow, purist clients and prospects will reward you with their loyalty, their money and their referrals.
3. The third position is that of the fair broker. You take the middle ground but are just as aggressive in your advocacy. “Yes there are advantages and disadvantages of both lab-grown and natural diamonds. We’ll give you the straight scoop, and respect your adult ability to make the right decision for you.” This position probably doesn’t have quite the same “bigness” to its sales-generating potential. Middle of the road is mediocre. Extreme positions tend to render extreme results. But it is nonetheless a credible, reasonable and profitable position to take that can bring extraordinary results, if you market your position hot and heavy.
There will be jewelers in the same city who win by taking any of these positions. They’ll battle each other like crazy, head-to-head, and all three of them can win at the cash register.
Remember, some jewelers were scolded when they started buying gold, and warned that they’d be perceived as pawn shops. But many got rich doing it.
Same with Pandora. The sparkle is obviously off that bead now, but while it lasted, many jewelers who went all-in got rich.
I can’t predict how long either the controversy or the public’s appetite for lab-grown diamonds will last. Could be a blip; could be forever. But I can say that those who get in early and make the most noise will also make the most millions the soonest.