A PRESS RELEASE FROM Simon G called the brand’s booth at the SXSW Create & Cultivate event the “hottest stop at the conference.” The booth was an excellent example of best practice when it comes to doing a trunk show or pop-up, featuring an onsite henna artist, free jewelry cleaning, snacks, try-on jewelry and an “Instagrammable wall” as the backdrop. As the company noted, the experiential and social-media friendly elements showed a “historic brand pivoting to stay relevant with a new demographic.” Many jewelers could take a page out of their book.
Guilt Hours
Here’s something to experiment with in the coming slow months: A weekly Guilt Hour dedicated to nagging, uncompleted jobs. New York-based creative consultant Nick Jehlen explained the idea recently to lifehacker.com: “Every Wednesday at 10 a.m., we sit together and look at our task lists [and] identify the one thing we feel most guilty about not having done yet. Then we go around the table and name our One Guilty Task, and commit to spending the rest of Guilt Hour working on it.”
Word-of-Mouth Test
There’s no advertising force more powerful than word of mouth. Want to identify good candidates? Joe John Duran, author of Start It, Sell It And Make A Mint tells of a businessman who has a little test. He asks his customers if they know a good restaurant he can take his wife to. They can’t think of one? Probably not a good person to ask for referrals. They give you a name? There’s some potential. They tell you a restaurant, tell you to use their name while making the reservation, and check back later to see how much you enjoyed it? This is clearly somebody who feels good about helping people. And a great candidate to spread the word about your business.
Write a Missive
It’s summer; the days dawdle and customer traffic slows to a crawl. In the spirit of the times, try a slower approach, says Olympian Diamonds’ Aleah Arundale — like a personal letter to customers in your market that tells your story: “Hi, I’m your neighborhood jeweler, Jen. I grew up in this town with my three brothers and I want to give back to the community. Did you know I replace watch batteries for only $1?”
The 10/12 Rule
Move, liquidate, scrap, close out or repurpose. 10 percent of your oldest jewelry should be targeted for such action every month for 12 successive months and “you will be your own hero,” says Dennis Petimezas, owner of Watchmaker’s Diamonds & Jewelry, Johnstown, PA. “An old war-horse exec within the industry told me this six months ago. I’m doing it, and it feels good. I am seeing results already.”
Say These Three Magic Words
Trying to calm down during a bout of anxiety is usually futile. Instead, try saying: “I am excited.” Because anxiety and excitement are both arousal emotions and have similar symptoms, it’s easier to get from one to the other than to completely shift gears into calmness, writes The Atlantic, citing research at Harvard Business School.
Go Home After 50 hours
Here’s a sobering thought: If you work more than 50 hours a week, you’re probably not getting more done than someone who works significantly less. That was the conclusion of a study from Stanford University that found productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, “and drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working any more.”