WHEN MARY TODD-MCGINNIS, a Ben Bridge Jewelers vice-president, caught a glimpse in a trade magazine of an opal ring designed by Niveet Nagpal, president and head designer of Omi Privé, she was struck by its beauty and got on the phone immediately. This, despite the fact she’s not a buyer for the flagship store in El Paso, TX.
First, she asked the store’s sales associates if they thought they had a customer for this distinctive piece. When they enthusiastically said yes, she called Omi Privé. Although the wholesale company was on its way to exhibit in Las Vegas, she convinced them to send it to her and if it didn’t sell immediately, she’d return it in time for the show.
Ring in hand days later, a sales associate called an opal-loving customer, who had never spent more than $800 on a piece of jewelry before. But she was so entranced by this one-of-a-kind opal ring that she wrote a check for $16,000 on the spot.
“It struck me that you don’t always know what you need before you see it,” Todd-McGinnis says. “As jewelers, our job is to create those wants and needs.”
Before long, she invited Nagpal, who has won multiple prestigious jewelry-design awards, to preside over two-day Omi Privé trunk shows at the store. The magic continued. Now he appears regularly and has developed close relationships with many of the store’s best customers, who have suddenly developed unprecedented deep pockets.
Todd-McGinnis realized that she needed to build excitement and create events to drive traffic into the store, which is in a strip mall. The trunk show was called “Night With Niveet,” and Nagpal quickly became a rock star of gemology and jewelry design in El Paso.
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“He has become quite a celebrity among our cadre of customers who attend,” she says. “They want to hear about how he acquired a certain gemstone. They get one-on-one time with him and with our sales associates, and with me. And we talk about the craftsmanship involved. It builds the value of the pieces.”
Nagpal stays in touch with his El Paso “groupies” by text and phone at all hours and knows what’s going on in their lives. “It’s not just a business transaction. There’s an emotional connection,” he says.
There’s lore and legend associated with the events. One customer, who had a bit too much to drink, loved the jewelry so much that she almost left the store with about a million dollars worth of rings on her fingers. But eight months later, she bought her first Niveet original.
Nagpal even made a pendant to commemorate a husband and two cats. The customer originally wanted the ashes of her loved ones made into a diamond. But once Nagpal suggested incorporating the couple’s wedding bands into a pendant designed around a colored gemstone he chose for her — with symbolism that honored both cats and husband — she was happy to change her plans.
Nagpal said the relationship he has been able to develop directly with consumers drives sales for the store. Before attending a “Night With Niveet,” none of these customers had ever spent more than $5,000 for a piece of jewelry. Now, inspired by their friendship with a rock-star designer, they regularly spend $20,000 to $40,000. One sale was over $100,000.
Their attitude about buying jewelry has completely changed.
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“Usually, they would come shopping for a gift or occasion with a number in mind,” Nagpal says. “But once they begin to understand the value and the rarity of the pieces, it becomes a very personal thing. It changes their mind-set. It’s more about what speaks to them, a custom piece, a gemstone, a piece already made. It’s an emotional attachment.”
His success working with customers in El Paso is based on communication, trust, honesty, and a great working relationship with the store.
Scenes from “Night With Niveet” at Ben Bridge Jewelers.
