Gene the Jeweler

Please Don’t Train Your People the Way Gene the Jeweler Does

Which is basically not at all.

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Published

7 years ago

June 19, 2017

Jimmy DeGroot

IN THE VIDEO BELOW you’ll meet Gene the Jeweler, a creation of industry consultant Jimmy DeGroot.

Gene is likable and earnest, but he’s also a little, well, clueless. You should definitely try not to be a Gene.

In this episode, Gene is interviewed about how he trains his employees. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a lot to say on the topic — because he doesn’t offer any training. In fact, Gene mishears “train your employees” as “tame your employees,” and you start to wonder if that actually says something about the way he thinks!

And it soon becomes clear that Gene, who took over the business from his parents, isn’t doing so well. He’s doing everything in his business from accounting to cleaning to decorating, but he’s not seeing any growth.

The character is a parody, but for some jewelers, the underlying themes might hit close to home.

Maybe there’s something to this training thing after all?

Watch the video:

Please Don’t Train Your People the Way Gene the Jeweler Does

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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After almost 60 years in business, Breakiron Jewelers in Erie, Pennsylvania, was closing its doors. And the store’s owner, Linda Breakiron, was ready for it. She had run the store as its sole owner since the beginning of the millennium and was looking forward to a change. Of course, she called Wilkerson. Breakiron talked to other jewelers who had used Wilkerson and was satisfied with their response. “They always had positive feedback,” she recalls. With the sales, marketing and even additional inventory that Wilkerson provided, Breakiron insists she could never have accomplished her going-out-of-business sale without Wilkerson’s help. She’s now ready for the journey ahead, but looking back, she’d be sure to recommend Wilkerson. “They just made the whole process very seamless.”