OK, CHRISTMAS IS OVER. You don’t have 200 clients coming in today to throw money at you, which means it’s time to get back into good selling habits.
During the holidays, it’s easy to fall into bad habits because customers are going to buy regardless. It’s also easy to start taking certain clients for granted, like repair and battery clients — the ones you think aren’t going to spend much. You have to take professional advantage of every selling opportunity you have. And the truth is, people buy on impulse all the time — just like we all did during the holidays.
Salespeople often gravitate toward diamond clients because they’re thinking about making the big sale, but consider the difference in mindset between this client and a service client. When a diamond client comes in, he may have shopped three stores already and have all kinds of objections ready. On the other hand, the service client goes to one store: The one he trusts. This client should feel as special as somebody spending a million dollars and it should be an honor to wait on him. After all, there are a lot of other jewelry stores he could have chosen, but he chose yours.
Your New Year’s resolution should be that every client coming in for a battery or dropping off or picking up a repair should have a “wow” item in their hands before they leave. This should be one of your store’s absolutes. Use a lead-in line like “Guess what’s in the vault?” or “Gotta show you my favorite” or “Wait until you see what just came in.” In 1983, I made it my goal to show a 1-carat diamond to every battery client I waited on. I tracked this for one full year. Sixty-two clients waiting for a battery bought a diamond while they waited, all created from scratch. If you get it in their hand, the rest happens by itself.
Don’t overthink this and make something so easy be so hard. Keep doing this until you succeed. It’s a numbers game; sooner or later, you’ll win.
At the very minimum, your clients will leave your store saying, “Did you see that?” or “Man, you guys are awesome.” Don’t practice ho-hum salesmanship and just let a client stand there and do nothing while someone changes his battery. Instead, knock his socks off with a really cool piece of jewelry and let him go out and tell his friends about it. When referrals come in who have never been in before, they have high expectations. If you meet or exceed those expectations, the closing ratio is over 90 percent. Not only that, but you are planting seeds with each service client you wow. He’ll come in next year and say, “You know that diamond you showed me last year? Tomorrow’s my anniversary and I’d like to buy it.”
Always wow with a diamond because last year, approximately 63 percent of all jewelry sold by value in the United States was diamond jewelry. So, take a more professional advantage of every selling opportunity you have. I’ve never had a client walk out mad because I put something gorgeous in his hand. Wow everyone. You buy on impulse, and so do your clients.