May 30-Jun. 3
MANAGEMENT Set an ambitious store goal for Father’s Day with the promise of a day’s paid leave for everyone in August if the team achieves the goal.
MARKETING Summer is a time to experiment. The stakes are lower, and people are more open to trying new things. Could you do a piercing night, a buying or estate event, stay open later one day, or, like Barry Cole of Bere Jewelers in Pensacola, FL, hold a “60% off for 6 hours” event?
STAFF If you’re at the big shows in Vegas this week, call up your local pizzeria and order a couple of deluxe pizzas for your staff back in the store. They think you’re living it up. That may be far from the truth, but let them know you’re thinking about them.
LEARNING And while still in Vegas, take in as many educational sessions as you can with a goal to kick some life into big-ticket diamond sales. The wedding and anniversary seasons are on the way. Be sure to bring home some fresh approaches to try this year.
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Jun. 6-10
MERCHANDISING Create fashion jewelry islands around the store to highlight that costume jewelry you got in for the summer months.
MANAGEMENT There’s a good chance you were exposed to some great ideas at a trade event in the last few months. Draw up a plan to implement the best of those suggestions before another year passes and you’re again sitting in a session at a trade show thinking, “Hmm, I should try that …”
MARKETING Get a jump on the summer bridal season. Look to partner with a local bridal boutique and arrange bridal fashion shows.
Jun. 13-17
TRAINING Write down one important skill that you can teach each member of your staff. By the end of next week, make sure that you’ve spent at least some time working with each staffer on that skill.
ONLINE Test your online channel. Purchase an item on your website to see how smooth and easy it is (or isn’t).
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Jun. 20-24
MARKETING “The neighborhood comes alive with people,” notes Ellie Thompson, of Ellie Thompson + Co., Chicago, IL, who responds to the arrival of warmer weather by changing up her sidewalk chalkboard often and making browsers — and, increasingly important, their dogs — feel welcome.
SECURITY Do a mid-year review of threats and areas of vulnerability, including a test of your store’s motion-detection system.
Jun. 27-Jul. 1
INVENTORY Don’t leave your new goods from Vegas sitting in the vault. Get everything priced and in your cases within a day of it arriving.