Mark Mazzarese, 37, president of Mazzarese Jewelry, is a bit like your “reluctant hero” when it comes to sales.
[dropcap cap=M]ark Mazzarese, 37, president of Mazzarese Jewelry, is a bit like your “reluctant hero” when it comes to sales. “I can see the sales floor from my office. If I help a client it’s because everyone is busy.” He learned much of what he knows about sales in his family’s jewelry stores. “The best influence I had was listening to Dad with different types of clients, and how you change your approach. It’s not always ABC; sometimes you have to start with Z and work back up to A.” — Eileen McClelland[/dropcap]
[componentheading]INTERVIEW[/componentheading]
DON’T TALK: Even the toughest clients, no matter how much of a wall they put up, eventually they will talk if you do not.
TOUCHING ALLOWED: Everything we have is behind glass. Pull it out without being asked and let the customer feel comfortable with that. You want to show them, it’s behind glass but it’s attainable.
SELL: The client relationship is very important, but too often people forget the sale and just try to find common ground. It should be 80 percent talk and 20 percent trying to sell. Often, it comes out to 99 percent talk, and 1 percent selling, if any at all. You want to get the conversation to the point where you can close.
RANGES: Purchasing ismore driven by price points now than category. A guy will come in and say, ‘I want to buy a present for my wife.’ He doesn’t know what he has in mind, but he will know his budget. So if you can get enough items in those price ranges, a lot of time you can up-sell if the piece is unique enough.
ASK FOR THE SALE: You will never know their intentions if you don’t ask. You’ve got to figure out what’s it going to take, without saying, ‘What’s it going to take?’
SHOW II: I dress conservatively, so a client will see how I can wear normal business attire and still wear diamonds.
ENJOY The best part is being out and seeing clients wear their jewelry.
[span class=note]This story is from the October 2010 edition of INSTORE[/span]