Feb. 28-Mar. 6
STAFF Every day for the entire month, have each salesperson pick a different item in your inventory that he or she will show to at least one customer that day. Switching each day allows your staff to become more and more familiar with your inventory. Give a small reward for any sales made of chosen items.
MARKETING Ensure your jewelers aren’t left twiddling their thumbs: Hold a “Spring Cleaning” promotion. Invite customers to come in for a free or reduced jewelry cleaning. Include “Custom Consultations” for clients who are interested in redesigning a piece in their existing jewelry wardrobe.
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Mar. 7-13
DECORATION The quickest and cheapest way to give your store a different look is to change out the fabric on the baseboards. For a fresh, seasonal appearance, check out Pantone’s suggested colors for spring and then group jewelry designs that match them. Buy a little new product to support the theme, but for the most part, you’ll be able to surprise your customers by simply switching things around.
STRATEGY Planning will be a recurring theme this month. Draw up a list of competitors and their estimated sales volumes. Then jot down your trade area and its population to work out your market’s potential and where you rank. (When you talk to bankers, potential buyers or mentors, they will expect you to know this information.)
Mar. 14-20
INVENTORY It’s time to get on top of all those loose diamonds you’ve accumulated in the last few years: Sort, weigh and grade them according to your own sense of what will make a great center stone.
STRATEGY Give each member of staff a different afternoon to shop your competitors. It’ll let you know what the competition is up to and make your staff feel like they are more involved in the strategic part of operations.
ONLINE Explore the options for hosting a plug-in online e-tailer on your website. It can be an interesting option for certain “repeat” product sales.
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MARKETING With Mother’s Day and Father’s Day just beyond the horizon, April is often a big month for in-store functions. Strategize and start preparing for these to allow your sales associates a minimum of one month to contact customers for these upcoming events.
Mar. 21-27
MARKETING Organize a monthly prize drawing for an old item to build up your database.
GENERAL Adjust your will to appoint a “digital executor.” You don’t want to be paying automatic eBay fees or sending out Facebook friend requests long after you’re dead. Authorize the person to access your log-in information and spell out what you want done with each account, whether it’s providing access to loved ones or business partners, or deleting it.
