The Best Time to Reorder, Finding Your Opinion Leaders … and Even More February Questions From Jewelers

INVENTORY

A customer just bought our last sapphire ring. My manager says wait to reorder. Who’s right?

Your manager is wrong. Business expert David Brown shares what separates successful jewelers from the rest: immediate reordering. One client told him, “If a fast-seller sold that day, I couldn’t sleep at night until I knew a replacement was on its way.” The math backs this obsession—items reordered within 24 hours maintain their selling momentum. Wait a week? Staff forget it ever sold well.

COLORED GEMSTONES

Do clients really care about miners?

Yes — especially younger ones. “Younger consumers want to know — it makes the stones more personal and exotic,” says Eric Braunwart of Columbia Gem House. A sapphire isn’t just blue, it’s “Montana blue”. A tourmaline isn’t just pretty, it’s “Brazilian pretty”. Provenance makes jewelry feel human, not just shiny.

STRATEGY

How can I improve my culture without having to manage it all myself?

Don’t try to carry the whole load. Kerry Patterson, coauthor of “Influencer: The Power to Change Anything”, says culture spreads fastest through “opinion leaders” — about 13.5% of your staff who have outsized influence. They may be your top seller, your bench veteran, or the breakroom connector everyone listens to. Win them over first, get their buy-in, and let their example do the heavy lifting.

REPAIRS

Haven’t raised repair prices since 2018. The new book says go up 40%. Won’t that shock customers?

Just do it all at once. David Geller, long-time INSTORE columnist and repair pricing expert, points out that when gold costs 40% more, you don’t slowly adjust chain prices over months — you update them immediately. Everything else has doubled since 2018. Your customers are prepared. Across the country, Geller finds stores maintain a 90% closing ratio regardless of price point. Gradual increases just keep you permanently behind inflation. Raise your repair prices today.