This Is a Rut You Absolutely Need to Break Out of Starting Now

Published

9 years ago

November 10, 2016

(Our November print issue includes a feature story detailing “10 Steps to Last-Minute Holiday Success.” Today we bring you an excerpt explaining one of those steps: breaking out of the event rut.)

If your events seem a bit lifeless or aren’t leading to as many sales as you’d like, you might be in a rut.

The holiday season is the perfect time to break out of it.

Mixing up your event music can go a long way to adding some spark to your events.

“Classical music is fine day to day, but for parties, it’s not going to entice you to go shopping,” says Jen Cullen Williams of Luxury Brand Group.

“Go to any store targeted toward millennials and it’s going to have music that moves. It’s got to have some energy to it.”

For another spin on a traditional idea, turn your ladies night out wish-list event into a couples party. It can be more fun and sometimes lead to big sales right on the spot, says Karen Hollis of K Hollis Jewelers in Batavia, IL.

“It helps guys get ideas and makes them want to shop early to make sure that the item will still be here,” she says.

Hollis invites her top 100 customers and has hosted as many as 30 couples at a time.

Honoring a Legacy: How Smith & Son Jewelers Exceeded Every Goal With Wilkerson

When Andrew Smith decided to close the Springfield, Massachusetts location of Smith & Son Jewelers, the decision came down to family. His father was retiring after 72 years in the business, and Andrew wanted to spend more time with his children and soon-to-arrive grandchildren. For this fourth-generation jeweler whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1918, closing the 107-year-old Springfield location required the right partner. Smith chose Wilkerson, and the experience exceeded expectations from start to finish. "Everything they told me was 100% true," Smith says. "The ease and use of all their tools was wonderful." The consultants' knowledge and expertise proved invaluable. Smith and his father set their own financial goal, but Wilkerson proposed three more ambitious targets. "We thought we would never make it," Smith explains. "We were dead wrong. We hit our first goal, second goal and third goal. It was amazing." Smith's recommendation is emphatic: "I would never be able to do what they did by myself."