Tip Sheet: July 2004

Published

21 years ago

July 1, 2004

Instore presents ideas for better business

[componentheading]CONNECTIVITY REVOLUTION[/componentheading]

Want to get the maximum benefit from the connectivity revolution? Centralize your company’s data (sales stats, order status, customer contact information and data, etc.) on a private network. When you or your staff log in from home, you’re taken directly to a personalized home page with easy access to all data. This will allow all of you maximum productivity … wherever you are.

Source: Tom Peters, Re-Imagine!

[componentheading]GET OUT YOUR PARTY HAT[/componentheading]

Connecting your female customers to each other connects them to your brand. How can you encourage this? Host parties. Ask people to exchange telephone numbers. Have them share their email addresses … or log into an online forum on a given night each week. Let them make friends, not with you, but with each other. (Sure, they can make friends iwth you, too.) There you go, instant connection.

Source: Faith Popcorn, EVE-olution

[componentheading]GET EVERYONE IN THE MIX[/componentheading]

Do you have a bench jeweler and/or gemologist on your staff? Why not schedule them to go out on the sales floor once every week or two to sell? The benefits go both ways: additional skills and personal development for them, greater flexibility with scheduling for you. (And believe us, you’ll need every bit of it when those summer vacations come around. Not to mention the big Christmas rush.)

Source: Instore

[componentheading]WATCH WHICH MAIL YOU GET AT HOME[/componentheading]

Are you having Instore — or gasp, any other industry publication — sent to your home? Don’t do it. You’re identifying yourself as a member of the jewelry industry, and making yourself a target for a potential robbery. Instead, have all jewelry mag subscriptions and other business-related mail sent to your place of business.

Source: Jewelers Mutual

[span class=note]This story is from the July 2004 edition of INSTORE[/span]

Family Legacy, New Chapter: How Wilkerson Turns 89 Years of History Into Future Success

After 89 years of serving the Albany community, Harold Finkle Your Jeweler faced a pivotal decision. For third-generation owner Justin Finkle, the demanding hours of running a small business were taking precious time away from his young family. "After 23 years, I decided this was the time for me," Finkle explains. But closing a business with nearly nine decades of inventory and customer relationships isn't something easily managed alone. Wilkerson's comprehensive approach transformed this challenging transition into a remarkable success story. Their strategic planning handled everything from advertising and social media to inventory management and staffing — elements that would overwhelm most jewelers attempting to navigate a closing sale independently. The results speak volumes. "Wilkerson gave us three different tiers of potential goals," Finkle notes. "We've reached that third tier, that highest goal already, and we still have two weeks left of the sale." The partnership didn't just meet financial objectives—it exceeded them ahead of schedule.