It’s been such a pleasure interacting with you recently; not only regarding the complexities and definitions of gemstones but also about business wisdom which keeps the cogs turning. In many ways, it’s the minutia of your day to day operation which can make or break your business in the long term. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Never be bored
I believe that there is no reason for any of us to be bored in a retail shop. When I completed my military training at the young age of 20, I got a job in a photographic retail shop where we sold cameras and hi-fi equipment. This was a fantastic business and my boss taught me a lot about sales, customer relations, and so much more. Something I remember clearly is that my boss insisted that we all clean the shop windows and shelves regularly. By that I mean, at least twice a week. He would clean alongside us and his reasoning for this, apart from keeping the shop clean, was so that we all knew where every single camera and accessory was displayed. Therefore, when a customer asked for something we knew exactly where it was. In fact, that shop was so clean that some Japanese men representing some of the well-known camera brands said it was the cleanest and neatest shop they had seen in the world. That’s saying something!
Fast-forward a few years, and when I entered a shop; I would always immediately note how clean it was – especially jewellery outlets. I subconsciously check how the jewellery is displayed and the amount of times I see jewellery crooked or lopsided in a window is too often. To me, these small details demonstrate a lack of interest the shop has for their product.
Stay honest
Another nugget of wisdom that I was taught was to never pretend you know something if you don’t. By way of example, a new top of the range Canon movie camera came into the shop as a demo model. I had displayed it in the window and a customer walked in and asked to see it. He started asking me questions about the camera, but I didn’t have the answers. I had to tell him that I didn’t know as the camera had just come in and I hadn’t yet studied the features. He said he knew it pretty well as he had read about it in the latest journal. He then proceeded to teach me about the features, and he bought the camera. Had I tried to guess my way through it, I would have made a real clot of myself. We struck up a good rapport and that is exactly what you want with your customers. (As a side note, he always came back to us to buy more.)
So always remember that you want to give anyone and everyone who walks into your shop two things:
- A reason to buy from you
- A reason to come back
Something has brought them into your store and their intention is to buy it, so find out what it is, show them that you care about both them and your product, be honest, and close the deal.