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Austin, TX—This is crunch time: the last week prior to Christmas, likely to be your busiest time and the time when you’ll bring in a significant portion of your holiday sales. Here are a few quick tips to ensure you maximize this opportunity to its fullest:

Designate someone to take daily inventory and call vendors. Don’t send sales to your competitors: designate someone to identify what’s sold and call vendors twice a day to fill those spots. If one person buys something out of the case, you can bet others will like the same item. You can’t sell what you don’t have.

Pre-wrap a few boxes. Attractively pre-wrapped boxes can make great props and help set the holiday mood for your display, in addition to being a handy selling tool and a quick way to have small boxes ready to put something in them. Or even have some with pre-selected gifts like simple earrings or pendant necklaces.

Gift cards. Shoppers spent more than $26 billion on gift cards last year, the majority of which were redeemed between the day after Christmas and the end of January, so don’t make the mistake of thinking your holiday selling season is over the day after Santa visits. Gift cards can help extend the season and, chances are, the amount the recipient spends.

DO remember that upselling leads to increased satisfaction. In general, consumers are more satisfied with higher-quality merchandise than they are with “value” merchandise. When sales associates up-sell customers to higher-priced merchandise, retailers not only increase their sales but customer satisfaction as well. Over time, increased customer satisfaction means customer loyalty, repeat business and great word-of-mouth advertising. Tis the season to upsell and add-on!

DO remember that during the holidays, customers are shopping for many people, including themselves! Once a customer has chosen a product for someone on their holiday shopping list, a simple question such as, “Is there anyone else on your holiday list that would enjoy this [product] too?” or “Would you also like to get one of these for yourself this year?” can increase sales tremendously with very little effort.

The Kronos/Harris study mentioned above also revealed that 45 percent of survey respondents said that they also shop for themselves during the holiday season. The more that salespeople can help customers fulfill all of their holiday shopping needs, the better the customer will feel. Think about it: how many times have you found the perfect gift and wanted one for yourself? Most of the time we just need someone to remind us it’s OK to buy it for yourself; that you deserve it! One of my favorite statements to a customer is: “Now that we have that out of the way and I know you a little better, I have something I want to show you I think you will love.”

The customer will thank you for it. Don’t be afraid to ask. You are the conductor; you lead the sale!

Pat Henneberry, The Jewelry Coach, actually never envisioned a career in jewelry. But after growing up in the heartlands of Iowa, she moved to Austin, TX, and became an award-winning salesperson with ArtCarved. Now, with more than 30 years’ experience, Henneberry is one of the diamond world’s top trainers, having helped build multiple brands for the jewelry industry. She spent 10 years with DeBeers’ Diamond Promotion Service, where she helped launched new brands, worked on national ad campaigns like "A Diamond is Forever,” and helped retail jewelers build their diamond business. While there, she was the proud recipient of the Diamond Symphony Award by Diamond Promotion Service and DeBeers. Later, she was part of the Hearts On Fire international training team, where she traveled the world teaching retail jewelers how to sell diamonds and grow their business. Henneberry is the founder of The Jewelry Coach. The Jewelry Coach is about building positive principals for self-improvement and personal jewelry sales development, and offers an online 24/7 sales training community. Her clients number such famous names as Forevermark US, Tiffany & Co. sales training, and LVE, a new Schachter & Co. diamond brand, as well as other key brands and retailers in the luxury jewelry sector. She also is frequently sought as a motivational speaker in the industry. She can be reached at (512) 203-3414 or at pat@thejewelrycoach.com. Look for more of Henneberry's insights in Centurion's new Sales Strategy Newsletter.