Articles and News
THE ART OF THE NEWSLETTER WITH LITHOS JEWELRY | May 16, 2012 (0 comments)
St. Petersburg, FL—A love of scuba diving, advanced education and training, and certainly a passion for jewelry and custom design has helped Lornie and Rose Mueller make Lithos Jewelry a favorite destination in St. Petersburg.
The Centurion spoke at length with Lornie Mueller about the couple’s various activities and how those translate into sales. Let’s start with diving.
“Rose and I enjoy diving,” said Lornie. The couple certainly does a fair amount of it; Lornie says a recent trip to Palau was their 1200th dive together, and something they both find fun. But more, it’s something they can incorporate into the business.
Better in the ocean than on the sales floor: Florida jewelers Lornie and Rose Mueller ran into this shark while scuba diving in Palau together.
“We make Shutterfly books with our pictures from each trip and give it to our customers. When we visit their homes, one of those books is often on a coffee table,” he says. The dive trips also get prime space in the company’s email newsletters that Rose writes each month. Those newsletters really help connect their customers to Lithos Jewelry.
Rose agrees. “They are actually a quite amazing tool. It’s very hard to do it every month and I doubt myself often about what I write, but the feedback is very interesting and positive. I could actually write a book about it. I’ve learned that the majority of people live vicariously through the few that dare to be different.”
The most recent newsletter leads with the couple’s trip to Palau and references Shark City—certainly interesting enough to get one’s attention. The newsletter also showcased a stunning underwater photo shot in Palau, followed by a beautiful piece of platinum jewelry.
Both Muellers do underwater photography and are known for their photos. Rose uses a close-up lens, while Lornie prefers a wide angle. Lornie shot this photo of Rose diving.
Their newsletter goes out once a month. “We’re not just trying to sell. We’re trying to connect with customers,” said Lornie. “It is not about hard sell. People don’t want commercial newsletters filled with just jewelry; one must tweak their interest. Especially given the Internet, the jewelry business is even more about knowing your customer and them knowing you. People like relationships when they buy.”
Newsletters are not the only way that the Mueller’s reach out to their customers. Lornie maintains their extensive website himself. “When I look at a competitor, often I’ll notice their website is out of date,” he said. “Sometimes it’s one that was made five years ago and never changed. The consumer notices that. The Internet is like your store. You open your store every day; you must do the same on your website.” While Lornie doesn’t change every page daily, he generally updates a few of the 450 pages on his website two or three times a week. “People are looking for information, not an exact product,” he said, noting his website has a lot of jewelry product on there, as well as a lot of information.
Customers also find Lithos through Google reviews. “It used to be you could only check out people via word of mouth, now you have the Internet,” he said of Google reviews. Lornie uses Google ads successfully, rather than Facebook. “I don’t find Facebook to be all that friendly,” he said. The Muellers tried promoting some events on Facebook but found their response rate was low. In general, the Internet has offered a good way to connect with customers, especially since traditional print ads are not as effective as they once were in the Mueller’s market area.
“Rose and I have been married 42 years this year,” said Lornie. “We received a newspaper for the first 35 years; now it’s all online.”
Lornie and Rose are working partners. Both are GIA graduate gemologists, and certified gemologist appraisers of the American Gem Society. Lithos Jewelry proudly boasts having an AGS Certified gem testing laboratory.
Interior of Lithos Jewelers in St. Petersburg, FL
Along with their gem testing lab, Lithos also has a state-of-the-art shop complete with laser welder and a microscope that floats over the bench. “I’ve had quite a few years of experience with the laser welder,” said Lornie. “It takes a few years to learn to work it effectively.”
Lithos’ state-of-the-art shop has been instrumental in their gradual move from designer jewelry toward custom design. “We are the manufacturer,” says Lornie. “It is important to our customer that what we sell is manufactured in the US.”
Most of their customer work is 18K or platinum, as is most of their inventory. One important line for them is a clasp system. “We end up converting our customer’s jewelry into the system,” said Lornie. ”It’s has a snowball effect. Once you sell them on the system, you have huge customer retention rate. We manufacture around 500 styles of clasps ourselves, more than anyone in the US. We can make clasps from clients’ pendants, rings, charms, and even loose stones bought on a cruise.”
“People say they have everything; but they don’t have clasps. We’ve had large success with that,” said Lornie.
Two interchangeable clasps from Lithos' Clasp Gallery. Left, with gem inlay, and right, with silver, diamonds, and platinum.
Along with the clasps, Lithos offers a large selection of designer jewelry and one of the largest collections of black and white South Sea Pearls in Florida. They also carry 18K gold and platinum wedding rings and bands and Cyma watches.
Lithos Jewelry is on the ground floor, accessible via a separate entrance from the main 25-story building above it. “We bought this location seven years ago,” said Lornie. The location before was on St. Pete Beach, which opened in 1991.
Lithos Jewelry has a small staff of only three people, two of which are Rose and Lornie. But Rose and Lornie are the draw and customers come to see them.
For a small store, they are remarkably efficient. They are entirely computerized, from their mailing list to the appraisal program (a fill form in Word). “It you’re not efficient, you won’t be here,” noted Lornie. “You have to keep changing. There is NO choice.”