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THE MAIN POINT: SOLID, CONSISTENT SERVICE WINS CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS AT KEVIN MAIN JEWELERS | November 07, 2012 (0 comments)
San Luis Obispo, CA--Kevin and Kathi Main of Kevin Main Jewelers are like any couple: they have occasional disagreements. But both Kevin and Kathi agree that customer service plays a big role in keeping customers happy and their business successful.
"Our consistency is key -- people say they love coming in," says Kathi. "They say they always see something different and our staff is always so nice. We're consistent in those ways. We offer water or wine and make the customer feel at home."
Kevin mentions that it's not just water or wine. On occasion a customer, often a young man, will need more than that when shopping for an engagement ring. When that case arises, Kevin will run next door to a very nice restaurant and bring back a glass of whiskey or whatever the customer requests.
"Service is one of our biggest assets. Service is taking care of our customer," says Kevin. "And when we make a mistake, we're willing to correct it very quickly. We work on listening to our customers, to hear what they are communicating. A lot of times, they have trouble communicating. When we really listen, we find out what they need. We have to stay on our toes and we have to be consistent."
Interior of Kevin Main Jeweles, San Luis Obispo, CA
San Luis Obispo is a college town as well as full of upscale locals with higher than average salaries and home prices. The local county is 100 square miles and houses about 300,000 people.
Says Kathi, "Bridal is our primary category. While the University students provide a very youthful community, they only account for about half our bridal sales. The other half are their parents who come in to shop."
Fashion jewelry accounts for a good part of the inventory at Kevin Main Jewelry as well, much of it designer jewelry. They do carry one watch line. "There's not enough room for watches," says Kathi. "We have a spacious show room but not a lot of case space."
The selling floor at Kevin Main Jewelers is about 1,500 square feet out of a total of 2,500. The rest of the space houses the shop area, bathrooms and kitchen. "We have a 3,500 square foot patio that we lease to the restaurant next door," says Kevin.
Another view of Kevin Main Jewelers' interior.
"It's ours for 12 special events a year as part of the lease," says Kathi. "We always have our customers and guests come though the store to get to the patio."
Events are a big part of Kevin Main Jewelers marketing strategy. "We do direct mail for customer events -- no mass mailers," says Kevin. "We don't do a lot of print. We do have a billboard, in the same location for about five years. For special events, we touch each customer personally. We do phone calls, letters, etc., reaching out to the right customers for each event."
One recent event was quite a success. It was a special event featuring Alex Sepkus and his jewelry. Instead of reaching out to every customer, the Mains instead personally invited only those customers interested in Alex Sepkus jewelry. "We brought in buyers, not shoppers," said Kevin.
The Main's also reach their customers through emails. "We do an event called Art after Dark on the first Friday of every month," says Kathi. "A local art organization coordinates it and different locations participate. In the past we've done artists, quilt shows and tattoos to offer different things to get customers in the door."
The next event at Kevin Main Jewelers will be with designer Chris Ploof, showcasing his bridal jewelry and allowing customers to meet the designer himself. The event will also feature jewelry from Precision Set, Art Carved, Steven Kretcher and Alishan, who will also be in attendance.
Along with multiple special events, the Mains connect through their local non-profits. "We have 1,200 local non-profits," says Kathi. In a market area of 300,000 people, that seems like a high number. "While we do have foreclosures and homelessness, in general people are generous in taking care of others not as well off."
"We do a lot of jewelry donations. The local hospital and Kevin's Rotary Club are two. Our favorite is a local non-profit called Jack's Helping Hand." Kathi says they encourage raffles as they make more money for the organization. A recent raffle designated Kevin Main Jewelers as a drop-off location for a raffle where a bottle of wine would get the giver two raffle tickets. Over 200 bottles of wine were dropped off at Kevin Main Jewelers for this particular fundraiser -- getting 200 more customers/future customers in the door.
Along with supporting non-profits, repair work brings customers in the store. "We do a lot of repair work," says Kevin. "I have a great staff of jewelers and I do a lot of the more creative work."
Kevin Main Jewelers has three sales associates, plus another who works part time. Kevin and Kathi are generally on hand to greet customers. "We're good with people, and frankly, everyone want to meet the owners," she says with a smile. "Plus, we give them a cup of coffee."
Kevin and Kathi put a personal touch on all their various promotions. For Facebook, Kevin says, "it should be more personal and fun, in my opinion. No selling. More interaction." Looking at the store's Facebook page with smiling customers posing with jewelry, that's exactly the atmosphere they've created.
The store also has very solid reviews on Yelp (about 30) and an informative website. That wasn't always the case, however. The Mains shut down the e-commerce side of the website after being hacked a few months ago. They expect to re-open that side of the website again in a few months. Currently, their homepage features bright, eye-catching photos and images, inviting visitors to click on in.
Kevin Main's homepage.
Perhaps the most innovative approach Kevin and Kathi employ is with bridal customers. "Kevin had an awesome idea," said Kathi. "For the clients who buy rings from us, we ask for their photo. We then feature them in our store, blown up on canvas to 20x30 or 18x24. After two or three months go by, Kevin writes a personal note on the back of the canvas and we give it to them."
"They put it in their homes," continued Kevin. "It's always a great picture of the couple. People then ask, 'Where did you get that?' They answer, 'Our jeweler gave it to us.' It's a great relationship memento and it's also great for referrals. We have six or eight on display at a time." (Some of the couple's canvases are shown in the background of these Facebook photos.)
Two happy couples' photo canvases can be seen in these images pulled from the jeweler's Facebook page. On the left, the photo is at the upper right, and on the right, it's center bottom behind the flowers.
So how did these two successful jewelers get into the business? "Well, I married him," laughs Kathy. "I was in banking for 25 years before this."
And Kevin? "I went to school to be a floral designer, a horticulturist. I fell into jewelry in college as a part-time job; that was 40 years ago. I've seen the ups and downs and the sideways of the industry. At the end of the day, the draw is that you can be real creative. On the sales floor, on making something work, on designing jewelry, on figuring out 'how can we make this work for you' for a customer. It's a very 'think' business. You can't be stagnant."