Sales Strategy
Jimmy DeGroot: Complacency is the Number 1 Killer of Jewelry Stores February 24, 2026 (0 comments)
Appleton, WI--A few weeks ago, I wrote about the only REAL differentiating factor in our jewelry stores is our people and how we make our guests feel. I bring this up again because this is so important that if we lose sight of this because those stores that do will fade into obscurity and be forgotten.
I’ve been in this business for 29 years now and I’ve seen a lot of stores. The one big disease most suffer from is complacency. And the biggest reason for complacency is busy-ness. The demands of owning a jewelry store are tremendous, especially for owners at $500,000 to $2 Million in volume. This is because you’ve built this business from dollar one and to give up control of any aspect means losing control of everything.
- Sometimes we need to step back, go for a drive, take a vacation solely for the purposes of introspection and clarity. Here are a few questions to ponder:
- Am I doing what I love in the business? Do I enjoy coming in every day?
- If I had the opportunity to hire a “super duper” salesperson, does my store provide an environment to thrive?
- Are my people growing or merely maintaining?
- What do my customers REALLY think of my store and my team?
- What do my customers NOT LIKE about my store?
- What would my ideal store look like and what can I do right now to take a step toward that ideal?
- Who in my store can do the things that I don’t enjoy much better than me?
- Am I turning over control of certain areas to my people, allowing them an opportunity to grow?
- Can my people earn a good living at my store or is it just a part-time income?
I’ve said it several times before, complacency and inaction is the jewelry industry’s biggest barrier to super success. The question of technology taking over many retail operations is not a question of IF but WHEN. We can fend it off indefinitely by constantly sharpening our proverbial knives in being innovative in ways we can truly delight our customers, give them extra-memorable experiences and lock our stores into a high level of relevance in their minds.
I’ll end with a quote from Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel Corporation:
“Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.”
James (Jimmy) DeGroot is a professional jewelry sales and operations trainer from the jeweler’s side of the counter. Having been in management and the jewelry business for over 20 years, Jimmy offers weekly training to jewelers nationwide via the Train Retail website. Jimmy and his partner Kyle Bullock help jewelry stores grow their profits and their people to fulfill their greater purpose! We do it through one-on-one business coaching, sales training, and leadership development. Contact Jimmy at jimmy@trainretail.com%20or call 920-492-1191.