Sales Strategy
About Our Contributors: Expert Advice For Your Toughest Selling Challenges | December 11, 2014 (0 comments)
Merrick, NY—The Centurion Sales Strategy Newsletter is pleased to count some of our industry’s most respected experts among our contributors, bringing valuable insight into the sales process, sales hiring process, and shopping experience to you, the reader, in every edition.
Peter Smith, author of Hiring Squirrels: 12 Essential Interview Questions To Uncover Great Retail Sales Talent, has spent 30 years building sales teams at retail, and working with countless numbers of independent retailers as a brand-executive, to offer his counsel and advice on personnel matters. The Irish native is a graduate of Boston College and he has served on the Advisory Board of Caliper’s Global Conference. He is also a contributing panelist on the KR Executive Group’s Talent Blog and a frequent blogger on LinkedIn. Smith has worked in retail for companies including Tiffany & Co. and as executive vice president of brand development for Hearts On Fire, where he authored the Menu For Success, a roadmap for retail success. He is currently executive vice president of Schachter & Co., a division of Leo Schachter. Smith’s book is available in print or Kindle digital edition on Amazon.com.
Peter Smith
Andie Weinman is president and CEO of Preferred Jewelers International. She was born with the “jewelry gene,” and has worked in the jewelry industry since she was 10 years old. Her first job was as a cashier in the opening of a catalog showroom and even at that tender age, she did a fantastic job. Weinman holds a B.A. in musical theatre and a B.S. in marine biology from The University of Tampa. When she realized that seawater and marine biology were not good on her hair, and she wasn’t quite good enough to make it on Broadway, the jewelry business beckoned. Weinman has picked diamonds, sorted color stones, shot waxes and did many jobs in the manufacture of jewelry. Her negotiating experience has given her the reputation as tough but fair in her dealings with the vendors. In 2012 the Indian Diamond and Color Association awarded Andie their Prestigious Doyenne Award of the Year.
Andie Weinman
Pat Henneberry, The Jewelry Coach, actually never envisioned a career in jewelry. But settling in Austin, TX after growing up in the heartlands of Iowa, she became an award-winning salesperson with ArtCarved, and frequently sought by peers for advice. 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 launch 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. Henneberry also spent time on 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. Henneberry’s successes as a salesperson, trainer and business owner led her to create to some of the most powerful educational materials and tools used today, including the Diamond Characteristic Chart, the Diamond Pyramid of Rarity, and The JewelryCoach.com to name a few.
Henneberry also received multiple sales awards from ArtCarved, was elected the first woman president of the 24 Karat Club of the Southwest, and was president of the Southwest Women’s Jewelry Association.
Pat Henneberry