Sales Strategy
How To Maximize Every Sales Opportunity | July 30, 2015 (0 comments)
Las Vegas, NV—The Centurion recently spoke with super saleswoman Jenny O. Calleri of T-Bird Jewels. With her bubbly, upbeat personality, many in the industry know her simply as Jenny O., but what makes her so memorable also is what makes her so successful.
Calleri’s sales philosophy is simple. “It’s always about getting something in a customer’s hand. Period, end of story,” she says. “The reality is that today, a lot of fine, independent jewelry stores are becoming more of a repair store that sells jewelry rather than a jewelry store that repairs jewelry.”
Calleri maximizes every sales opportunity. “We’re in an affluent part of Las Vegas. We’re three doors down from the best Starbucks in a city that’s always busy. We see professional and retired people both. Daily, many of them come to Starbucks and then to Einstein Bagels next door. In our center, there’s also a bank. We’re often added to their laundry list of items for the day. People often stop in for a battery or a loose stone. For us, it’s not about clerking the sale. Instead we have to look for the opportunity for each sale.”
One method Calleri uses is to really assess what the customer is wearing. “Sell them something better,” she says. “Or repair it and see what will go with it. I consider myself more of a stylist. You have to know your inventory well and know what will compliment what your customer is wearing.”
Calleri admits to a competitive streak. She’s motivated by sales. “I always want to be Number One,” says Calleri. “In a previous job, I was incentivized by a brand (to sell their jewelry). Because of that, I always gave every customer a two-minute presentation on that brand."
Today, T-Bird Jewels carries Forevermark. Calleri asks customers, “Let’s look at a billion years of history in 60 seconds.” Or, “‘Here’s a wearable piece of art.’ Most customers take a look. It’s often in how you present your opportunity. Can I, will I, should I. Those words are removed from your vocabulary. Tell and show. If they are not interested, they will tell you.”
Along with looking for the best opportunity with each customer, Calleri knows her inventory. “If it’s not in your inventory, you can’t sell it. When a client comes into your store, you must have the right inventory on hand. People come in and see how I can accessorize and upgrade them. Sometimes it happens that they have been looking for something but no one has shown it to them. And sometimes they are scared to spend money.” Calleri is sensitive to each customer’s needs.
Every super salesperson has a good group of sales stories. Calleri shares hers:
“I was working the strip,” Calleri remembers. “A really high-end jewelry store. I didn’t have a GIA education; I was just starting out. I was probably 21 or so, just becoming really passionate about jewelry. One morning, 10 a.m. in Vegas on the Strip, a woman comes in with two friends. Didn’t look like she had a dime, no frills, hair pulled back.” Calleri thought she was just going through the shops, since that’s what many people do in Vegas.
“She and her friends started playing with the jewelry. She had a carat and a half emerald cut three-stone ring, with baguettes on the side that she had bought from our other store in San Francisco. I started talking to her; she wanted to upgrade to a four-carat center with good-sized side stones in platinum for $150,000. She was talking to her friends, feeling guilty about thinking about buying it. She did charity work but was clearly in love with the diamonds and gems and really was fascinated by them.”
“My manager was there as time went on and the customer was telling us that her husband collects yachts. Yachts. And it clearly costs a lot to maintain them. Every time her husband had to put money into a yacht, to replace or maintain parts, he’d say it’s only 10 boat bucks. Turns out, each ‘boat buck’ was actually ten thousand dollars.”
“Often, when it’s a larger priced item, a sale can takes a while,” says Calleri. “The customer needs to feel better about spending the money and about the experience. So, as we worked through her hesitation and her desire for the ring, it turned out that the ring just cost 15 boat bucks! That made her feel better and we made the sale.”
You might think this was the end of the story, but Calleri and this customer were destined to meet again. “When I took my first GIA extension course, it was through AGS. I look over and there is my customer again in my class, still wearing the ring! The customer was still happy with her purchase, wearing it daily and now here she was studying gemology as a hobby.”
Calleri is still amazed by the chance meeting. “People who have the most money never look like they have a dime,” she said. “The majority of my sales were created by pulling something out of nothing,” she said. “People who come in looking for something – that’s the obvious sale. It’s the people who are not looking who you can convert into a sale. That’s true salesmanship. Get something in their hands and show them something. That sort of sale keeps us fresh and not complacent. We get to touch and feel and reignite the flame every day with these rare pieces of earth.”
“It’s really about providing amazing service,” says Calleri. “You have to have that great quality merchandise and the right person behind the counter to help build value in your store.”
Spoken like a true sales professional. For more background on T-Bird Jewels, see this previous story.