Sales Strategy

Jimmy DeGroot: Keep Your Business Thriving All Summer Long June 27, 2024 (0 comments)

Green Bay, WI--I just got off the phone with Kimberly Snow from Ellsworth Jewelers in Maine. We were discussing a few summer events she has planned and wants to really knock it out of the park for all of them.

Kim is a sharp owner because she refuses to accept mediocrity, and she doesn’t care that the rest of the world thinks that summer is not the ideal time to have events. I love that about her.

We chatted about an estate event, an Antwerp trip and a buying event. And my advice to Kim is as follows. For any event you hold in your store, the success relies on two objectives:

1. You need to get your team really excited about the event. Incentivize sales through appointments and outreach. Get them to mention the event to every customer whether they’re buying a $10,000 piece or a watch battery. Have contests for the most kept appointments. Talk about it every day. You can’t spend enough in advertising and promotion to outdo what your team's excitement will do.
2. Have a good recipe and follow it. This means find out who has done this event and knocked it out of the park. Call them. Buy them lunch. Learn from them what they did and follow that same recipe. Jewelers love helping others succeed and your vendors want to help you. So get on the phone and ask those who have done it successfully what their recipe is.  

Regarding the recipe idea, Larry and I thought we would hire a company to help us with our moving sale, but we didn’t follow their recipe. When they arrived, they said they were leaving tomorrow unless we ordered the cotton boxes they told us to order. Wow! That’s conviction! We had all kinds of thought about how we thought it should be done but they insisted we follow their plan. We ordered the boxes and viola! A hugely successful event.

Don’t think that summer is all about vacations and people checking out until school starts. There’s plenty of profit to be made by creating excitement in your store. 

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 is an AGS titleholder and specializes in training relevant and timely methods for jewelry teams. He can do a full training on making Bridal Presentations the best they can be, among many other regular training options. Contact Jimmy at jimmy@trainretail.com or call 920-492-1191.