Consult your database and your real estate jewels to develop your sources of income

OONE thing that jewelers often overlook is the multiple sources of income that exist for them. Too many open their doors and hope that by Wednesday customers will be flocking to buy what they offer, and by Saturday they will be rich.

However, these days, there are simply too many choices for consumers when it comes to retail shopping. The sky is the limit online, both in the products available and the sellers who sell them, and consumers are well aware of this. This is especially true for young consumers, who have never lived without the Internet.

I find that many of my coaching clients focus on walk-in income because that’s how they started their business and that’s what they know best. However, we have to take the blinders off to see what’s available.

Start with your store’s database. It probably contains a lot more than customer names, which means there are lots of ways to segment it. You probably already have a wealth of information about customer likes and dislikes. Maybe they like particular designers or buy within a certain price range. With this information, we can segment the database and offer special offers to specific customers. Certainly, we still work within the framework of our main source of income, the sale of jewelry; however, we are refining it to get the most out of our marketing efforts and generate a number of incremental sales that would not have happened without our database being leveraged.

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In our store we also sell vintage and estate jewelry. Similar to segmenting our database based on vendors, we can also leverage customers who love vintage jewelry and create events and offers specifically for them.

How did we get into this market? Over the years, many attorneys have called on me to appraise jewelry left in a family’s estate. This information was necessary to enable recipients to fairly distribute coins or know what to ask for if they chose to sell them for equitable distribution to all parties. In many cases, the family had no interest in the jewelry and just wanted a check.

During the course of providing this service, I was often asked if I knew anyone who would be a buyer for the jewelry. Indeed, I had the first right of refusal, so I let them know that not only could I help them evaluate the pieces, but that I was also a solid buyer. The result was my ability to create a new revenue stream for the business in the sale of antique real estate and jewelry.

There are many people who only buy estate jewelry. Modern pieces do not correspond to their taste. If you are not currently offering estate jewelry, I strongly suggest you do! You can buy it in such a way that it allows you to make a better profit.

In addition, these parts are no longer manufactured and cannot be “purchased”. Get to know your local lawyers and develop relationships with them. This has allowed us to create a substantial new revenue stream.

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