Southern Jewelry News

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11:44

January

2008

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Article Autor: Chuck Koehler

The Retailer’s Perspective

It gets harder and harder every day to come up with effective ways to reach customers these days. I remember in the old days if you spent $1,000 on advertising, you’d usually make your $1,000 back plus a thousand. Now, I swear if I went out and borrowed $100,000 and dumped it into every media outlet known to man to advertise my business for a month, the only thing certain is at the end of the month I’d owe $100,000. There’s no guarantee that my marketing effort is going to generate one dollar of revenue. How do we reach our customers today? Beats me! But, I do know that what worked 20 and 30 years ago doesn’t work today.

I know I’m not the only person thinking this way because I talk to other mom and pop shops across the country daily and we’re all having the same problem reaching new customers. If you own a jewelry store today it’s a pretty good bet that you’re not a teenager. I’m 46 years old (actually I’m 45 while I’m writing this and I’ll be 46 by the time you read it - but I act like a 19 year old I’m told) so I remember having only a black and white TV. Marketing back then was easy.

When we got our first color TV, I remember you couldn’t get within 3 feet because the radiation would stunt your growth. We had three channels plus that one channel that never came in clearly unless you positioned the rabbit ears antenna just right. Then along came cable. We first had the box with 20 buttons on it and a 30 foot cord that stretched across the living room. All of a sudden we discovered TV without commercials. Marketing just became more difficult.

My first car had an AM radio and an 8-track player and I’d never heard of a Wal-Mart. It’s a brand new world out there and a bunch of us are still advertising and marketing like we did when Sammy Hagar was blasting out of the speakers on our 8-track players. Heck, even Sammy puts his music out on iTunes now.

I hear once or twice a week from retailers who just dumped a lot of money into newspaper ads and got no response at all...me included. As an example, I saw my ad in the paper today... the same day the bill for that ad showed up. I think the only person who saw my ad besides me was the person who sent me the bill. My newspaper ad today was right beside a Kroger ad. Guess who spent more and had a bigger ad? Kroger has 25 stores locally and probably a million square feet of sales floor. I have one store and about 500 square feet of showroom space. I can’t compete with Kroger, yet I continue to try.

Last year I spent a ton on major market radio ads. My salesperson would usually show up to collect the money at the exact moment one of my ads would be airing citywide. Well, at least I know two of us heard it.
And, being the little guy, I don’t get the good reps. I get the ones that are out cold calling because they’re new. The only answer I get from them when I tell them something is not working is I need to advertise more.

They say: “It’s only pennies per person that you’ll reach with our publication.” Yeah, that’s fine if it were only pennies to advertise. Last time I checked it was hundreds per ad with a 16 week contract required, making those pennies sure seem like thousands of dollars when I’m writing them a check. Funny though, they never say: “Well, it appears that I sold you something that didn’t work. Let me tear up that invoice.” No, it’s always: “You need to buy more.”

I mean, let’s face it, you can only afford to dump so much money into a promotion that doesn’t generate dollars to your bottom line. Usually when I buy advertising it starts with a contract, not a check. The check doesn’t come in to play for about a month. No matter what the results of the marketing, I still have to write the check. If I contract for $1,000 of advertising, I need to generate $2,000 in sales. The first $1,000 pays the contract off, the second $1,000 pays my mortgage, utilities, etc.. But, what do you do if no one comes in? No one saw your ad? No one contributed to my mortgage payment or the ad contract?

I know I have to do things differently if I’m going to compete in today’s marketplace. The only problem is I don’t have a clue what to do. I’m ready to step into the year 2007 and advertise and market my business more effectively if I only knew what to do. That’s where you come in. I want to know what other independent jewelers are doing to find new customers in your market?

We’re going to make a special page on our website at www.SouthernJewelryNews.com and create a list what other jewelers are doing. If you tried something and it worked, tell the rest of us. If you tried something and you lost money, tell us that too, so others don’t try the same thing. This column goes out to about 21,000 jewelry stores, mostly independent owner operators, and the answers lie out there with all of you. We’ve got to stick together if we’re going to survive in this crazy world of big corporations taking over the planet.

I have a friend that had a very successful independent jewelry operation for over 20 years and out of the blue last month he shut down without telling a soul. He told me he just couldn’t sell anything anymore and decided to call it a career. That is happening all over the US and it all goes back to the simple fact that if your revenue stream dries up, you can’t stay in business. And, the best way to keep your revenue stream viable is to have a steady dose of brand new customers coming into your store and spending money.

I know there’s an answer. Actually, I know there are about 100 answers or more, it’s just someone needs to tell me and I’ll spread the word. Since I moved my store last year it’s pretty much just like starting over from scratch and I need those new people to find me, need me, and not be able to live without me, just like the old days.

So, your mission... if you choose to accept... is to e-mail www.SouthernJewelryNews.com (or call 336-389-1950 if you’d prefer) and tell the rest of us something that worked or something that didn’t work that you wouldn’t do again. If we all pull together, we can beat this thing called “Too much going on to pay attention to the little guy.”
And next month we’ll start working on my personal life and see about getting me a girlfriend...

Only the Shadow Knows...

On another topic, I’ve been thinking about something for a couple of years that I’m going to implement this year. Since I like to teach other jewelers all the tricks and tips I’ve picked up in 30 years I’m starting a ‘shadow program’ at my shop. I used a jeweler named Mack Thomas as a guinea pig last year. He came to Nashville for a couple of days and watched me do the same type of work that he does every day only with three decades of experience and full explanations of the procedures. I’ve also got another full bench set-up so my shadow can practice on the spot. Mack and I learned that two days is not enough time. You’ll need three to five days to really get the whole experience. How do you become a shadow for a week?

Go to my website at www.CMKCompany.com and you can see the details, read about Mack’s experience, and see how to apply. Oh yeah, and you have to be fun... no grumps allowed!

Chuck is the owner of Anthony Jewelers in Nashville, TN. Chuck also owns CMK Co., a wholesale trade shop that specializes in custom jewelry and repair services to the jewelry industry nationwide. You can contact him at 615-327-9358, www.CMKcompany.com or e-mail info@southernjewelrynews.com.