The JA Report: News, Tips & Trends from Jewelers of America

Manage Negativity

Employee attitudes have always factored into the work environment, but in tough times, negative voices can have an even greater impact on the overall morale of your staff. The question is, how to counter the negativity without alienating employees who are valuable to your business?

In “How to Handle the Pessimist on Your Team,” Amy Gallo shares insight on accentuating the positive, even when employees are negative.

Use her tips to manage the negativity on your jewelry staff:

Take Legislative Action

As you know, decisions in Washington, D.C., today can impact your bottom line tomorrow. Members of the jewelry trade need not be silent on these matters. Through grass roots advocacy campaigns, we can have a collective and strong voice on Capitol Hill.

Now Jewelers of America has made it even easier for both members and non-members to reach out to legislators on issues of importance. Through the recently launched Legislative Action Center, you’re a point-and-click away from being heard by Congress.

Some quick tips to make the most of this new service:

Use Contests To Engage Customers!

Gifts of jewelry help commemorate life's biggest moments. To ensure you stay top of mind with your customers, it is vitally important to communicate with them on a regular basis. "Addressing your customers’ special occasions helps them associate those moments with jewelry," says Amanda Gizzi, director of consumer communications for Jewelers of America.  

Jewelry Information Center has created a marketing program that helps you "re-engage" your customer and encourage them to share what is undoubtedly one of their favorite stories...their engagement proposal story! 

Control Your Website’s Destiny

For many independent business owners it can be easy to cede power to web designers -- who have the expertise they lack -- when creating and operating a website. But Mikal Belicove, of Entrepreneur.com, warns businesses to avoid “being held hostage” by programmers and designers.

He offers the following tips to protect your business down the line:

Understand the "New" Luxury

Unlike past recessions, luxury has taken a hit during the latest downturn. As a result, luxury marketers are working hard to stay in tune with shifts in consumers’ attitudes. Luxury experts discussed these issues during “The New Luxury Paradigm” a session at the National Retail Federation’s Annual Convention, held January 10-13 in New York City.

Ellen Davis, VP and NRF spokesperson, shared luxury lessons from the session:

Keep Merchandise Safe from Burglaries

Tonight, after you’ve removed merchandise from showcases and stored it in the safe or vault, walk outside your store and look back inside from a fresh perspective: Pretend you are a thief. What do you see? Is there any merchandise in view that might be tempting? Remember, a thief can’t tell if it is platinum or silver, Rolex or Seiko.

Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company recommends that merchandise should be in the safe/vault or out of sight. Jewelers Mutual shares these other important measures to take in order to protect your store at night:

Protect Your Business From Fraud

An unfortunate byproduct of these challenging economic times is the increase in reports of fraud. Over at Small Business Trends, Denise O’Berry shares data from a recent Association of Certified Fraud Examiner’s survey, which found more than half of respondents’ reported an increase in fraud over the last 12 months.

With that in mind, it has become more important than ever to protect your cash flow. O’Berry offers the following tips:

Use Analytics To Improve Business

For companies trying to get a handle on where their business is and where it’s going (everything from customer shifts to trends), analytics can be a powerful tool.

Rachel Ryan, director of finance for the National Retail Federation (NRF), shared ideas from a session on analytics held at NRF’s Annual Convention, which took place from January 10-13, in New York City. The session featured speakers Chris McCann, president of 1-800-Flowers.com, and analytics expert Tom Davenport, a professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College.

Use the following tips from the NRF session to get started with analytics:

Put Money Back in Your Pocket

While many economists compared 2009 to the Great Depression, a more accurate name would probably be “The Great Humbling.” While some jewelers closed their doors, many used their downtime to find ways to cut costs, streamline processes and manage losses. For instance, some businesses innovated by switching to online systems for payment processing in their stores.

Matthew Focht, president and founder of Tru, a consulting firm specializing in payment processing, says that using online payment processing services can improve your efficiency and security while saving you money:

Romance Your Jewelry Sales

As a professional jeweler, you understand the importance of selling the emotion and romance of jewelry. But even romance can get stale if it isn’t regularly infused with some creative ideas. In “Romancing the Jewelry Shopper,”  JCK magazine’s Jennifer Heebner and Paul Holewa share ideas to bring the sparkle back into sales romance.

Take the following ideas and your store will be thriving with romance, and sales, in no time: 

Make Year-Round Sales With Birthstones

With so much focus on the holidays, it’s easy to lose sight of year-round sales opportunities that can help sustain and grow your business. Hopefully, you’ve created a customer database that includes milestone dates, such as birthdays and anniversaries. One way to use this data is to set up promotions around birthstones. These can be used to both target existing and attract potential customers.

Promote birthstone sales with these great event and marketing ideas:

Adapt!

Challenging times require businesses to be more flexible. The key is to evolve with the current circumstances, while retaining your core business values and staying focused on your goals. In “Learn to Adapt in the Face of Adversity,” small business consultant Sid Kemp notes that you are both your biggest asset and your biggest obstacle in effectively running your business.

He shares the following steps to help you adjust your attitude in order to deal with challenges:

List Logic: Make the Most of Google Business Listing

With so many consumers looking to find local information and businesses online, listing your business through Google’s free Local Business Center is a no brainer. The service allows businesses to create a free listing on Google Maps and track important info -- like who is searching for you online.

Adding Google to your business-building arsenal is just the first step. In “10 Things You Should Have Done to Make Your Google Business Listing Great,” Vedran Tomic shares the following ideas on how to make the most of the Google biz platform: