Centurion News - May/June 2008

Outstanding Education Characterizes Centurion 2008

The attendees of Centurion each year have come to expect a solid educational program and 2008 turned out to be a great year for the early morning classes. Along with the outstanding speaker lineup, the “Meet The Expert” Discussion Groups were met with enthusiasm. “The roundtable discussions are great,” said Steve Polacheck of Polacheck’s Jewelers, Calabasas, CA, who encourages all attendees to get up early to make these sessions. His advice: “Get out of bed and start attending and you will be much more knowledgeable.”

The Roundtables ran the gamut of subjects: The Internet and Your Store, Owner’s Forum/Family Business, The Employee Relationship, How to Promote Your Store, Protecting Your Business from Legal Risk, Teaching Employees to Deal with Discounting, and My Store Is Not A Museum: Managing Your Inventory. Subject—specific general sessions began Saturday afternoon of the event and also followed the roundtables each morning. Here’s a short recap:

CUTTING EDGE INTERNET: CREATING SALES THROUGH NEW TECHNOLOGY

Andrew Max Link, ARTYSO; Jeff Pierce and Jason Thom, Von Bargen’s Jewelry: Jason
and Jeff see new Internet technologies as very relevant to their core demographics, not just the youngsters on the web. And for other prestige jewelers, this means their target demographic groups, generally slightly older, are on the web.

Andrew picked up where Jeff and Jason left off, showing the attendees live sites on the web that can assist with their businesses. “Build an infrastructure where you collect data [from your customers]” he advised the audience. And he shared how to do this inexpensively through websites such as www.formsite.com. www.vflyer.com and www.Icontact.com.

SECRETS TO KEEPING EMPLOYEES HAPPY AND PRODUCTIVE

For Gary Gordon, Samuel Gordon Jewelers, his motivation was simple. “Daniel [Gary’s
son] and I had been on a quest to streamline our business, personnel-wise, and get a staff that really does what we want them to do the way we want them to do it!” Of course, making this vision a reality took some work so enter the development of Samuel Gordon’s Employee Tool Box.

To get your own copy of Samuel Gordon Jeweler’s Employee Tool Box, send a check for
$35 payable to “Jewelers For Children” to Centurion, 1745 Merrick Ave, Ste. 5, Merrick, NY 11566. On the memo portion of the check write: “Samuel Gordon Tool Box.” Please also provide a fl at 8½ x 11 self-addressed envelope, which will be used to mail your Tool Box.

TRIUMPHING THROUGH TOUGH SITUATIONS,

Sponsored by the Diamond Promotion Service, the Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast,
Tim Daggett told his story. “We all face trauma and crisis in our lives, whether on a
personal or professional level,” said Tim. He also admitted that winning is a lot more fun, but he’s familiar with both winning and losing. Tim’s entire career was a series of ups and down, a struggle to overcome physical limitations to finally score a perfect 10 on the horizontal bar to clinch the gold for the United States Men’s Gymnastics Team. Tim had setback after setback and regained his strength and poise every time. His advice? “Work hard and struggle; find the will, character, and passion to get up and fight again.” Through humor and sharing his real life experiences, Tim told his story to the audience, all the while imparting a bit of inspiration for everyone to take back to their stores.

Claudia Rose of the Diamond Promotion Service connected today’s economic struggles with Tim’s talk, off ering insight to the audience on market segments that continue to shop during a diffi cult economic times. She advised: There will always be those that continue to buy diamonds. One segment is called the Diamond enthusiasts. They are heavy owners with 8+ pieces who fi nd no satiation, even in downturns. They are already more affluent.

Men are another good market for diamonds for special occasions, added Rose. While the “just because” purchases men make may drop off, the occasion-oriented jewelry purchases by men will not.

SALES BEST PRACTICES PANEL DISCUSSION

Moderated by Howard Hauben, Panelists included: Doug Bradstreet, Wynn Las Vegas; Mark Moeller, R.F. Moeller Jewelers; Sean Moore, Borsheim’s; and Cathy Tivol, Tivol.

Each panelist took a few minutes to explain how their business worked and about their own best sales practices. Particularly interesting were the questions posed to the panelists during the audience questions part of the panel.

• When everything goes wrong with a customer, how do you win them back? According to Mark Moeller, a retailer should look at the problem as an opportunity. Apologize and then say you’ll do anything to make them happy, and then exceed their expectations. Th is attitude will turn them into better customers.

• What do you demand from your supplier as a partner to support your mission as a retailer? Doug Bradstreet said this: A partnership is a partnership. I don’t demand, I ask. If I ask for Memo, I’m willing to give up a little bit of dollars to get the Memo. One non-negotiable I have is regarding trade-outs. I’m a new store, but if I have product that is not exciting to our customers, I insist the vendors take it back. At that point, I become a bit more firm [to get one-to-one return privileges].

• Explain Borsheim’s trade-in policy. It’s kind of a monster, Sean admitted. But in the long run, it creates customers who are very loyal to the store. Borsheim’s offers trade-in value on everything they sell (other than pearls) and off ers trade-ins on items bought elsewhere. They do have various guidelines to follow. Off ering money toward other purchases creates customer appreciation.

• Do you involve your staff in formulating your store’s mission statement? Cathy Tivol said yes, she certainly did. And at the moment, Tivol is redoing their mission statement and involving all staff, not just the sales staff . They held an all—staff meeting to make it a joint discussion.

THE POWER OF CELEBRITY

Martha McCully, In Style magazine, off ered the attendees power insight into the world of celebrity today as well as advice on how a retailer could tie into the celebrity craze. Why does celebrity sell? Inspiration was one reason. Half the women believe celebrities refl ect the latest trends and consumers often rely on a celebrity’s style to create their own.

Upcoming show dates for the portfolio of Centurion events are: Centurion Los
Angeles, August 16-18, 2008; Centurion South Beach, October 16-18, 2008; and Centurion Tucson, January 31-February 4, 2009. For details or to register, contact Centurion via these methods: call 1.888.427.4697 or 1.516.377.5909; email hh@centurionjewelry.com; or visit www.centurionjewelry.com.