What strategies do you use to retain your best customers?

Two jewelers discuss how they reach out to the biggest spenders among their clients.

By Phyllis Schiller

WAYNE ADDESSI
OWNER, ADDESSI JEWELERS
RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUTFor us, contacting our top clients is still done the old-fashioned way, through email. That’s usually the way we reach out. I took over my family’s business in 1995, and I’ve been sending emails and adding videos ever since. It’s all about digital marketing today, and I do use Instagram and social media to drive customers into the store. But for my top clients, emailing is still very effective. Especially since they are 60 to 80 years old. They are the ones spending six figures or more.

“Let’s face it, the 80-20 rule still lives: You do most of your business with a small list of clients. They are the ones you want to laser-focus on, but you need to make it relevant to their histories. The emails have to have specific meaning for them. I know my clients and when there’s an occasion coming up. And I keep track of what they’ve purchased previously, so I can suggest an add-on, such as telling them I’ve acquired a pair of beautiful ruby earrings that would go with a ruby pendant they previously purchased, or emailing them a video and picture of a fabulous gemstone. Another way is to send a gift to your most important clients. We don’t do that too often, and it can be a nice gesture.

“Of course, everything else we do, supporting different venues in town, fundraising, partnering with venues, is all part of the strategy. There are multiple paths we have to take to keep our brand strong. But I think people appreciate the email rather than a phone call. It’s always nice to say, ‘I’m thinking of you.’ And an email keeps us top of mind, so clients think of us if they need something.

THOMAS WRIGHT
CO-OWNER, WRIGHT’S JEWELERS
LINCOLN, NEBRASKAWe are a small independent store. In terms of reaching out to top clients, I’m sure the major teachers of selling in the industry would tell you that you have to follow up with a handwritten card and send your best customers gifts to keep them around. We don’t do any of that.

“There are some clients I might see once every three years, but when I do, it’s an important issue. There are some of our better clients who we will see or talk to more often, whether it be socially or monthly in the store. It just depends; there is no absolute. What we offer to these customers is that they have my wife and me to talk to. They don’t have to deal with just any hired person they’ve never met or spoken with before. We’re small enough that we can be at the beck and call of top customers. They are handled personally.

“Against what all the trainers tell you, we do not pester our clients with phone calls. I will never do that. The client should know that we are here if they want us. But I am not going to be calling them up all the time. I know how mad robocalls make people. To me, making random calls to my clients is in the same category as robocalls.

“We don’t listen to the trainers. The word ‘independent’ is all capitalized in our style of business. If I were a large firm with 18 employees, I couldn’t do this. But because we are small, I can be more personalized. What we set out to do 40 years ago was to make a store where it was us, not a store that is so large you never know from day to day who’s going to help you.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - April 2019. To subscribe click here.

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