Below are the Show Notes from my Jewelry Navigator Podcast conversation with Kathleen Cutler, Founder of Bespoke Commerce, and CEO of Kathleen Cutler Strategy.
To listen to the episode, click HERE, click the player below, or subscribe to Jewelry Navigator Podcast on your favorite audio platform – Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play Music, or Podbean.
Now that we’re in the last quarter of the year, we need to capture the attention of our clients and customers to optimize income potential.
If you haven’t kept ahead of your marketing plans, it’s not too late!
Kathleen Cutler of Bespoke Commerce, and CEO of Kathleen Cutler Strategy is my guest this week on Jewelry Navigator Podcast.
She shared valuable strategies for holiday sales by connecting with clients and resources already available to stores and designers.
Kathleen is a former bench jeweler and has worked in a myriad of roles within the jewelry industry, includng expereince at Rebekah Brooks Jewelry working with estate and handmade jewelry.
Through the first few minutes of our podcast conversation, we talk about what jewelry designers, brands and stores can do to navigate the current retail climate to merge their efforts between online and locations by connecting with their ideal clients.
Kathleen shares five simple action strategies to apply for a successful holiday sales season that will set jewelers, designers, and brands apart with loyal clients who are happy to provide referrals and return for future jewelry purchases.
The underlying purpose and focus of our visit on Jewelry Navigator Podcast is to share how designers and brands can:
- Stand out in online and social media marketing
- Use their immediate circle to increase holiday and future jewelry sales
- Bridge retail experience between online and brick and mortar
Before getting to the FIVE action strategies in the podcast, Kathleen shares:
Instead of getting caught up in finding more clients, and become distracted by the moving parts of Social Media, Kathleen works with brands and encourages them to nurture the clients they already serve.
Here are a few suggestions IF YOU DON’T HAVE A STOREFRONT and NEED TO WORK WITH CLIENTS REMOTELY
Working from a mix of effective tasks, Kathleen recommends:
- Use alternative modes to bring the customer as close to the jewelry as possible through video strategies, connecting the client to the designer, jeweler, and jewelry.
QUICK TOOLS FOR SUCCESSFUL ONLINE CONNECTIONS
Current connection strategies to implement immediately on your website:
- Phone number prominently displayed
- Online chat options for immediate connection and response
- Offer a video chat consultation on FaceTime or Skype to discuss custom design or jewelry gift ideas
WHAT BUSINESSES WITHOUT PHYSICAL LOCATIONS CAN DO TO CONNECT FOR HOLIDAY SALES
Think outside the box to connect and collaborate with local businesses:
- Clothing boutique collaborations
- Link up with an upscale wine stores or boutiques to host a selection of fine jewelry from your collections
- Offer jewelry gift selections in a Men’s suit shop
- Think where your ideal clients are spending time during late November and early December, and target those out-of-the box markets
Kathleen encourages businesses to use “Retro” (what our grandparents would have done to reach out for business within the community) methods to nurture connections within the community to get their jewelry out, and reach a wider audience within and beyond their circle of influence.
CREATE INTEREST AND CURIOSITY FOR YOUR JEWELRY
- Attend charity events wearing your jewelry
- Attend holiday parties wearing your jewelry
- Country club events; create an offer for friends to wear your jewelry to their events
WE CAN’T SELL A SECRET
Kathleen works designers so they’re not the world’s best kept secret, and encourages them to get into the forefront with local and regional events and arenas where their ideal customers are.
She also encourages jewelers and designers to create a constant flow of personal and regular communication through the year with a regular cadence to keep up with their best clients.
The best way to connect is through being woven into the community.
“People are craving that kind of family jeweler feel right now.
They are craving a brand they can really deeply identify with and feel personally connected with.”
– Kathleen Cutler, via Jewelry Navigator Podcast
FIVE SIMPLE MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR A SUCCESSFUL Q4
1. Know how to identify your best clients who are ready to buy high end.
HINT: They’re the people who’ve already bought from you.
Review your best clients and their purchase histories, what they purchased and for whom.
Make a plan of recommendations for holiday gift purchases.
Think about how the items can be connected for future collections.
Who are your best clients?
Not just clients with the highest value purchases, but ones with most consistency.
From there, customize a plan for their holiday recommendations.
Choose 10-20 of your best clients based on the above criteria, then create customized recommendations for holiday gifts.
If there’s time, schedule a social VIP event for your top clients to have access to your best pieces before the rush of holiday shopping is in full swing.
2. Re-engage clients now with something personal about them.
- Ask how they’re enjoying their last jewelry purchase
- For special prior jewelry purchases, ask to see any photos they’re willing to share from the event or presentation
- Offer free cleaning and check ups for jewelry
- Whatever you do, make it about the customer.
Re-engage with them BEFORE suggesting or asking for a sale.
3. Treating your clients with gratitude and appreciation
Use the “me” stigma of the Millennial/New Consumer persona to feature them as a model for your jewelry in an upcoming feature, social media or your newsletter.
This becomes valuable social proof, and makes content creation for social media easy (with their permission), and allows your customer to be at the forefront.
4. Don’t lose out on opportunities to offer your service during gift giving seasons – offer a “hero” service by knowing their taste and match making collections and jewelry with your customers interests and past purchases.
- Using the same 10-20 clients from your master list, dig deeper by integrating new collection suggestions that will work well with what they already have.
- Dig even deeper to access possible wish lists of those relevant to your clients and their loved ones.
- Offer to gift wrap and deliver their jewelry gifts.
5. Rescue Last Minute Purchasers
- Access records from last minute purchasers from last year, and years before, then offer a concierge service to deliver a hand selected collection of jewelry that may pair well with prior purchases or from your recommendations.
- Facilitate a service within their busy schedule to prevent the last minute purchase panic.
AFTER THE DUST SETTLES – Q1
- Take advantage of post-holiday/gift money shopping by women, teens, moms and gift recipients.
- Are there exchange opportunities you can suggest to start a new collection?
Schedule Regular Marketing Strategies Through the Year
- BEFORE the holiday season, through out the year, be sure to use a trickle marketing method of keeping in touch with your best customers
- sets you apart by taking sincere interest in their lives, and they will remember you’re there to honor their special occasions with jewelry gifts
QUICK AND SIMPLE RECAP & REVIEW:
- Who bought from you in the past
- How can you serve them during the holiday season
- How can you facilitate getting your jewelry into their hands
I really enjoyed visiting with Kathleen! She’s a wealth of intuitive knowledge on how to access today’s consumer.
It was wonderful to hear her insights and get a bigger picture on how jewelers, brands and designers can create an evnironment of service for success during this most crucial time of year for jewlery retail.
You can find Kathleen at kathleencutler.com
And, as promised in the podcast, below you’ll find the link to her e-book, Turn Window Shoppers Into Collectors, and three emails you can send today.