Dan Gendron has been in the forefront of showing jewelers how to find amazing new profits for many years, and hundreds upon hundreds of jewelers are thrilled that he has.

The retail jewelry business is changing. Aside from the fact that consumers can buy diamonds on the Internet, sometimes for less than you can, the “Mart” stores are encroaching on what was once exclusive territory.

Today we have the “Mart” stores selling items that once belonged to the independent jewelry retailer alone, carrying moderately priced wedding bands, engagement rings, and even school rings -- Goldman and Keepsake wedding bands, Speidel and more, all at prices that you cannot possibly compete with. I recently heard an ugly rumor that one of the “Mart” stores is going to be selling certed diamonds soon.

The days of retail jewelers being able to fill their showcases and stand back as customers buy it up are passing before our eyes.

It's important for today's jewelers to stand out from their competition. The way to become "competition-proof" is to offer services that are available ONLY through professional retail jewelers and develop ways to innovate that the “Mart” stores cannot compete with.

There are four pillars that will hold up your store through these changing times and beyond, even when the economy is such that sales drop even further. These pillars will set you apart from the stores that can only offer price, not service. They are:

1. Jewelry Repairs
2. Custom Jewelry Design
3. Watch Repairs
4. Appraisals

Jewelry Repairs
If you don't have or aren't using David Geller's price book (www.jewelerprofit.com), you absolutely, positively must. The average amount of profit lost by retail jewelers due to improperly pricing repairs is in the range of $25,000 to $50,000 per store, per year.

I have seen many jewelers who have no idea whatsoever what their true cost is to perform any number of specific jewelry repairs. David's price book is much like what car dealers use to determine car repair prices.

To quote David, “Repairs are not price sensitive.” Pricing should be based on what your actual costs are, plus a profit margin that puts a true value on your work, education and experience.

Jewelry store customers arrive at your store in a visual mind-set. By this I mean they expect and need to see things. Most jewelers, rather than satisfy this need, talk about what they will do and what the charge will be. This creates a sensory mismatch. It would be like trying to satisfy someone with potato chips when they were thirsty.

You can use David's book to show them your prices for specific repairs, thus allowing their mind to agree to the price. The additional profits from jewelry repairs will cost you NO ADDED OVERHEAD.

Custom Design
Computer Aided Jewelry Design is fast becoming the standard for creating fine custom jewelry pieces.

If you are afraid of custom jewelry design, you have no need to be anymore. Today we have JewelSpace, the industry's most advanced and easy to use jewelry design software. No longer do you need to be a pencil and paper artist to create breathtaking jewelry renderings for your customer's approval. No longer do you have to be a wax carving artist and no longer to you have to smell up your store with a burnout furnace.

JewelSpace is so simple to use and yet so powerful that you can show your customers the creative design process right in front of their eyes. Change the stone? Click a button. Go from yellow gold to platinum? Click another button. And there you have a photo-realistic rendering of the finished piece – right on your computer screen.

JewelSpace is easy to learn. All it really takes is a willingness to take the time to do the extensive tutorials which are included with the program (about half-hour per day for about 3-4 weeks) at your own time, wherever you are comfortable doing them. No additional training is needed for you to begin reaping the profits available to you as a user of JewelSpace. Plus, their technical support is exceptional.

JewelSpace comes with an abundance of libraries containing components that you can “drag and drop” onto the work surface to create pieces, or create your own design from the ground up. In addition to shanks, heads, bails, etc., libraries include Celtic band maker, Greek, Hebrew and other languages for fraternity pieces and wedding bands, and a logo jewelry maker.

The makers of JewelSpace are so confident that you will love using JewelSpace, that they are the ONLY jewelry design software to offer you a complete satisfaction, 100% money back guarantee.

JewelSpace also offers an easy payment plan that can work with your budget. To order your copy of this invaluable software today, call 888-750-3330.

Watch Repair
Do you allow big profits to walk out your door every day? Do you consider watch repairs a "favor" you do for only certain customers? Are watch repairs a hassle for you, with big shipping charges to and from your watchmaker? Are you paying out all your watch repair income to have watches fixed outside of your store?

Most retail jewelers simply hate watch repairs of any kind. This is no secret. It really, really shows. In my travels I have many opportunities to surreptitiously visit jewelers under the guise of needing a watch repaired. It never ceases to amaze me how I am greeted by most jewelers when I walk in with a watch repair. Most look like they are being subjected to a proctologic exam!

As a matter of fact, when I do a speaking engagement for a group of jewelers, I always ask those in the group to raise their hand if they take in watch repairs for watches they have not sold. Fewer than 5% actually raise their hand!

This creates an enormous reservoir of untapped potential. With only 5% of jewelers offering watch repair, this means that the average customer will have to go to 19 jewelers before finding the one who will serve their watch repair needs.

Imagine yourself in the circumstance of looking for someone who could dry clean silk for you and having to go to 19 dry cleaners before finding one who would do it for you. Without any dispute, you would prize the dry cleaner that provided this service and, most of all, remember them the next time you needed any dry cleaning done.

The same is true in our business. It is easy to stand apart from all the mediocrity with watch repairs.

To quote David Geller...“Repairs are not price sensitive.” They are service sensitive. And they are HIGHLY PROFITABLE!!!

Take, for example, a round, flat, mineral glass crystal. This is the most popular type of crystal used today.
Average Cost: 65 cents.
Average Time required to install: 5 minutes.
Average retail: $35 to $45.
Net result: you are a hero, and you made $40 in 5 minutes.

Let's look at another example.

Tag-Heuer, Movado and Omega all use the ETA 955.114 quartz movement.
Average cost: $14.
Average Time to install: 10 to 15 minutes.
Average retail: $85 to 150.
And again, you are a hero.

There is an old axiom: build a better mousetrap and the people will beat a path to your door. This is certainly true with watch repairs. Once you begin to take advantage of this highly profitable and under-appreciated aspect of your business, your volume of watch repair will typically quadruple in less than 6 months.

This isn't hard to understand. The demand is overwhelming and only waits for you to take advantage of it. The “Mart” stores of the world cannot offer these services. Watch repair is a gold mine for you to exploit!

Needless to say, most “Mart” stores are a little more than gun shy about changing watch batteries and watchband adjustments. To put it mildly, very often they make really big mistakes. I have seen them pry off the back off a Piaget Polo (for those who don't know, this watch costs $16,000). In the process of trying to replace the battery, they broke the tops off 12 18kt gold screws and bent the back.

Tip: Most retail jewelers do not know that the “Mart” stores have a policy that they will pay whatever you charge to fix their screw-ups. We all have seen customers come into our stores with a watch in a plastic bag, torn apart, with a bewildered look on their face, saying they just came from a “Mart” store!

Most retail jewelers have pity on the poor mistreated “Mart” store customer. We close the case back or properly install the battery and either charge very little or we do it for free. Well it's not necessary to do this for free! Simply charge the customer a FAIR price. You should be charging these customers a minimum of $25.

Don't feel bad for the “Mart” store customer. Simply send them back to the “Mart” store and have them see the manager, your bill in hand. The manager will cough up the money, whatever it is. I know this. I have seen the ops manuals.

Before any of you jump to the conclusion that these customers will some day become “GOOD CUSTOMERS,” do an exercise with me. Write down on a legal pad 100 times, “Mart store customers will some day return and make a major purchase.” Before you get to write it more than 10 times, it will seem ridiculous - because it is.

Still think watch repairs are a pain?

In just two days, Dan Gendron, 6th generation watchmaker, can change all that. He's done it for hundreds and hundreds of jewelers. Yes, in just two days, Dan can teach you to repair quartz watches using the same method as the factory service centers.

In his famous, hands-on course, you'll learn to replace crystals and stems & crowns, you'll make watches water resistant, you'll learn to identify and order quartz movements, you'll learn to change a mechanical watch to a quartz movement, and, best of all, you'll learn to do all this...PROFITABLY!

Just one of the procedures Dan will teach you can make you, the average jeweler, an additional $30,000 or more THIS YEAR.

What are you waiting for? Classes are held throughout the country!
Call 888-750-3330 or visit www.watchrepairseminars.com!

Appraisals
Better than 90% of the jewelry that comes into your store for repair has not been appraised, and will therefore not be covered under the customer's insurance policy. This creates a sales opportunity for you to sell appraisals.

Unfortunately, many jewelers overlook this amazingly profitable sales vehicle. When we really consider it, an appraisal is just some of our time and expertise and a few cents worth of paper.

Doing appraisals gives your store credibility (“you're the expert”) as well as fantastic buying opportunities.

How simple is it to get appraisal business? What if, as a standard part of your jewelry and watch repair take-in procedure, you asked the simple question, “Is this item appraised?” How many appraisals could you sell that way? I know of a jeweler in a small town in Alabama who started doing this and had to put his wife to work full time just typing appraisals (this paid more than her paralegal position!)

With your digital camera, you can take pictures and place them on the appraisal, do stone plots, calculate set stones by formula for weight, and print it out in a very professional manner on virtually any bubble-jet type printer or laser printer.