This morning I was listening to a local radio station when a diamond store’s advertisement played across the speakers… I sat there at the stoplight listening to the words…
“We are the ONLY diamond store that buys direct from the manufacturer… cutting out middleman pricing… best quality diamonds… friendly service…”
Truthfully… the ad was lame. There was no story telling… there was no emotional buy. There was nothing that invited me to continue the conversation. I decided to look into the other diamond sellers and manufacturers in the city. You guessed it… they were all the same. They all said the exact same thing.
Frankly, I do not care that you had to fly to Hong Kong to buy your diamonds. I don’t care that you are cutting out the middleman pricing. I care that you treat me the right way when I walk in the door. I care about the experience of the purchase not the purchase itself.
When we are selling a professional product or service it is important to DIFFERENTIATE. It is a lost art. How do you differentiate in a world where everything is starting to sound similar… sound bland? It is essential that you gain the trust of the individual before they buy. It is essential to encourage your customers to tell the story.
You can buy as many radio, yellow pages, or newspaper ads as your budget allows… it only breaks the surface. The experience sells the product. How are you using your website, social media, traditional marketing, and networking to tell your story.
Do not bore the world with details… tell them the story!
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If I was a diamond retailer, I would collect love stories and share them with my customers and prospects on a blog..
You know the stories… Bob and Mary where high school sweethearts, married young, had 3- children and now are celebrating a 40th anniversary. Ad to the story of the engagement, the wedding and then suggest that they demonstrated their love through the years with jewelry.
I would bet there would be alot of contributors to a catalog of love stories.
That's a great idea Bruce. I think Distinctive Diamonds takes a different approach. The owner's family is the supplier based in Israel, so not only do they cut out the middleman, they get the nice family deal and have the largest selection of diamonds in the state. They used to sell to the other jewelers in Indianapolis, but now they sell direct to you. They also are the only jeweler in town that shows you the "blue book" prices for the quality of diamond you're looking at. This shows you the real "fair" price, and that is the price they sell the diamond at. I learned all of this info from their radio spots. They say their price is considerably less than their competitors, and from my experience they are telling the truth.
The blue book approach is what really sold me. Quality, cut, brightness . . . buying an expensive diamond gets very confusing and scary. But when they show you a national publication of fair diamond prices, and the same quality certified diamond from another manufacturer is much more expensive, you're sold. It takes all the pressure and sales stuff out of the process.
So with diamonds, sure service, guarantee and a hear warming story all sound good, but it is such a large investment that if you can make the customer comfortable knowing he got a great diamond at a great price . . . you will sell more diamonds.
That's a great idea Bruce. I think Distinctive Diamonds takes a different approach. The owner's family is the supplier based in Israel, so not only do they cut out the middleman, they get the nice family deal and have the largest selection of diamonds in the state. They used to sell to the other jewelers in Indianapolis, but now they sell direct to you. They also are the only jeweler in town that shows you the "blue book" prices for the quality of diamond you're looking at. This shows you the real "fair" price, and that is the price they sell the diamond at. I learned all of this info from their radio spots. They say their price is considerably less than their competitors, and from my experience they are telling the truth.
The blue book approach is what really sold me. Quality, cut, brightness . . . buying an expensive diamond gets very confusing and scary. But when they show you a national publication of fair diamond prices, and the same quality certified diamond from another jeweler is much more expensive, you're sold. It takes all the pressure and sales stuff out of the process.
So with diamonds, sure service, guarantee and a heart warming story all sound good, but it is such a large investment that if you can make the customer comfortable knowing he got a great diamond at a great price . . . you will sell more diamonds.
That's funny. Distinctive Diamonds was actually the radio commercial I was listening to when I wrote the blog post.
Thank you for the ringing endorsement! This is what social media is about.
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Kevin, the Blue Book approach is a real winner. There is actually an online diamond blue book now. http://diamondpricebluebook.com – it's a free price gude. No subscription fees or anything – just enter the diamond's information – the basics, eg. 4 Cs, – and it shows you the book value for internet or retail buying.