Debbie, anyone with half a brain is going to try to get your retail price down! People in the US no longer have the long green and they have to start negoiating to get what they need with the money they have!!
America in the past is the only country in the world where people actually pay list price for new cars!! Pretty sad!
I have purchased gemstone, jewelry supplies, cameos, tools and you name it from Hong Kong to Pakistan and Americans are the only people that get made if you ask for a discount! They take it personanally. Not good, not good for sales or for business.
First of all don't take it personally because a person wants your jewelry! Im flattered when they want my jewelry and im not offended because they don't have enough money to buy it.
Remember the art of sales does not occur until the customer says no! Then you have to go to work because anything other then that is just taking an order not really selling. People asking you for a discount is a sign that we are entering into an era where we actually value a dollar and not treat it like its a never ending supply of green mana from heaven!
When people start talking discounts I just smile and start talking value and benefits. It's called negotiation and it is an art older then camel racing. Unfortunatley our country has been so blessed we never worried about it much but listen to me real good here:
THE DAYS OF BIG LOOSE MONEY IS OVER. IT IS NOT ONLY OVER IT IS NEVER COMING BACK. LET ME REPEAT THAT FOR EVERYONE WAITING AROUND FOR THINGS TO GET REAL ROSEY AGAIN. THE WAY THINGS WERE ARE GONE. THE MONEY IS GONE, THE SECURITY IS GONE, THE GOLD IS GONE AND IT WILL NEVER COME BACK NOR THE WAY IT USED TO BE, NEVER.
DON'T BE FOOLED WITH MAINSTREAM CHEERLEADER NEWS PEOPLE THEY ARE JUST FOLLOWING THE SCRIPT. THIS COUNTRY HAS COME INTO A BIG CHANGE AND WE NEED TO GET USED TO IT.
But it is going to be ok becuase us and our children are going to learn that this money thing is precious and needs to be treated as such. And to keep more of it you are going to have to negotiate yourself into a better position in life by using your negotiating skills. And if you don't have any you better get some soon.
This does not mean you have to take $25 for a $100 piece of jewelry. No, but it means you have to convey to the potential customer that the $100 piece is actually worth more then $100 and there getting one heck of a price.
They talk discount you talk value
They talk discount you talk benefits
TheY frown you grin
There mad you get happy.
If you come off as angry you have lost that sale and that customer. Let me give you an exampl: true story!
I went to Jaipur India on a very big gem buy. I got with the head gem broker there and we sat in a small room and every and I mean every gem dealer in the town called the Pink City, it's 1000 years old. came thru that room offering there gems thru my friend the broker.
Most of it i did not come there for nor did I want. But he would just say: "Have some very beatiful things and oh so cheap and along comes someone with the very thing I did not want to review! He did this about 40 times but guess what? I bought $3000 to $5000 of this stuff I said I did not want because of his persistance and value and everyone won.
We got down to some gemstones I dont remember what they were and he said: "Look at these gems what is your offer? And I wanted to see how far I could take him before he got mad. So I said: "I don't want to hurt your feelings" NO, no he said Please give me your offer please" I said again, No i dont want to hurt your feelings. He says no no please give me your offer.
So I think the gems were worth about $15 each back in the states so I tell him 10 cents each!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes 10 cents each! But I will never forget this.
He did not get mad
He did not get angry
He smiled all the time
And he did not give up on that sale!! So he gives me a counter and i give him a counter and before you know it I got a few thousand dollrs of gems for about $1.00 each!!!
I never would have belived it but he would just say to my ridiculous offer ----Is not possible? Is not possibel? Is not possible.
All the gem dealers made thousands that day and I spent about $100,0000, Me and the broker became fast friends and we did more business again and again. All because no one got made. No one gave up and in the end everyone was happy.
But see that is the India way that is not the US way. Here we are all stressed out were upset, were this and that and in India if they don't make that sale THEY DON'T EAT!! So they have developed these skills over thousands of years and I hope we start to develop them to.
So in closing its a new day in the US and yes it will get better it always does but it will never be the ame ever again. It was a time that we had everthing and never really appreciated it.
During this tough period home jewelers that know how to sell and negotiate will make it those that don't won't.
Preston Reuther
Master Wire Sculptor
www.wirejewelrybootcamp.com
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