HI, I would want to share my experience with one of my customers when i use to work in Aruba for a Jewellery store.. The customer was looking at a 8ct round diamond bracelet (4 prong setting)in the white gold. she came up to me looking at 8ct which at that time we didn't have one in stock, instead telling her we dont have the 8ct, i put the 12ct bracelet on her wrist and talked her into it which she felt in love with. Though it was a lot of money compared to the 8ct, but i thought she will spend money coz the ring she was wearinf was veryt beautiful. her centre stone in the ring was 3.90ct round with platinum setting. I made them have drinks, made them laugh, spoke to them abt aruba, shared a lot of personal things abt family and friends, made them feel at home, gifted a stuffed Iguana (National animal in aruba)to their kid which costed me USD$4.00 only... In short i could tell that the customer liked me a lot, and i knew they would drop USD$16,500. they were in the store for atleast 2 hrs, and then their son started shouting for food, which disturbed the sale... i even told them i would buy them food.. then they told thanked me, and asked for my card with the details saying this is the first store we have been too, we need to look at some more, and also i was looking at 8cts and not 12cts.. plus my son is hungry and cranky, he needs some food.. we will come back.. we need to think abt it.. my entire energy was drained out hearing all this from them, but somehow back of my mind i knew they will buy from me.. well, ater couple of hours at around 5:00pm. the customer walks in, i was very happy, the customer tells me that they were getting the same bracelet same, color,clarity for USD$14,750. they even showed me the store's card with the price written down.. I could have matched the price, I did have room to play, i could have even spoiled the sale of the other store, but i didn't do that, i just told them that i m very honest with the price and our store doesn't play games in the prices.. they came up to me and told me that even though the price is less expensive in the other store, we will yet buy it from here reason being: they loved the way i educated them abt the diamonds, gold, the entire break-up of the bracelet, also the way my hospitality towards them... Finally i got the sale and that customer recommended many customers from the hotel in which she was staying..

honesty is the best policy....i find that people coming in and scouting out the designs and want a quick written quote have often been brainwashed by someone in another store and are more than likely making comparisons....in this case it is not the time to try and inforce the 4 C's educational trilogy as they've just recieved an ear load (maybe not in all cases but you get my drift).........honesty is the best policy and selling yourself before you try and sell any product is vital....I knew a guy that used to crack funnies while they were wandering the store....he was smart....little by little he would pry out information of what they had previously been told.... he was talented at starting friendly joking conversations whilst holding back on the whole "I WANNA SELL YOU A DIAMOND" attitude... talking about things that were entirely unrelated.....because he made himself likeable first,eventualy the customer couldnt help but ask a question....infact most of the sales in that shop came from stealing customers from other stores....we worked as a team and we were relaxed as we werent fighting over who gets what commission....the better the team succeeded the more rewarding it was for all of us at the end of the week.....