Build tomorrow’s sales on what you know about today’s buyers

There are two things you must do with every jewelry customer. The first one is easy—sell something. The second, however, is neglected by a surprising number of jewelers, not only in the way they handle the prospects walking through their door, but in the strategies that shape their marketing.

It’s the very thing that has turned companies such as Amazon, Skype, and Facebook into such valuable assets, even though they may not be making a profit relative to their value (or any profit at all).

We’re referring, of course, to the contact information you should be capturing for all of your customers. This list containing all of your customers’ key data represents all future sales.

Look carefully for every chance you have to grow your list. If you can’t make a sale, at least get the person’s name. Give potential buyers who are browsing the chance to enter a monthly competition in exchange for sharing contact details. This gives your staff a potential icebreaker for anyone who is “just looking, thanks.”

If you have a website, offer a free voucher in return for a customer’s name and email address. Too many websites are passive tools with no call to action, and as such, they achieve no objective.

Getting people to divulge personal details is a value exchange. They are asked constantly, and they will acquiesce only if they believe the value of what they will receive outweighs the cost of providing it—i.e., a loss of privacy. The more you provide—a free voucher, a competition entry—the more likely they’ll feel it’s worth losing that privacy.

You want to capture three pieces of information:

1. Basic details (name and address)

2. Additional contact information (phone and email address)

3. Other relevant data (partner’s name, birthday, anniversaries, likes and interests)

Then follow up with more of what they want. But don’t bombard them with pitches and product offers. Free information that helps customers solve problems and answers questions—while establishing you as the expert—can help cement a relationship.

The depths to which you know your customers can be just as important as how many you know, because the better you know them, the greater your chances of building that relationship. But never fear: Even basic information is a good place to start.