The Story of the Jewellers' Sales Training Program

By William P. Colbert

The objective of The Jewelers Sales Training Program is to develop outstanding retail jewelry
sales personnel. The program was produced as the result of extensive research that involved
some of the most outstanding retail jewelry store- owners, managers, executives and retail
sales professionals in the country.
The resear

• Language: English
• Publisher: LitFire Publishing
• Release date: Sep 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781643987460

William P. Colbert

"Dr. William P. Colbert As the chief researcher and author of The Jewelers Sales Training Program, Dr. Colbert comes with a rich background that includes education and retail jewelry management experience that is told in detail in The Story of the Retail Jewelry Sales Training Program. He received his undergraduate teaching degree at Minnesota and Masters and Doctorate at Columbia University in the City of New York. He has taught at all level of the educational ladder. For many years he was a retail jeweler. Many of the training sessions and sales promotion ideas included in the program were originally tested in his jewelry store. Testing and improving are constant activities for the program creators. Dr. Colbert has also worked on a consultant with some of the leading jewelry buying groups in the U. S. He loves to hear from jewelry retailers. His e-mail address is [e-mail]."

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THE STORY OF THE JEWELERS’

SALES TRAINING PROGRAM

Copyright © 2019 by WILLIAM P. COLBERT

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64398-746-0

Printed in the United States of America

LitFire LLC

1-800-511-9787

www.litfirepublishing.com

[e-mail]

THE STORY OF THE JEWELERS’

SALES TRAINING PROGRAM

WILLIAM P. COLBERT

[e-mail] [phone]

Contents

The Proposal

The Big Decision

A Most Insightful Group

Outstanding Students Of The Retail-Jewelry Industry

Identifying The Important, Needed Understandings That Are Crucial To Success

Identifying The Training Leader From Your Own Ranks

What Needs To Be Taught?

The Anatomy Of A Training Session

Becoming A Retail Jeweler

Our Basic Beliefs About Jewelry-Sales Training

The Release Of The Program

Electronic Coaching For Trainers

Summary

Appendix A

A Description of the Training Sessions Included in

The Jewelers’ Sales Training Program

Appendix B

A Sample Session from The Jewelers’ Sales Training Program

Session 2

Initial Customer Contact

Guides for the Fine-Jewelry-Sales Group

Appendix C

Evaluation Report

The Jewelers’ Sales Training Program

Appendix D

Enrollment Form

Final Summary

THE PROPOSAL

There I was, a college instructor and researcher of educational program development, working with my students, who were trying to develop dissertations and complete their coursework for a variety of doctoral degrees, when I received a call from a marketing group who asked to speak with me about a project they were considering. I said yes, of course, I would be happy to meet with them. After all, they were business people, and it is businesses and business people who pay the taxes that keep us at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro employed with the task of finding better ways for people to live and learn.

We met in a small café near a shopping center, where the group maintained a small jewelry boutique that sold only earrings, and offered an ear-piercing service that was operated by only registered nurses. I did not know that this retail store was only one of many around the state, and later the nation, that the group maintained.

What could they want with me? As our discussion moved forward, I discovered they were interested in improving the selling skills of the retail personnel in the retail-jewelry industry. What a wonderful, thoughtful, and generous idea, I thought. Well, it wasn’t all that altruistic, as I later learned they had a large number of retail stores that bought their products on the wholesale level, for resale to their customers.

How could I possibly be of service? I had no background in the retail-jewelry business. I had never worked in retail. My experience with diamonds, the mainstay of the business, consisted of buying my wife a diamond engagement ring. Their interest in me was because of my aforementioned educational background.

THE BIG DECISION

We worked out what would be the [possible] details of my employment. The details included the fact that I would be sole owner, researcher, and writer associated with the training program. I would create it, and it would be my sole property when it was completed. After the offer, I alone was faced with the task of making the decision: Dare I venture into this unknown world of retail jewelry, leaving all else behind? Here I was, a tenured professor of good reputation. Would I give it all up for such a risky venture? It must have been the madness of my youth, but I did say yes, and I started planning my travels among a pre-selected, highly successful (A+) group of retail jewelers that I had never met. At the start of the research project, upon which the program was based, I never dreamed that part of the Jewelers’ Sales Training Program would one day be published in National Jeweler Magazine . (More about making it in National Jeweler Magazi ne later.)

The first fear that swept over me was how they (the select jewelers) would react to me and what I was about. It was decided that while the jewelers would be identified for me by my sponsors and administrators, connected with various jewelry-buying groups (who were responsible for the buying shows), the initial contact and encouragement to participate in the research project would come from me. How would they respond? Would I be pushed aside? The jewelers could have just as well rejected me. All my fears soon dissolved. The selected jewelers turned out to be a most knowledgeable and pleasant group of collaborators—they were