Travis Isaacson is on a mission to change the way America thinks about, feels about and buys men’s wedding rings!
Travis is new to the jewelry industry but not new to changing an industry. Before joining Lashbrook in 2015, he innovated sales and marketing methods that disrupted a niche within the loyalty marketing industry. Now, he’s traveling the country for Lashbrook, visiting successful jewelry stores to uncover best practices and hidden secrets of success for selling to men…and their brides.
Travis earned an MBA and a Theatre Arts Bachelor’s Degree from Brigham Young University. He’s a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. When he’s not working he enjoys artisan chocolate, skiing the pristine powder in Utah’s mountains, and mountain biking…but not all at once
We were lucky enough to have Travis share with us some of the knowledge he’s gleaned through his extensive research. In this first post, he breaks down the importance of closing that men’s wedding band sale. Look forward to a future post in which he’ll share solutions to a problem that 47% of retail stores share.
3 Reasons You Can’t Afford to Let Him Walk
There’s a problem… and there’s a bigger problem.
The problem is that 47% of the time jewelry stores do NOT get the gent’s wedding band sale after selling the engagement ring1. The bigger problem is that some jewelers don’t know it’s a real problem.
There are three reasons this is a problem—three reasons you can’t afford to let him walk.
- The average wedding band purchase is worth $5582. While that might be only 9% of the average engagement ring purchase3 it’s still $558. It takes a lot of charm bracelets and beads to get a ticket to $558. Still, the lost $558 isn’t the most compelling reason to work for the sale…
- The lifetime value of a customer is somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,0004. When you let a guy who has purchased an engagement ring from you walk, you’re letting him find a second jeweler. Let’s put some numbers to what this really means. The lifetime value of a customer is $12,000, but now this new couple has two jewelry stores they go to—yours and the other store where the guy bought his ring. So let’s divide the sales in half. Now your store gets $6,000 over their lifetime instead of $12,000. That means for every unsold men’s band, you lose $6,000 in future sales. Even then, that $6,000 isn’t the biggest reason to work for the sale…
- You built your business on referrals. In fact, you have probably observed that “word-of-mouth marketing” is your most effective form of advertising. If so, you’re doing it right! Here’s the kicker: If you let him walk, half of his word-of-mouth marketing—half of his referrals—go to the other store. Who knows how many people that couple will influence? Even if it’s only two other couples in their lifetime, you just gave up another $12,000.
It’s obvious that each store’s actual numbers will look different from these national averages. The concept, the truth of the matter still holds—every men’s wedding band that you don’t sell will cost you tens of thousands of dollars in future sales.
That’s the bad news.
Here’s the good news: there’s a solution….
Stay tuned for the next guest post from Travis!
1The Knot, 2015 Jewelry & Engagement Study, page 33
2IBID, pg 36
3IBID, pg 22
4The 2014 US Jewelry State of the Market Report, http://edahngolan.com/Docs/Edahn_Golan-2015_US_State_of_the_Jewelry_Market.pdf, pg 3 indicates that the average household expenditure on fine jewelry and watches in $612. Twenty years times $612 is $12,240.
Other calculations could be used to generate the Lifetime Value of a Customer. Ideally, your store will have its own calculations on the lifetime value of your customers.