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Getting Personal
These days successful selling often hinges on an old-fashioned concept: service
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Business New Haven
3/31/2003
By: Mimi Houston
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In these times of ever-increasing difficulty to move that inventory, many business owners and managers are facing irresistible pressure to bring in the money without letting too much of it slip right back out the door. Big budgets just aren't there to spend on advertising as in former glory days, but the selling must go on.
What's a small-business proprietor to do?
Some would say, in this day of fast-paced futuristic existence, a step back in time to a more personalized era might be just the ticket.
"I don't think of myself as a salesperson," muses Peter Indorf, co-owner with his brother Paul (who handles the brass-tacks business end of things) and designer of Peter Indorf Jewelers on Chapel Street in downtown New Haven. "I see myself as someone who is trying to solve someone else's problem."
Indorf refers to a mindset that has lost some of its savor nowadays: service.
"I think selling anything is only as good as the service you can back it up with," Indorf says. "It's like buying a car - why would I buy a car from you if you can't service it for me?"
Indorf says that while sales is certainly a huge part of his business, it is his servicing capability that puts him on the jeweler's map with his clients.
"I see myself as a consultant," he explains. "I try hard to think in terms of the customer's self interests before mine. There are many people out there that just want to make the sale. I'm building what I call the 'profit pipeline.'
"The progression is this: a prospective customer, a first-time customer, repeat customer, regular client, then an advocate. I consider someone an advocate once they recommend us to their friends."
Once Indorf enters into a client relationship, he likes to follow it through so that he becomes an integral part his clients' lives.
"You must nurture the relationship in non-commercial ways," he explains. "Remembering to send a note congratulating them on important milestones in their lives and by helping them solve problems whether it results in a sale or not."
Indorf takes many measures to create a sense of trust before he even thinks about making a sale, and he says that tactic tends to catch most shoppers - especially first-timers - off guard.
"You know," he says, "sometimes someone will come in here and I'll say, 'How are you today?' and they'll say, 'I'm just looking.' I want to say to them, 'But that's not what I asked you; I asked you how you were.' People are so used to being bombarded by salespeople who really do just want to make a sale."
Indorf says if his customers are surprised at first, it doesn't take long for them to begin to expect the kind of treatment that is a cut above what they're used to.
"We always send out a thank-you letter," he says, after a sale has been made. "We handwrite little note cards and send them out. We sometimes stuff a gift card in as well - it could be for $20, $50, or even $100. Sometimes we'll even include two, one for a friend."
While some might think that goes above and beyond good business practices, Indorf knows first-hand the power of personal communication.
"We think nothing of dropping $500 for an advertisement," he explains, "and that sometimes does nothing for you."
Indorf has found a more direct way to all but guarantee the next sale. But he also sees it as another tool to continue to get to know his clients.
"It's a reward," he says. "It's just another way to say, 'Thank you,' and to build a strong relationship with our customers."
Indorf invests his efforts in building a strong relationship with the community as well.
"I'm very active in community involvement," he says. "I just believe that if you're going to live and work and derive your income from a community, you should give back to it."
That's why he is a frequent contributor to community-based events that feature auctions by donating pieces of jewelry, and also serves as guest speaker at plenty of area functions. Indorf says he enjoys immensely meeting so many different people, doing his part to help in some way, and doesn't make a secret of it's helping his business as well.
"In this business," he says, "I'm only one sale away from a great week, a great month - a great year. The more you're out there in the community, the more connections you can make."
Once connections are made, though, Indorf knows that's only the first step to a potential sale.
"I can guarantee you," he begins, "that you like to shop where there is that warm and fuzzy feeling. People tend to shop where the experience makes them feel good."
Alarge proportion of Indorf's business comes from custom jewelry design. He says it's a trend of the times for people to desire individualistic pieces that help them stand out in a crowd that is getting even more crowded, as the world gets reduced in size by technological and telecommunication advances.
"People want things now that will express their uniqueness," he explains. "The old days of jewelry are like a Zales store - everything is the same with the same price. Now it's about products that are unique, custom-made. You're buying a piece that no one else has."
Indorf says meeting with clients to determine what they'd like their piece to look like is an immensely enjoyable part of his work.
"Many times I'm recreating something that was stolen or lost," he says. "I sometimes feel like a fortune jewelry designer - I'm strongly intuitive. I can sit with someone and within an hour I'll come up with something that I know they're going to like."
How does he explain this enviable ability?
"I'm a really active listener," he says. "I can read people's body language in a non-threatening, non-invasive way. I learn a lot about their lifestyle, their business - what makes them tick. Once we start chit-chatting, the first idea comes to me within ten to 15 minutes. And my first idea is usually the one they go with."
Because he is so good with people, Indorf never makes the mistake of judging a potential customer and losing that potential sale.
"I had a guy come in here that had been to one of the area's name jewelry stores," he recalls, "a well-known store with branches in several towns. He said he walked in and the salespeople were sitting and talking with each other - and they stayed there for 15 minutes. They never got up.
"The guy happened to be dressed in his work clothes and he came in on his lunch hour to look at engagement rings."
Indorf quickly made the sale. He warns against the all-too-common mistakes people still make in determining who is and is not a dressing the part of an obvious potential customer.
"You know," he says, "we're in a city [New Haven] with many different ethnicities. Being a university town as well, we have people from a lot different cultures. I have a client who is a woman from Singapore whose daughter is a student at Yale. She comes in and buys something at least once a year, and she always tries to bargain. It's their culture," he laughs, "It's the way they do business there."
But while Indorf may not bargain over price, he does make it a point to know his clients' personalities and meet their individualistic needs, and he says this pays off in a business sense as well as a personal one.
"We've learned some tough lessons here," Indorf says of his 31-year-old business. "But we do sell five times higher than the national average of jewelry sales per square foot."
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