A ‘diamond destination’
What, then, can you do to position and create your store as ‘the diamond destination’ in your marketplace?
First, revisit your vision and mission statements. What is your brand’s mission? Can you define it in one sentence? How do you see yourself in your market and what are your objectives? Does your staff understand and believe your mission and vision? Do they reflect your values and the value of the brand you have built as your store over the course of years? Do they strive toward achieving your goals while fulfilling their own?
How about your diamond business within the larger vision of your store as a brand in the market? Do you have a mission statement for your diamond business? Who do you want to be in your market? What position and perception do you seek to hold? How are you differentiating from the competition who you are, what you do, and why? Finally, if you are serious about diamonds, does your staff fully understand the position and importance of them to your future?
Until you can fully answer these questions, it will be difficult for you to create significant points of difference and compelling reasons for customers to seek you out and ultimately purchase diamonds from you, thereby raising your margins and creating more profit. As you consider your diamond business, your standing in the marketplace, and your desire for sustainable profitability, one of the best ways to differentiate your diamond offer is to partner with brands reflecting your core values. This can help create a meaningful thread weaving through your client’s experience, as you convey why you and the diamonds you carry are different than what they ‘see’ anywhere else.
The more you and your staff believe in your store’s brand and the more you know about diamond consumers’ habits and concerns, the better able you will be to fully understand and integrate the underpinnings of your mission and core values into your customers’ psyche. Challenge your staff to do their homework and learn what the consumer is facing when they begin to search for a diamond. You can start by studying the Internet. Enter search terms consumers use to understand the kind of information, misinformation, and confusing messages that come up. See what they see. It is no wonder consumers are intimidated and confused when looking for a diamond!
