A picture is worth a thousand words

Mark Magee of Magee Jewellers and Designers in Fredericton does well with bridal shows. Yes, one could argue that after the happy couple has picked out the engagement and wedding rings, your job is done. That kind of thinking will keep you from growing your business. A happy customer is a repeat customer, and over the course of a lifetime, what with birthdays, anniversaries, and other festive occasions, you could be looking at a substantial amount of money. Now consider the fact many people who go to bridal shows don’t come alone. With bridesmaids, friends, or families in tow, your own potential client is providing you with several others.

To attract people to his booth, Magee holds a draw for a $1000 gift certificate toward the purchase of wedding bands. To qualify, brides provide their work e-mail addresses, while Magee uses a 3-D scanner to create an image of their engagement rings. The device turns the image into a 3-D mesh (i.e. a representation of curves and surfaces), which is then imported into CAD to use as a model to create a matching wedding band perfectly fitted to the engagement ring. It can be a real time saver, which in turn, means the client saves money.

Although scanners can start in the $3000 range, Magee’s cost $22,000. The drawback to less expensive models is they do not work well on reflective surfaces. Magee says the higher cost is worth it to him, since the scanner he uses handles reflections better; it also comes with a spray to ‘dull’ the metal without harming the piece. Since so much of his business is bridal, Magee says the scanner has paid for itself several times over.

You’ll note earlier Magee is specific about getting a work e-mail address. This is important, as he wants to create the opportunity for a show-and-tell of sorts—once the bride opens the e-mail, her first impulse will be to share it with her co-workers, or as Magee sees it, a new pool of potential clients. In case you’re wondering, every rendering includes Magee Jewellers’ logo. Some designers would never consider letting a custom design leave the store without a deposit, but Magee believes the payoff outweighs other considerations. He made more than 90 wedding bands one year using this marketing technique. And that does not include some of the custom jobs he picked up from brides’ co-workers.

In addition to these three examples, CAD renderings are, in essence, a virtual inventory, helping to free up cash flow to be put to more productive uses. Like any piece of equipment, CAD software is an investment, as is the training required to operate it. However, the amount of future sales it can generate can be worth it, both in custom work and lower-cost marketing ideas.

Shele Letwin is president of GV Design Canada, the authorized Canadian distributor of Gemvision and Envision Tec products. She is a graduate of the jewellery arts program at George Brown College, an award-winning designer, and CAD/CAM instructor. Letwin is often a guest speaker at trade shows and at the Gemvision Design Symposium. She can be reached via e-mail at shele@gvdesigncanada.com or (866) 299-1702.