Adding Sellers to the Mailing List

Anything that helps the company grow helps to make YOUR job more secure. Estate buyers should be on the lookout for potential retail customers, just as the retail side sends sellers over to the estate side. It is a very good thing to find potential new retail customers and estate buyers are very much encouraged to do so, BUT because of the cost of advertising, we must only add people to the mailing list who seem very likely to become buying customers.

Some people we meet in the “buy area” (people who sell us things) may become retail customers. The estate buyer should forward names and addresses of people who may fit this category to become New Names on the retail side.

Recently we have been getting many New Names from the buy area that are not turning into customers. Only one in 50 ends up becoming a customer and that ratio is too high and it costs too much to promote to them all to get one in fifty to buy something.

The idea was to add people to our mailing list who are VERY likely to become customers. These can include:

• Someone who spends his or her buy check with us the same day (is already a customer).
• The well-heeled woman who just suffered a broken engagement or the divorcee who is selling us a 1+ carat diamond and is LIKELY to get engaged again.
• The woman who is selling jewelry that she doesn’t like or wear, but who is still buying jewelry.
• The obvious watch collector who just wants to get rid of a watch but is still in the market for other watches.

These people are real prospects. Anyone who is still buying jewelry/watches or who will be buying again soon is a prospect.

Sellers who are not likely to become customers include:

• An old woman who sells everything because she “doesn’t wear her jewelry anymore” is not likely to continue to buy.
• A young person who obviously does not wear jewelry and sells us some nice pieces they inherited.
• The crack addict that sells us her two front (gold) teeth.

From now on, I want the “do you want our mailers” box removed from future surveys. There should be a place marked “mailers” that the estate buyer consciously fills in after asking a few questions or determining by the seller’s comments that they would be a good prospect. However, the question should be asked, “Would you be interested in receiving our monthly flyer of items for sale?” to make sure the person has real interest.

ONLY people that the estate buyer really thinks would become a buying customer should be added to the mailing list and the estate buyers need to be trained on and understand this.

Any sheet that is turned in with the “mailings” box ticked must have a line or two of explanation on the back as to WHY that person should be on our mailing list.