Competing in Wal*Martville
Mills Jewelers shines as an example of how to compete.

I hadn’t really talked with George Fritz much since we were in Mrs. Ruggieri’s third grade class. A few decades rolled by before George got my attention with a clever newspaper advertising campaign for his business starring him. The newspaper and direct mail ads always featured a smiling George posing in seasonal photographs such as the Easter Bunny, dressed in a cupid costume, or as Santa. He always had a clever tagline to direct my interest to Mills Jewelers. George's store was one of the first local businesses with a web site. George surfs the edge of the marketing wave. He takes on all chain store competition not with the best price, but with exceptional service.

I met with George recently to talk about his success in marketing Mills Jewelers. George has a built-in weapon that many business owners have but seldom use. It’s a big smile. He is always smiling and his smiles are contagious. His sales team smiles with him and his customers smile, too. It’s a wonderfully inexpensive tool that produces terrific results. Being happy is a sales choice that too few businesses make.

The Mills marketing effort is not only George’s ideas. He went on to say that employees are very creative about coming up with new and unusual marketing concepts. He encourages employees to brainstorm their own ideas at weekly staff meetings. These are more than a Wal-Mart blue smock pep talk; they are creative sessions that produce ideas for the good of the business. The ideas are “out there” sometimes, but they are "not crazy enough to fail" he said. Salesman Brian dreamed up “Beer Night”, an event with pizza and suds that provided free limousine pick-up service for customers. Brian took ownership of the idea and made it successful. George knows that creating the feeling of ownership is key to getting ideas flying. It also keeps them from crashing and burning once they are put in motion. A party atmosphere sure helps take some of the monetary sting out of buying fine jewelry.

Mills Jewelers is a local brand name that shouts fun and quality. You will not hear Mills Jewelers shouting SALE, DISCOUNT, and BARGAINS! George says anybody can discount. His mission is to put FUN into buying jewelry and leaving his store with a feeling that you purchased quality jewelry from a guy who wants you to be happy and come back to see his sales team every time you purchase jewelry.

I know that Mills Jewelers wants to make you happy with every experience you have. Many years ago, a simple silver charm with a grandchild’s birth date was on grandmother’s wish list for her charm bracelet. I made my first visit to Mills and ordered the charm from a catalog at the store eight days before Christmas. It was scheduled to arrive at Mills four days later. No delivery four days later. No home runs on the fifth, sixth, or seventh days either. A call came in on the morning of Christmas Eve.

“Mr. Emerson, your charm is in, if you’d like, you can pick it up today”. I was delighted to be able to not disappoint grandmother and put Mills on my busy Christmas Eve to do list. The polite salesperson apologized for the delay as she handed me the box with the charm in it and wished me Merry Christmas and started to move away to wait on another customer. “But wait, I haven’t paid for it yet.” She turned back to me , smiling, and said, “there is no charge, we are sorry for the delay. George said it’s on Mills.”

George "gets" how customer service works and George gets my business whenever I’m buying jewelry. He also gets a lifetime of goodwill from me recommending his service. I suspect he has more fans than he could ever count.

Mills Jewelers proves that price isn't the only consideration and, that customer service given by trained and motivated employees who take ownership of their jobs "gets" our attention. and that a smile lets the customer know you appreciate her business.

As customers, why do we put up with crabby personnel, inferior products along with inferior services and competition-eating big box businesses?

As business owners and employees, why do we tolerate crabby personnel, inferior products and services along with competition-eating big box businesses?

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Others have said:

"To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity."
---Donald A. Adams

"The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer."
---Peter Drucker

"One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of
advertising."
--- Jim Rohn