Every year we do the Let It Snow promotion, where if it snows 6 inches or more on Christmas, you get your money back. Anything you buy from the company during the two weeks after Thanksgiving you would get completely refunded for if it snows at least 6 inches at any one of our locations. It front-loads holiday shopping for us—we see better sales earlier. The promotion is also a great closer for salespeople and gives them another thing to talk about with customers.”
—Lilly Mullen, president, Springer’s Jewelers, Portland, Maine, springersjewelers.com

 

“We met renowned diamond cutter Gabriel “Gabi” Tolkowsky, and he came to our store around the holidays on a tour of cities. But the stones he was going to put up for sale didn’t show up—they were mailed to the wrong address. So we had a reception that was just beautiful, on a Friday night, but with no stones! Instead, Gabi talked to everyone and signed letters of provenance for people who had pieces of his work. The next day at 7 a.m., the stones arrived, and we had the most successful day in our history—we did more business that day than most jewelry stores do in a whole holiday season. We unintentionally whetted people’s appetites the night before, and ultimately created many more collectors of his work.”
—Susan Light, co-owner, Lights Jewelers & Gemologists, Hattiesburg, Miss., lightsjewelers.com

 

“We host our Charish event—named for “charity” and “sharing.” We ask five local ladies of influence in our community to invite 15 of their friends. We send those friends custom, private invitations. We train the 15 hostesses so they can sell their invited friends at the event, along with help from a staff partner. We also throw in a bit of fun competition by awarding the Charish lady who sells the most a one-of-a-kind necklace. The first time we had the event, we sold more jewelry than we had at any other holiday party in 30 years.”
—Mark Vieregg, owner, Walters & Hogsett Jewelers, Boulder, Colo., waltersandhogsett.com

 

“We host a preferred-customer party showcasing two to three top collections in mid-November. The invitation is mailed with a tiered savings offer to encourage higher-ticket purchases. We do a second mailing to the rest of our database and let all customers and social media followers know we host three Designer Days—events with a personal appearance and a trunk show—on the first three Saturdays of December. We’ve seen a rise in customers purchasing for themselves on those days.”
—Mark Loren, owner, Mark Loren Designs, Fort Myers, Fla., marklorendesigns.com