Resort Show Section

Customer Service Tips (From page 82)

with a “Welcome,” “How are you,” or “Have you been here before?”

She plays music like Jimmy Buffet and Bob Marley, to keep the beachy vacation vibe going and keeps the store beautifully fragranced.

As part of her own personal touch, she also offers customers a small glass of rum punch. This reinforces the vacation mood and, when they accept a cup, “they’re going to buy something,” said Marjakangas.

Right now, they’re working with six staff members to cover seven days a week from 11 to 7. According to Marjakangas, if this year is like the record year they had last year, she’ll bring on one more staff member.

Jeffrey Michael , co-owner at Moriarty’s Gem Art in historic Crown Point, Ind., explained that they start training new associates by having them shadow the owner for the first week. Then, these new hires shadow an associate for an additional week or two. According to Michael, they review the types of jewelry and gemstones the store carries to familiarize the new hire with each item, along with reviewing where it is located in the store. They also discuss different types of customers, personalities, common questions customers may have and so on to prepare the associate to answer any questions or resolve any issues a shopper might have.

In addition, said Michael, they go through the entire shopping process. This includes demonstrating how to take the jewelry out of the case, how to secure the jewelry and how to clean it before showing it to the potential customer.

“We want to give the shopper the best possible experience when coming into the store,” said Michael.

For a great shopping environment in their 2,000-square-foot showroom, they ensure the store is clean–including the floors, showcases and jewelry–each morning, said Michael.

Associates must also wear proper attire that fits with their shopper demographic of 35-54, expressed Michael. For the men, this means a button down and dress pants. For the women, dress pants and blouse-type attire are required.

They currently have 10 associates, but would like to find more, expressed Michael.

“We do need more bench staff, but hiring is almost impossible right now,” said Michael. “It’s very hard to find qualified workers, especially those who are bench jewelers.”

Continued on page 88