Take our Dauthers & Sons to Work Day ... at the Silver Rose

Sylvia photographing	John accounting
Emily packing orders.	Amber answering email.

Do you ever wonder just who you are buying from out on the world wide web?

I wanted to take some time and introduce you to us in honor of "Take our Daughters and Sons to work day" as we are a family business.

Sylvia (my mom) created this business when I was about 2 months old. She started as a silver & gold smith creating pieces in the Navajo tradition. After teaching a few college courses, she decided to do more. She created a fund-raising business for local hospitals and other corporations. As my brother, sister and I grew older we began to help out by selling and creating the jewelry. John (my dad) joined us and now does the books :)

Now that we are a online business, we get to see each other everyday! Sylvia does most of the photography, jewelry design and creative work. John still does the books and gives us a male perspective on many things. I (Emily) pack orders, create sales emails, write newsletters, design how-tos, manage the blog, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts along with my sister, Amber. Amber is also our email Goddess! She answers all the questions, resloves all issues and harmonizes all requests! A very busy one ... that sister of mine!

Thank you for all your support! Without our fabulous customers, SilverRoseBeads would not survive :)

Save the Planet - Shop Online!

Shopping online saves the planet!

Just by doing your shopping online you can save the planet! "There's no transportation required by the customer. Approximately 65 percent of total emissions generated by the traditional retail model stemmed from customer transport to and from retail stores." Shop Online - Carnegie Mellon University

So celebrate Earth Day and shop online at www.SilverRoseBeads.com

Enjoy 35% off all Boxwood Beads (ecology friendly) with the promo code: 35Boxwood

*Enter promo code 35Boxwood

*Website purchases only, eBay items excluded

*Limited to stock on hand

*Sale begins April 22 and ends April 24 at 11:59PM Eastern

For thousands of years Netsukes have charmed their viewers. A huge detraction to this exquisite form of legend/myth telling was that fact that they were carved out of Elephant Tusk. As the planet has become more aware of what happens to the magnificent elephants, it has made this extraordinary art form repugnant as well as illegal to own for many. The switch to boxwood has made these enchanting objects a green product as boxwood is an easily farmed wood. Boxwood is carved green when it is soft and as it dries it hardens. It is used in it's dwarf form for topiary in the west and the larger variety for ornamental and even furniture carving in China and other eastern countries. It is an ecology friendly solution to preserving an ancient art when boxwood is used to carve Netsukes and other object d'art.

Pearls - A Renewable Resource

Once one of the most highly valued commodities on the planet, the freshwater pearl is now available to almost everyone. The catch phrase in all we do should be , “is it a green product or green?”. You can rest assured Freshwater pearls are. Rivers, streams and lakes are kept clean so this ancient creature can grow breathtaking pearls to adorn the most discerning taste.

The oyster is taken care of in a manner to assure that it lives a normal healthy life span for the larger it grows; the larger the pearls. Large pearls bring in more revenue. The cleaner the water; the healthier the oyster and with this comes more beautiful, iridescent luster and smooth blemish free nacre. In this manner pearl or oyster farming encourages keeping the waterways clean and free of pollutants.

After the first crop of pearls is harvested from the oysters a pearl sac or pocket is left in the oyster. It doesn't need to be seeded for the oyster will now produce the very valuable and sought after Rose Petal or Corn Flake Keishi pearl. A Keishi pearl is composed entirely of nacre as no seeding has been done. After the Keishi is harvested the oyster is now ready to grow to the truly spectacular 10mm to 12mm pearls that are the reining divas of the pearl world. As this is the sought after outcome, safely guarding the life span and health of the oyster has now come full circle.

Through farming practices that bring premium harvest of the highest quality pearls, one can witness this amazing gift of nature as a truly green product. It is a renewable resource that keeps small independent groups of individuals employed, keeps the waterways clean and assures that the oysters producing this treasure of nature are carefully tended indeed.

So relax and enjoy pearls in all their varied form. These gems of nature are an absolute delight to design with and gift some to yourself as the hues they come in compliment every skin tone.

Social Networking! not just for teenagers!

SilverRoseBeads has joined the social networking scene! See our MySpace, Facebook and Twitter pages (links above). These pages have given us a great opportunity to branch out. I really enjoy 'meeting' you and seeing what our you create with the beads. Maybe like me you have been intimidated by these online tools, but I have found them very easy to use! I even found that you can link your twitter account to you facebook pages! I was also worried that only teenagers used these social networks, but WOW was I wrong! I have been surprised to find many of my 'long-lost' friends from college, high school ... even grade school on Facebook. Twitter has also allowed us to keep in touch with our brother Jason who lives in London, is very busy but finds it easy to twitter a couple of times a day! Even John McCain and Barack Obama are on Twitter! What a great place to keep up with family, friends, work, politics, world news ... you name it!

How to create earrings with briolette beads

From Movies

I just figured out how to use Picasa3 to create and post videos made from images. This is a great feature for how to videos! I often get questions about briolette beads and how to use them in wire work, so I created this video for my friends. Check it out! Google has some great free products that are very easy to use. I started with gmail and now use the calender, picasa and googlebase. Picasa is the photo album aspect of gmail. You can download picasa to your computer. Then using picasa you can edit, caption, and create videos with your images. Picasa is set up to help you load your images to your gmail account, blog postings or youtube!

Jewelry Sales through Redefining Ourselves

There was a time when the sales mantra was:

"The product will sell itself."

In todays economy with just about every company on Wall Street reporting lower sales and profits we must shift our own sales strategy back to the great depression mentality.  This can be done without having to result in heavy pressure intimidation or bombarding consumers with unsolicited advertisements.  

"I will find why I have the perfect piece for any person."

In the world of jewelry design we often hold our work in such high esteem that we feel it will often sell itself.  We prefer to think of ourselves as artists and designers rather than saleswomen or salesmen.  

A good salesperson is intuitive to their customer. They are perceptive to their customer's shopping habits , knowledgable about their in stock product, and attentive to their customers questions.  

For example, if a young male is looking from necklaces to earrings and asking about color variations we might assume that he is shopping for his sweetheart and inquire about the clothing preferences whether she likes vivid colors, earth tones, or perhaps if she wears formal dress on occasion.  If we have gems designs by birthstone we might ask the occasion for the gift, if the holidays aren't pending, and direct the conversation towards her birthstone month.  If he asks for something that isn't readily available, don't be afraid to suggest custom pieces and alterations for an affordable price.

If the customer is aprehensive about making an immediate purchase do not be afraid to perform some polite persistance and dig deep into any reasons that may be disuading them.  Ask what they don't like about it and insist that changes can be made to fit their needs.  Politely inform them of the nature of custom made pieces that they are unique and may not be sold if they return later.  Offering to hold items for a short period of time and presenting them with a business card as a last result will keep the item in their mind.

Inquire about any other occasions that may be coming up that they have forgotten.  Maybe it is his sister's birthday in two months, a lover of nature, and you just happen to have a perfect leaf of breciated jasper or abalone shell that you could fashion into a pendant.

Do not limit yourself by what is directly in front of you and what you have prepared.  A good jewelry designer has beads for all occasion and knows what she has and what she can make at any time.  At the Silver Rose, we just did a large sapphire repair sale, because even though it was not in our inventory, we remembered that we had the perfect shade and cut that the customer needed uncataloged in my private stores.

Good customer service through careful questioning

breeds referrals and return business.

Next blog I'll discuss some unique untapped jewelry locations that have worked quite well for us over the years.

 

Thriving Sales in a Frugal Economy

 

Part two of the Self Promotion Series

With the economic crisis in full swing it is becoming increasingly more difficult to make sales and we all must take decisive action to ensure that each of our businesses will survive.

The most important element to thriving sales is exposure.

With customers becoming increasingly more frugal and thoughtful with their spending we must all strive to increase our client base and increase the number of customers who see our jewelry product. The following are some ideas I have developed to maximize the exposure of your items.

 

Consignment

Never underestimate the value of consignment arrangements in selling your jewelry. Many shops, retail stores, craft booths, and mall outlets are more than happy to take a small percentage of your sales and drawing power of more diverse inventory in exchange for reserving a place for your jewelry and conducting the sales therein. You may take a small hit on the sale, but you can factor out the cost of the booth, the inventory space, or rent and the labor in staffing the sales location.

Some consignment locations require a payment for rental space and I caution you to investigate all factors of traffic, demographic, and costs in this case. The best arrangement is a percentage of sales which can range anywhere between 5-50% depending on the cost of the item, transport and stocking arrangements, labor costs and promotions. Whatever you have agreed upon, even if you are close friends be sure to get the percentages in writing and to keep careful two sets of records of inventory, prices, and sales; one for each of you.

You can only be one place at a time, but the more locations your jewelry is sold and viewed the greater your exposure and sales will be.

 

Faires, Events, and Markets

              

Think about your jewelry and what your target demographic is. Research and think about your target marget's habits and hobbies and where best they can find you.

If you specialize in renaissance period chainmaille pieces than your research might indicate that your target market inhabit medieval organizations and fantasy faires. An Internet search would result in hundreds of shows throughout country, as well as several organizations such as the Society for Creative Anachronism and Renaissance Faire Society. Wherein thousands of merchants and venders sell their wares and can be contacted for consignment or cooperation. This is merely an example of a niche market research.

Perhaps you specialize in work with abalone, shell, and natural ecofarmed coral fingers. There are numerous beach shoppes looking for consignment pieces or events such as the annual Divers Alert Network conference and Koi clubs where you can set politely send a email asking to set up shop.

Perhaps you have quite the collection of holiday pieces that you have prepared. There are many specialized holiday faires in each area that you can arrange to participate in. In my local area of Pierce County, Washington, we have an annual Victorian Christmas celebration that is being help at our world reknown Puyallup Fairgrounds with hundreds of merchants of and 10s of thousands of customers.

Here is a resource for finding a market near you.

When setting up a booth be sure to follow the proper channels and file all taxes and paperwork preparations.

 

Visit Part 1 of the Self Promotion Series

Check back next work for more exposure tips and holiday talk.