If you are in the market for diamonds, engagement rings, tennis bracelets or any custom jewellery, it’s worth taking note of the following.
Visser du Plessis of Your Diamonds (previously known as Diamond Investment Brokers) has been a household name in the diamond industry in South Africa since the late 1980s. In particular, the company has a strong operation in Gauteng.
When we spoke, Visser’s first statement initially shocked me.
“If I have an unhappy client, it’s his/her fault “
Then he explained, “If a client is unhappy, however small the complaint might be, I cannot fix it if I’m not told. It is company policy that we will rather lose money before we have one single unhappy client.”
Having experienced bad service myself, once the money has left my wallet, I appreciated this approach.
Secondly, Visser informed me that Your Diamonds is probably the only jewellery company that gives an unconditional money-back guarantee for a limited period.
Visser elaborates, “Talk is cheap and I don’t want anyone to blindly trust what we say. They can compare our prices, quality and workmanship after the fact and at no risk to their pocket.”
Probably the biggest benefit to the client is that the company spends a lot of time on what is known in the industry as ‘buy your profit’. This means Visser always pre-fixes the selling price at a below-market level.
This brings in more clients. However, in order to make a profit, Visser has to source his stock at better prices. “Never will Your Diamonds take the easy route and just add on to the price when they pay more. You can’t charge less than the market if you didn’t pay less,” he adds.
For an even better deal, Visser negotiates the following with every client:
- If they promise to post a review, the client immediately gets an even better price. This places the responsibility squarely on Your Diamonds to perform.
- If they company does well from the online promotion, then the client’s testimonial becomes part of their advertising campaign. With the discount, the client effectively gets paid for his part in the campaign.
- If the client is unhappy, the review will show it. Your Diamonds have then actually pre-paid for a negative comment. This is the sort of pressure the Your Diamonds thrives on. In other words, do everything better than the rest or you lose business and you pay for it.
When Visser started this business while still a student, he gambled with a principle decision and it worked. He explained that the characteristic of a low turnover business is that profit margins have to be higher, whereas high turnover businesses operate on low profit margins. Visser made the decision to enter the market in a low-turnover business and operate on the principles of a high-turnover business.
It was a risky approach to make extremely low profit margins in a low turnover industry. It took him a few years, but the low price diamond story spread and it eventually paid off.
Why was the business model a success?
In the days before digital marketing, word-of-mouth was extremely important. Loyal clients became the company’s advertising vehicle. Even though Your Diamonds generated small profit margins, the company established a huge client base which more than made up for the lack in margins.
Currently Your Diamonds serves clients all over South Africa and the world.
Their diamonds are all laboratory certified.
Whether you have a design in mind or not, the professional design team at Your Diamonds can help you design a bespoke piece of jewellery.
Your Diamonds is also one of the biggest buyers of second-hand jewellery. If you need to get rid of your old or unused gold and diamond jewellery, you know who to contact.
Visit our website now for great specials and promotions – https://www.yourdiamonds.co.za/
