Omnichannel Lessons From A Lumber Yard

Mike discusses a surprisingly great purchasing experience he recently had at a... Lumber Mill. This had him thinking deeper about ways retailers can pull out practical omnichannel lessons jewelry stores can use right away. 

He focuses on what made the experience feel premium and stress free, then translate those moves into ways to rebuild trust, delight, and loyalty in modern jewelry retail.

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Transcript

Why Construction Fits A Jewelry Podcast

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome back everybody to In the Loop. What is up everybody? My name is Michael Burpo. Thanks again for listening to In the Loop. This week I'm doing a follow-up episode, sort of. In season 5, episode 25, I did an episode called Omnichannel Examples in Everyday Life. And this was all about how I went to uh a Lowe's and I had such an incredible experience with their website combination and uh in-store experience and how seamless the whole thing was, that I made an in the loop episode about it. And it's weirdly one of the best episodes that we've ever made because a lot of people reached out about it. And what's funny is you're probably thinking, Michael, this is a jewelry podcast. What does construction have to do with this? Well, you'd be surprised. I think that OmniChannel, which is defined, I always joke, as as above, so below, um, it needs to experience the whole buying into delivery and service. The experience needs to feel very holistic and you can't like skip a beat. And I just had a really incredible experience at a place called Curtis Lumber just the other day when I was building a privacy fence. And I kind of want to talk about those key points and see if I can relate it to a jewelry store business and some things that you could learn. Um, so stick around and listen to me talk about how I built a privacy fence and how you could better your jewelry store with this information.

Sponsor Message From Punchmark

SPEAKER_00 1:41

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The Privacy Fence Project Setup

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Okay, everybody. So I know what you're thinking. Michael, how is uh building a privacy fence going to relate to jewelry? Well, let me spin you a tail and just trust the process on this one. I've done it once, we're gonna do it again. Uh, this is just one of those kind of things I find a good shopping experience to be very uh weirdly inspiring. That's how uh capitalism pilled I am at this point. I sometimes find these experiences where I'm almost expecting it to be bad and it turns out to be good to be, you know, kind of exciting. Um, so let's take it from the top. I'm gonna call out a couple of examples and maybe you can learn about why I'm so inspired by this one. So I was building a privacy fence on the side of my house. Uh just for this one spot, it's to cover up this cement pour that uh, you know, isn't just that beautiful. It's also to kind of hem in uh where I grill. And I want to build a privacy fence, and the way I am with my house is that anything I can do myself, I'm going to do because it just saves money. And building a privacy fence is one of those things that is uh a cool project for me and my dad to do together. And um, you know, I learned a couple new skills. But what I found so cool was the first thing I did was I need to order all of this material, raw material, from this place called Curtis Lumber. It's loosely in my town, but what is important to call out about this is that it is it they deal with contractors. So they are not, there's a different place uh that is more of like a hardware store. This is a place that you would go and you would like, you know, maybe you buy your, you know, these different screws or you buy these different tools or supplies. At Curtis Lumberton, you are just buying uh raw materials. You buy all the wood you need to like frame a house. That's you'd go there. Um if you're building, if you're doing landscaping, if you're doing, you know, if you need to buy uh several hundred yards of of soil, they could deliver that for you, or gravel or whatever. Like this place deals in in raw material. Um, I can't state that harder enough. But what's cool is that you're kind of operating at this, it's like a higher end. It's so strange to say that what because it's like, oh, you're you're working with raw materials, but they are not dealing with uh just Joe Schmoes that are going because they need to, you know, buy uh you know a new light bulb. They're going with people that they have already spec'd out an entire project. They have invoiced for or they're they're going to go invoice for it, and they're dealing with some like you know, tens or hundreds of thousands of dollar projects. I have a friend, um, my buddy Joe, who's a uh a contractor, he does, you know, for construction, and he goes there and he has like an incredible um I think it's an account where they allow you to like put a lot of money on it and pick up a lot of materials and pay it off later. So what I want to say is here's one point that I found so interesting.

Knowledgeable Staff That Guides Decisions

SPEAKER_01 5:59

It is knowledgeable staff. So here's the first thing I noticed is dang, these people who work at the front desk knew everything I asked about. They weren't asking, like, oh, like I don't know, what is a privacy fence, or like, why do you need a privacy fence? They're not asking those questions. They're like, oh yeah, do you want to pre-built or do you want to build it yourself? And I was like, Well, I'm looking for the for the cheaper option. I'm thinking I want to get it pre-fabbed and I want to pour the footage myself. And the guy's like, okay, so you're gonna need this, this, and this. And he basically wrote my shopping list for me. And he thought of a couple things I I didn't even think of. And it kind of had me thinking about how smart of a of an asset or how strong of an asset it is for a business to have incredibly knowledgeable um front desk people. Because the truth is they like kind of upselled me on a few things. Um, they had me buy slightly better. Um, I bought these deck screws and I was gonna use these cheaper ones. And the guy that was helping me was like, uh, yeah, you're gonna go through the wall. Oh, uh, yeah, you should probably get these ones. And he, you know, got an extra inch long ones for me. And what's funny is they were more expensive, but he wasn't trying to make more money for the store, and I think that's one of those things that I think really jumped out as well. Is this guy, it didn't seem like they were selling, it was only they wanted me and my project to go as smoothly as possible, which is sometimes in kind of stark contrast to like retail. Sometimes it feels like they're just trying to like upsell you because they want to make more money or whatever. At this one, it really felt very independent, and I think I'm starting to get more of a feel for those types of things. Like, I just interviewed um Uni Diamonds. Actually, I think this episode is gonna come out right after that one. With Uni Diamonds, I felt sort of like their reports feel very independent, like very um impartial. And I sometimes find the allure of impartialness is very tantalizing these days. Um, I've again I feel like a lot of times everybody has a vested interest in everything. And when someone just takes data, aggregates it, and shares it with you, I'm like, wow, I can trust this. Whereas when someone is just like, they just want your project to go well so that you'll come back and do more projects with them. I'm like, wow, this guy's giving me great advice. So that's the biggest thing I will say is uh a really knowledgeable staff. Um, I didn't know how much uh quick crete uh cement I needed to buy. And uh the guy's like, oh here, take this this uh calculator. And we ran a calculator and he figured out the volume of the of the footers I'm gonna pour, and he basically um was like, Yeah, you're gonna get this, and I recommend that you round up and get um get two extra bags. So I ended up

Sponsor Message From Stratus Estate Buyers

SPEAKER_01 9:04

doing that. Alright, everybody, we're gonna take a quick break and hear a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you in part by Stratus Estate Buyers. Partner with Stratus Estate Buyers to host a turnkey buying event that brings new customers through your doors at no cost to you. Their estate buying events are designed specifically for jewelry stores looking to increase foot traffic, create immediate revenue, provide free advertisement featuring your store. They handle the entire process from marketing, on-site evaluations and transactions, and follow-up with detailed marketing data to capitalize on long-term value. They invest in targeted marketing in your local market, so like full-page advertisement in newspapers, postcard mailers, social media, that kind of stuff. All branded with your store. This drives qualified customers directly into your showroom and introduces them to your store. During the event, their experienced buyers work directly with your customers in a professional, transparent environment, and they evaluate and purchase jewelry, watches, coins, estate items, all on site, giving customers a safe and convenient place to sell. Best of all, their partnership is designed to be low risk and easy to execute. They bring the buyers, they bring the customers, and they handle the logistics. Email sales at Stratus Estate Buyers.com. That's Stratus S-T-R-A-T-U-S Estate Buyers.com. Or call 888-898-2112 or visit stratusestate buyers.com to learn how to book your buying event today. Thanks and back to the show.

Flexible Delivery Without The Stress

SPEAKER_01 10:41

And we're back. Alright, so here's the next part that I think is worth mentioning about this omnichannel experience that I thought was so good. They were going to deliver for me. Granted, it was gonna be really expensive. Um, you know, they were gonna have to pick up and deliver. Granted, only across town, uh, I thought the delivery was super expensive, but at the same time, it felt like a service that they could provide. And they were definitely gonna make some some serious dollars on that. But what was really interesting is they were like, Well, if you add the service on right now and you take it off later, like you don't need it, they will ri just refund you in full. So, what it allowed me that to do was the flexibility to build my own schedule. And I sometimes think about that with um with retail. Sometimes I feel like you're punished for not being certain. And sometimes I think that like the flip side of it is allowing you the comfort to have some wiggle room, it just makes the experience so much more stress-free. And that's what I think the whole thing was is it was very stress-free. So they had these delivery options, and I ended up actually getting it delivered myself. Uh, you know, I borrowed my dad's truck, we went over, um, picked it all up, and dropped it off ourselves. And they debited me in full, plus the tax, which was kind of cool. So that's the other one is I think not punishing your re your client, your shopper, for not being certain. I think that that was a very eye-opening kind of thing. Uh, very subtle, but I don't know, very cool, also. Okay, so there's that

Five Minute Drive Through Pickup

SPEAKER_01 12:38

one. The next one, I just want to shout this out. I can't, this is what like actually prompted the whole thing was how good this experience was. Was uh I went and I did like a drive-through pickup. It kind of was like going to a uh an assembly line. They have this whole warehouse set up, and you drive your truck through the warehouse in a in a certain path, and they had like six guys that were working in the warehouse, all just you know, strong as ox. And they uh you hand the guy your paid invoice, uh, your paid yeah, receipt, and then he goes and he's like, Alright, you're gonna stop here. And one guy walks over, first thing he does grabs all of my, you know, all my cement. And then he goes over and he grabs all of my beams and we we pack them in there, and they're really good at like making it fit. And I think it was so uh, I thought it was so efficient that the entire thing, I think only took like five minutes to load up everything. They knew where everything was, they picked everything out, and they loaded it themselves. And the whole time you're kind of just like driving sort of slowly, and then they put more stuff in there, and then you drive a little bit further, and they put more stuff in there, and I helped because I can't like sit there and not help. Uh, just one of those guys, and but it even if I you know couldn't or didn't want to help, they would have done it for me. But the whole experience, it really felt like a premium experience without getting charged for it. They didn't there wasn't a line item that was like drive-thru assistance or something like that. The whole thing that was that was part of the experience. You buy your stuff, they're gonna help you load it as quickly and efficiently as possible, and they don't charge you for it. Again, so it was just like these subtle things that really kind of added up to the whole thing being so such a positive experience. So that's worth mentioning as well. I thought that the drive-thru pickup was um honestly very just efficiently refreshing. I don't know, I I I've done some some stuff in the cities, uh, like when I lived in Charlotte, sometimes it just was so painful to do anything. For example, like going to you know, going to the DMV, it's just like so painful. Like you're gonna be out waiting in the sun for two and a half hours um because you need to get your driver's license uh renewed or whatever. But then if you go, you know, at 7 a.m., you can wait in line and like, but it's like you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. And I just found that this one it was just so efficient that it almost like again, I felt good about it, and I'm gonna go back there for sure when I have my next project. Okay, and then the last thing I want to say is talking about the returns.

Returns That Feel Effortless

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Uh they genuinely they wanted to know why I was returning stuff, but not in a in an accusatory way, more like, oh, did we do something wrong? And I was like, No, I just got uh I had uh two extra bags of quick creat, I just over-ordered. And they're like, hey, no problem. Here, you're debited back your account, and then uh you're just gonna do the assembly line, you know, essentially in reverse, you do it the same way, and you're just gonna put the bags right back on the stack as long as they're in uh good enough condition. And the whole thing, it just sort of felt like, yeah, of course, that's the way it's supposed to work. And maybe it's maybe it's because my expectations have gone so far through the floor where it like literally you could walk over my bar. Uh I thought they debited my account for the the for the returns while I was standing there and they like went right into my account. It's not like they had to wait 30 days or they didn't have to like nail me a check. No, they just you know gave me the money back, and I think that the whole thing worked the way it was supposed to. I don't know. Why am I so surprised? It just kind of felt really good.

Bringing Delight Back To Jewelry Retail

SPEAKER_01 16:57

So what ended up happening is I built the uh the retaining wall, everything went super smooth. Um, I felt really good about it. It was cool to see people so tangibly good at their job. Sometimes I wonder with jewelers, I feel like the mysticism and like the magic of the retail jeweler job is sort of getting um stripped away from it sometimes because online information is so you know readily available. And that's a I mean, maybe that's a good thing because shoppers are more informed than ever when they walk into a jewelry store. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that, but like when a when a shopper comes in, they a lot of times know what they want, they know what kind of budget they have, they know that their budget isn't ridiculous, you know, isn't not even in the same world. They're not coming in for a hundred dollars for an engagement ring. They understand that, hey, I should be spending this much for it in my engagement ring, it's gonna be in that ballpark. But I do sort of feel like I wonder if back in the day, maybe in the 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90s, what I felt like the jewelers maybe were closer to like that I don't know, they had the ability to kind of delight their shoppers. And sometimes when I I I wonder if retailers can find that moment to sort of delight their their shoppers. I wonder what that is. You know, I remember I talked with Anna Barnett uh leading up to uh the holidays in one of the retail roundtables, and she talked about how she went to some of her VIP customers and she like went to their houses and gave them like a private showing of a couple pieces, like picked them out for her, and that way she went right to them, and I was like, wow, that's so exciting! Like that feels so white glove. And she's like, Oh, you know, it's it's funny because I enjoy doing it, and and you know, it makes sense for me to do it, and the and they appreciate it because then they don't have to like find time to come and go to my place, but like also like these it just feels like they care, and that's what I I think I really got from my construction experience was it felt like everybody really cared. Um, you know, even sometimes people were asking, like, oh, what are you what are you working on? Ah, I'm putting in a privacy fence. Oh, nice. How big? It's like oh that's gonna be 16 feet. Oh, nice. Yeah, so you need two two of these panels, and they already knew. And sometimes with jewelers, I think that there's a couple more opportunities for that. We're like, oh, um, what are you shopping for? I'm shopping for an engagement ring. Oh, I'm here to pick up an engagement ring. Oh, nice, and then I've heard that there are like they send champagne or they provide uh something nice on you know the day of the week before whatever of the actual wedding. And I think that those opportunities, it's like, yeah, you are good at your job. And I think I'm just sort of getting inspired by that when when people are really good at their job, I just get you know weirdly excited about it. I don't know what there's there's I'm seeing more of those uh in everyday life. Um, you know, even watching like a bartender know uh to to trade give you a glass of water while you're sitting there and you you know finish something and just hand you a glass of water uh next to your drink just to you know keep you refreshed. I think when they do those sort of things unprompted and it feels like they care, I think that that's the biggest thing I'm I'm starting to notice in everyday life. Um, and I hope that you can kind of notice them as

Share Your Surprisingly Great Experiences

SPEAKER_01 20:51

well. My question for you is in the in the comments for this episode, there's a way for you to leave a comment on Spotify or even an Apple Podcast, or maybe even shoot me an email at michael at punchmark.com. What are some experiences that you've had that you found to be, you know, surprisingly good? I think that there's more of them out there than you'd be than than you notice. And it's kind of like noticing uh I always call it the yellow car effect. When you start looking for yellow cars, you start to see them everywhere. And I think that when we start looking for good shopping experiences, maybe we'll notice them a little bit more, and that's a positive. Okay, that was a quick episode. We got some more awesome interviews coming down the pike, but I wanted to talk about how excited I was to I just have some really good experiences shopping, and uh I hope that you're working hard to provide that level of experience for your uh for your shoppers as well. All right, I think maybe we'll end it right there. Thanks everybody. We'll be back next week, Tuesday, with another episode. Cheers. Bye.

Closing And Where To Leave Feedback

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Alright, everybody, that's the end of the show. Thanks so much for listening. This episode was brought to you by Punchmark and produced and hosted by me, Michael Purpo. This episode was edited by Paul Suarez with music by Ross Cochran. Don't forget to rate this podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave us feedback on punchmark.com slash loop. That's L-O-U-P-E. Thanks, we'll be back next week Tuesday with another episode. Cheers. Bye.