Then it was my turn to speak. The subject was “No Pressure, No Diamonds: Selling Luxury Products in a Recession”. Instead of opening with my usual Facebook Diamonds Page/Social Media shtick, I wanted to pick up on what the rabbi said. The first thing I talked about was how we treat customers when we buy diamonds and jewelry from them. This may be the most valuable thing that my father taught me as I grew up and worked in the pawnshop. We often dealt with people who needed to borrow money on their their items. My father was their friend – he always treated them with dignity and respect, and was sensitive to their needs. As we carried our business over to buying engagement rings from people, we adopted this same philosophy of being sensitive to people’s needs and their situation. When someone is getting divorced and is selling their ring, it can be a sad experience or a liberating experience. We understand this and that’s why we do it so well. When someone is selling jewelry simply because they need money, we treat these people with fairness, dignity and respect so the seller can be happy about their transaction.

And that’s what I think customer service is all about.

Please click here for the full post and check out Nelle Somerville’s blog,

Ron, Steve and Paul

Stone Hill Farm.

“Thank you Ron for always taking such good care of us and for helping us with our full wedding ring sets. I can’t believe the guy in the middle is your Dad. Thank you for your fair pricing and for the amazing job you all did on my charm bracelet. You all are true professionals.”

We thank you and hope to see you soon!

I even ran across Inc Magazine’s article “You’ve Been Yelped” shortly after, which describes business owner’s struggles with this site in particular.

Everyone’s a critic. The cliché has long been a useful way to brush off a caustic remark or a biting comment. But now it’s true — and it’s driving entrepreneurs crazy.

Is it driving us crazy? No. Is it making us think before we react to a customer? Yes.

Now, Yelp does have some other issues, like kicking bad reviews to the bottom of certain user’s pages if they are advertisers. But that’s another issue.

The issue here is how do we, as business owners, treat customers and, better yet, deal with the fallout from negative (and very public) customer feedback? Back in the old days, my grandfather would not hesitate to show a customer the door if they were having a hard time “seeing eye to eye.” But the internet has empowered customers. If you don’t like the service, trash the waiter. If the food is subpar, throw the chef under the bus. And tell all your Facebook friends how that one brand of detergent makes your shirts smell like formaldehyde. So, times change and we always adapt to change around here. But how far do I have to go in dealing with an obnoxious, difficult or even offensive customer? Is the customer always right? Or do I take the chance that sometimes they’re just wrong and let the chips fall where they may? Food for thought I hope. Just please don’t give this “chef” a bad review

Saturday, I had one customer come in who was ready to fight and complain about a ring (which just needed to be polished). Couldn’t have been any nastier. My father started to wait on her, and he was gonna give her the boot. I stepped in and just kept my mouth shut and fixed the problem. Then another guy came in and wasted my time and asked for a better price with no intention of buying. I kicked him out of the store because I knew he was not serious. The next customers who came in were a nice young couple looking for wedding bands. They were young professionals like me and very pleasant, and I look forward to working with them.

So here’s the question. Do I need to be spoken to like that in MY STORE? My grandfather, of blessed memory, and my father would say no. Let’s take it to the other extreme. If a customer was looking around for more than five minutes without buying, my grandfather would give them the boot. (not in such a nice way). If you’re not buying, get out! God bless him. You can’t do that anymore, but the question is how far do you go for a nasty customer?

Here’s my take on it. If you’re a nice person and pleasant to deal with, I’ll do whatever I can to take care of you. I will bend over backwards to help. If you’re not, then shop elsewhere. I know in this day and age you need to appreciate every customer, but I prefer to be treated like I treat others. Amazon is a different model then a personal business like mine. They are the internet’s biggest retailer. Listen to Bezos here, “What’s dangerous is not to evolve.” Now that I can understand and I am proud to say that we are evolving every day down here at Samuelson’s. Really great stuff from possibly the biggest forward thinker on Earth…