How to: Sell More Watches

New York--With the world’s biggest watch show wrapping up in Basel, it is the perfect opportunity for jewelers to review strategies for selling both quartz and mechanical timepieces as well as smartwatches.

With just a few tips from industry experts, jewelers can avoid pitfalls, properly train staff and employ sales tactics that will keep customers coming back for watches time and time again.

To start, creating the right atmosphere is key to a successful sale.

A watch purchase, like a fine jewelry purchase, is an emotional one, said Steven Kaiser, owner of Kaiser Time Inc., a consulting and executive recruiting firm for the watch and jewelry industry.

“One mistake retailers make is not creating the full experience for the consumer,” he said. “This includes having an educated staff that has the ability to understand their clientele and offering a full assortment of brands, as well as an upscale and updated environment that reflects the products being sold.”

Without these elements, buyers are more likely to make the purchase online.

Training staff frequently and in a consistent manner also is crucial to selling watches in any brick-and-mortar store, experts said.

Gretchen Mathews, senior vice president of human resources at watch retailer Tourneau, said the best way to train salespeople on quartz and mechanical timepieces is a combination of interactive training and online courses that require testing.

She suggests looking to training provided by the Foundation of Haute Horlogerie, or FHH, the organization started in Geneva in 2005 to provide training and disseminate information about Swiss watchmaking and watch brands.

Courses on watches and watchmaking are particularly useful as some even offer hands-on elements, like the opportunity to disassemble and reassemble a basic mechanical movement.

Retailers also can see what watch brands have to offer authorized dealers when it comes to training, as many have effective training programs that can be done either on-site or online. 

Aside from being technically educated on the intricacies of quartz, mechanical and smartwatches, Kaiser said sales staff need to romance the purchase by sharing the history of the brand and by telling personal stories that resonate with potential buyers.

“The ability of the salesperson to key in on the emotional part of the purchase is in many cases just as important as the technical aspects of the timepiece itself,” he said.

One of the many challenges inherent in selling watches--and jewelry, for