Mega-Vitamin for Sales
GemEx report focuses on a diamond's beauty
When a customer whips out a wholesale price list while comparison-shopping diamonds, even the best sales associate may find it challenging to keep the focus on warm words about romance. From that point on, it's all about numbers. Prices, proportions, weight, angle calculations and table percentages take over the conversation. But a new program, designed to make your diamond sales more visual, aims to challenge the supremacy of numbers. The Guide Light Performance Analysis Report by GemEx Systems Inc. illustrates the visual characteristics of the diamond – specifically, how it performs with light return (brilliance). The report uses bar graphs to demonstrate comparative brilliance, fire and scintillation. It also describes what the customer sees and lists any critical information from accompanying lab reports.
The company's BrillianceScope Analyzer™ – which measures light return – generates the report. "This supports the Gemological Institute of America theory that there are many premium cuts, not just the so-called Ideal cut," says Bob DuBois, vice president for marketing at GemEx.
GemEx has received some criticism from those who rely on exact proportions and angles to determine beauty. "It's hard to get the exact same reading twice when examining a diamond through the BrillianceScope," says one critic. GemEx President Randy Wagner says this approach misses the point. "We never sell this on the basis that it's exactly repeatable," he says. "Instead, we say it measures a diamond within a range on a consistent basis. It's a tool to use for comparable analysis so consumers can determine what about the diamond they like." Retailer Gary Gordon of Samuel Gordon Jewelers, Oklahoma City, OK, agrees. "For customers who insist on repeatable results, we take several readings to show a diamond has a definite range of fire and brilliance," he says. "We also show them other diamonds to underscore differences in light performance."
Qualified retailers can participate in the GemEx system in several ways. Midsize independent jewelers at whom the system is targeted can buy diamonds from dealers who generate Guide Light Performance Analysis Reports with the diamonds they sell. Other retailers might opt to buy a GemEx Viewer, which essentially duplicates what the BrillianceScope does without generating a report. These viewers are countertop sales tools that allow customers to see light performance in diamonds.