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When selling custom jobs, it is essential to really listen to the client and take great notes. Taking notes, saving pictures, and being willing to reach out to the customer later for clarifications or approvals are all very necessary parts of the process.

When we meet directly with the customers for a store, we gather all the information, do all follow-ups with the customer, and provide all those notes about the job to the store while we are working on the job.

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THE PROFESSIONAL JEWELER’S SOURCE FOR TOOLS & SUPPLIES

Sometimes, the best thing you can do to make the sale is to not be afraid to step back and eliminate the middleman. Every extra person who gets involved in the daisy chain line of information getting passed along to the design team adds to the chance of failure, mistakes, misinformation, and a lost sale. But every customer feels special with the personal one-on-one attention from the design team making their precious one-of-a-kind creation.

Selling custom jobs doesn’t happen as quickly or easily as over-the-counter sales. Clear

Please see McFadden page 24

JMDJewelry.com

MentorJeweler@gmail.com store. It was like she had a hidden camera in my store, and she was writing about what she was seeing in my store, not hers. Then, one month, the paper came, and Martha’s column wasn’t in it. EGAD! Then it happened again the next month, and then the month after that. Something must be done to right this wrong. So, guess what I did? Yep, you guessed it. I went right to the masthead.

I called the phone number listed and Bill Newnam, the editor, answered the phone. He told me that he and his partner Chris Smith had recently purchased the paper from the original owner. He told me that Martha had retired a while back, and since the pa- per was changing ownership she thought that would be a good time to retire from her writing side gig as well. I was bummed! I understood the situation, but I was still bummed.

The next day, that damned proverbial light bulb went off in my head again, and I called Bill back and asked him if he needed someone to write a replacement column to fill that space in his new newspaper. He said yes. I said I’d throw something together in the next couple of days and send it to him to see if he liked it. I don’t know why I did that because I had never had the desire to become a writer.

Over the course of a week or so, I hobbled together 3 columns and sent them over to see if he liked one of them. He liked all three, and that covered the first 3 months of me being a published columnist with Southern Jewelry News. Then that pesky 4th month rolled around and I had to create that magic again. I didn’t think I had it in me, but I pooped out something, and I’ve been pooping out something new every month for the last 21 years and have never once ran a repeat column. During the ensuing years, the paper has grown into new markets, added a sister edition, Mid-America Jewelry News, and expanded readership and distribution beyond anyone’s imagination. It’s been a fun ride. So, that was how it started, here’s how it’s going Asa I write this, I’m sitting on the balcony of my hotel room on Jekyll Island, Georgia. My view is absolutely gorgeous. I’m overlooking palm trees, the swimming pool, and the Atlantic Ocean be- cause I’m right on the beach. I’m here to speak at the Georgia Jeweler’s Association this weekend. I’ve got my laptop on my lap and I’m writing a column about how this whole thing started and how it’s going. Based upon my view, I’d say it’s going pretty good! I’ve had the honor and privilege to travel the country to meet and speak to other jewelers for over 20 years now (I finally get to say it!) And if you want to know the truth, I think I’ve got another 21 years’ worth of columns left in me. I look forward to seeing everyone here next month, or out on the road somewhere if your group needs a mediocre speaker to speak at your next conference or convention.

To my editor Bill Newnam, my publisher Chris Smith, my National Sales Manager Elesa Dillon, and all of my readers throughout the years, I love you all! This has been a lot of fun, and I couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you. I look forward to the next 21 years!

Chuck is the owner of Anthony Jewelers in Nashville, TN. Chuck also owns CMK Co., a wholesale trade shop that specializes in custom jewelry and repair services to the jewelry industry nationwide. If you would like to contact Chuck or need a speaker or instructor for your next conference/event he can be reached at 615-354-6361, www.CMKcompany.com or send e-mail to info@ southernjewelrynews.com.

MCfaDDeN

Continued from page 22 communication between the customer, sales staff, store owner, and design team is essential. You must really listen to the customer and take great notes, save pictures, and be willing to reach out to the customer later, or simply not be afraid to step back and let the design team directly deal with the customer.

Custom guru Joel McFadden is the owner of Joel McFadden Designs in Chapel Hill, NC. He developed pricing for custom jewelry and repairs for the IJO Prototype Store, opened a business which became a million-dollar store focusing on custom, was named MJSA’s first Mentor Jeweler, was the first director of the Council of Custom Jewelers, and is the creator of the Bench Jewelers Challenge. He is an industry writer and speaks at events. Available for CAD work, stone setting, and complete custom pieces for the trade. Contact Joel at MentorJeweler@gmail.com, 984-212-2217, JMDJewelry.com, Facebook and YouTube.

Why Do We Use The Edge?

“We employ the use of The Edge’s rewards program. And it allows us to reward our most loyal clients with a store credit on every one of their purchases. It also combats discounting for the sales associates, and keeps the clients happy, because they have free money to use in the store at their next purchase.”

- Jillian Hornik, Jae’s Jewelers, Miami, FL Watch all of Jillian’s Edge Story

Safer

Continued from page 1 centuries to access gems and precious metals used in jewelry manufacture. With gemstone mining, the concerns focus on the disruption to the earth, the impact on water quality plus its effects on wildlife and bio-diversity.

Getting the Gold

But with precious metal mining - specifically with gold extraction - few of us are cognizant of its environmental impact. While consumers are generally in the dark as to where their gold comes from, we in the trade don’t always have it on our radar, either. Granted, we’re making critical inroads into recycling gold from scrap jewelry and other cast-offs, and that’s to be lauded.

Environmental watchdog Earthworks.org sounded the alarm about critical levels of toxic waste from metal mining more than a decade ago. Calling metal mining the No. 1 toxic polluter in the US in 2010, Earthworks claimed metal mining was responsible for 1.5 billion lbs. of chemical waste annually. According to the researchers, arsenic, mercury, and lead were the dominant toxic pollutants. Many jewelry tradespeople today are keen this age old travesty around by helping to create a healthier outcome for artisanal and small scale miners. On their site, mercuryfreemining.org, they explain, “The miners are not to blame. Miners often lack workable alternatives to using this potent neurotoxin in order to concentrate gold.”

By partnering with members of the jewelry industry, MFM says they are discovering and implementing efficient alternatives that can keep over 15 million them.” Australian professor Dr. Justin Chalker, at Flinders University, Adelaide, won the prime minister’s Prize for New Innovators award in 2020 for his process of gold recovery using simple waste sulfur and lemon oil. advocates of the ‘do no harm’ maxim and want to be a part of the solution to this quandary.

Gaining Allies in the Jewelry Trade Jewelry trade members need not look outside the US to find like-minded groups intent on responsibly sourced gold.

Small Scale Miners

This puts the focus on to unregulated artisanal mining. Small scale and artisanal miners operate as individual ‘freelance’ miners who sometimes pay landowners to access an area. Using rudimentary tools, often not more than shovels and pickaxes, they eke out a living just like earlier artisanal miners did for centuries. Increased gold demand fueled in part by a soaring Chinese middle class, has made artisanal gold mining steadily soar.

As artisanal gold mining ramps up globally, Reuters published an insightful report “What is artisanal gold and why is it booming?” In it, they estimated that by 2020, there were some 1520 million artisanal miners laboring independently in gold producing regions.

How They Mine

These freelance miners use mercury in the extraction of gold. In the process, mercury is mixed with the gold ore, forming a mercury-gold amalgam. This is then heated which vaporizes the mercury, leaving the miners with gold nuggets.

But mercury used in this process leaks toxins into the ground and water sources, creating a potentially deadly outcome - endangering and contaminating entire communities. This can turn entire eco-systems upside down and cause untold harm to human life and the environment.

The Response

Mercury Free Mining (MFM) is committed to turning small scale miners from poisoning themselves.

Finding Safe Alternatives

Since alternative gold recovery methods will rely heavily on imaginative forerunners, it’s definitely an uphill battle, but a worthy struggle. Toby Pomeroy, MFM Executive Director, “pioneered EcoGold - socially and environmentally responsible gold from Hoover and Strong Refiners. Toby is the only US member serving on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Responsible Mining.” explains his MFM bio.

But what do-able methods can be adopted by artisanal gold miners to separate the gold from its host ore without using mercury? While much research still needs to be conducted to establish long term solutions, early indicators are promising, MFM says. “We have three [researchers] in the US, one in Colombia, one in Peru and one in Australia, [each working on different solutions,] and we’re quite excited about

Hoover & Strong, a leading US refiner and manufacturer of precious metals exhibits a longstanding commitment to environmental and social responsibility. Together with the Fair Trade Jewellery Company (FTJCo), the first Fairtrade certified jeweler in North America and the first SCS007 (sustainably rated diamonds) accredited retailer in Canada, “they are leveraging their experiences as the first two companies in North American to market Fairtrade, Fairmined and responsibly sourced gold from Congo,” according to MFM. In this new supply chain, Hoover & Strong takes the lead in providing refining services.

Turning around the old way of gold extraction using mercury is a formidable battle - but it can be won, says MFM’s Pomeroy. “If NASA can fly a robot spaceship 250 million kilometers to asteroids and bring some rocks back, we can certainly solve this matter of mercury. It’s just a matter of will.”