It seems every year is passing quicker and quicker. 2010 is coming to a close in just a few days and what a year it has been! Though a difficult year worldwide, there are many positive aspects that we can focus on to enable us to thrive and grow in the upcoming year. Those companies or individuals that perseverate on the negative experiences of 2010 are, unfortunately, positioning themselves for another year of struggle.

Basketball coaching legend, John Wooden once said: “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do!” 2011 is the year that we all “CAN DO.” In the new reality of today, much of what life offers is something that we cannot control. We must, however, never let that fact deter us from making the most of every opportunity that does present itself. We must learn to focus on what actions we need to pursue in order to take advantage of life, present and future. We cannot dwell on the past difficulties and simply wait for conditions to improve.

At Innovative CAD Technologies, we have worked very hard throughout the year at maintaining relationships and building new ones. Our mantra had always been to focus our efforts on creating strong bonds with our clients, looking at the bigger picture and how our efforts can make a difference in another person’s life. Through the medium of Custom Designed Jewelry, we can confidently say that we have met this goal and, in most cases, exceeded our client’s expectations.

2010 was also a year of learning for our company. We are becoming fully engaged in the social media to help educate the consumers on the value of Custom Design, the awesome power of personal creative expression, and the ease of the process. Our totally revised website has received incredible positive feedback and we are very proud of what we created. In addition, it has been a truly rewarding activity to start spreading the benefits of Custom Design through our Facebook and Twitter pages. Creating interesting and informative blogs have given us the opportunity to offer our perspective of the industry and perhaps assist retailers as well as consumers on the beauty of Custom Design.

So what is ahead for us in the upcoming year? We are working daily at creating a new and exciting business model that will be unveiled in the first quarter of 2011. Our efforts will ultimately result in a completely revamped and restructured Innovative CAD Technologies. While we are not ready for the “big announcement” yet, I certainly hope you keep tuned to our social media channels for timely updates and clues to the unveiling. 2011 will be the breakout year for our company and we will definitely be making a difference in our client’s lives. Our resolve is steady and our outlook extremely positive. Always keep in mind the words of the Yankee great, Yogi Berra. He said: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up somewhere else.” At Innovative CAD Technologies, we know where we’re going and we know that we are going to be there!

At this time, I would like to thank all our past clients, fans and followers and wish each and everyone a very Happy Holiday and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Today, you need to utilize every tool in your arsenal in order to nourish profitability. One of the most important industry tools with the greatest potential for success is Custom Jewelry Design. I will continue to pound away at the positive benefits of custom jewelry design because there is no better option to increasing sales, profits, customer base and prestige within your market area.

According to industry analysts, custom design and bridal are the top two categories within the jewelry industry in 2010. Therefore, custom bridal jewelry is likely to be at the top of the list of all classes of jewelry sales.

Let’s breakdown some of the most important positive results that custom jewelry design can bring to your store.

• Customer loyalty
• Increased profit margins without the cost of inventory
• Greater consumer recognition as being the place for custom jewelry
• Free word of mouth advertising
• Improved reputation within your community

While reading an article in a jewelry publication, I came across an interesting statistic that is extremely significant to this month’s topic. Did you know that if a store treats a customer well, there is a 26% chance of that customer returning? The remarkable fact is that there is an 80% chance of a custom returning if the store exceeds the client’s expectations. This is a staggering statistic! When working as a team with a professional CAD/CAM service bureau and taking the time and effort to involve your client in the design process, how could you not exceed their expectations? This is a very considerable benefit of custom jewelry design.

Increasing profit margins is always a primary goal of business, of course. When working with custom jewelry design, there can be no direct price comparison shopping. Mass merchandising outlets and online jewelry megastores do not offer the level of customization that a retail jeweler can produce, nor can they offer the personal touch of the face-to-face experience that is necessary to exceed a client’s expectations. In the sales arena, this experience is a key factor that stores can benefit from when competing with the overseas, price only, mass merchandise sector of our industry.

You have heard my concept of creating a “CUSTOM JEWELRY DESIGN CENTER” in a prominently visible portion of your store several times. It is of vital importance to start building your center by utilizing props of past custom models and posting a “wall” of custom renderings for clients to browse while they are “just looking” or awaiting a repair. The more substance you put into your Custom Jewelry Design Center, the greater the potential to have your store recognized as the place for custom jewelry.

A client whose expectations have been exceeded will return again and again for their jewelry needs. They will gladly provide the word of mouth advertising that is essential in expanding your clientele base. Provide each Custom Jewelry Design client with an album of photorealistic renderings that tells the story of their design, from conception to perfection. Place your store logo on each page and watch how the word will spread that your store is a Custom Jewelry Design expert. A client who is more than satisfied will eagerly show the story of their design to family members, friends, co-workers, etc. This sort of personal recommendation is invaluable.

All these benefits will increase your bottom line as well as your reputation within your retail community. Once the word is out that your store has a Custom Jewelry Design Center, it will be at the top of the list for clients, organizations, institutions and other businesses that might think of having a custom design piece created for themselves, as a gift or as logo or emblem jewelry. The potential is enormous and being an expert in custom design will bring you increased potential for new and expanded markets.

Working with an experienced and highly qualified CAD/CAM service bureau has become easier than ever. Prompt response time places profits into your store quickly and efficiently. With today’s level of technology, it is unnecessary to provide a service bureau with overly detailed sketches or mechanical drawings. A quick sketch and a simple array of important information transmitted via email or fax will get the process moving ahead. Without going into a lot of detail, a retailer needs only to supply the required information such as finger size, any dimensional preferences (shank thickness, bracelet width, etc.,) metal type and stone information. It is unnecessary to worry about prong thicknesses, shank dimensions, or other details since a qualified CAD service bureau knows from years of experience which elements are necessary, visually pleasing and structurally sound. Any additional relevant information that is not provided will be discussed before a project moves forward.

To sum up, Custom Jewelry Design is a win-win situation for both the retailer and the consumer. The retailer needs no investment in advance and has a tremendous opportunity to increase their profits, reputation and standing within the community. The consumer receives a “one of a kind” item for which they personally played an important role in the design process.

Next month, we will expand on the “CUSTOM JEWELRY DESIGN CENTER” and how it can help get the message out to your customers and equally important potential customers. Process is quite simple, but a few suggestions can streamline the procedures and make it easier to communicate the client’s preferences.

Also, check out our totally revamped website: www.innocadtech.com We are very proud of the new look and will be periodically updating our site to keep it fresh and informative.

We’ve been hearing a lot of discussion lately, in print and internet media, about Custom Jewelry Design. But not all Custom Design is equal. There are differences between true customization, customized jewelry and companies which claim to offer clients a custom choice but, in reality, no custom work is involved.

There has been a lot of fanfare, within the industry lately, of new entries into the world of custom jewelry offering the ability of web users to create custom designs directly on the internet. Whereas some mass merchandising companies claim this ability for the consumer, the reality is that their marketing concept is nothing more than providing a graphical choice of the customer’s preferences in stones colors and metals. These variables can only be changed on an array of previously designed, stock items. There is no actual customization involved in these web based transactions, despite the manufacturer’s assertions.

Other companies offer fancy, “point of sale” customization software in which the retailer and consumer can tweak the design to their liking. While this looks impressive, the scope of customization is quite limited and basically the choices are constrained to a catalog of pre-designed models. It is an attractive way of taking a picture from a catalog and explaining to the customer how it will look with various stones and possibly a revised shank. These programs, however, are quite expensive, have long learning curves, and limit the overall collective creativity between the retailer and the consumer.

True Custom Jewelry Design starts with a concept, an idea, photo, or even just a wish. With genuine customization, the retailer and client work closely together to express the emotional connection of the design with the recipient. In conjunction with a quality service bureau, the retailer is free to concentrate upon the growing relationship between store and customer rather than overburdening themselves on the design process itself. With true customization, the customer plays a direct role, with the retailer, in ensuring that the ultimate result will represent the culmination of all that they desired in a piece of jewelry. This guarantees the overall satisfaction of the client and leads to all the additional benefits explained in the July newsletter, such as increased customer satisfaction, word of mouth advertising, etc.

Service bureaus, such as Innovative CAD Technologies, are the enablers of the design and manufacturing process that allows the retailer to offer themselves as Custom Design Experts without having to purchase expensive software, go through months and months of training in order to be minimally proficient, and also, have no expenditures on very expensive, high maintenance prototyping and casting equipment. We pride ourselves as purveyors of fine design and of the highest quality models and castings. Our choice of the latest and most advanced prototyping and casting technology reflects our desire to offer the finest results of the CAD/CAM process. But expensive hardware is only part of the story. At Innovative CAD, it is our staff that are rally extraordinary. They are detailed oriented and consistently maintain the machinery to factory standards, accepting nothing less than exceptional results. Where some service bureaus will cut corners in production to save money, at Innovative CAD, we feel strongly that our consistency in ultra fine quality will result in long term, positive relationships with our family of clients.

By treating your service bureau as that part of your team, involved with the processes of 3D design, model making and casting, it will allow you to advertise your “Custom Jewelry Design Center” with great confidence and pride. This will add increased customer interest, greater profits, and high degree of prestige to your business.

Last month, I left off with a statement of a business being “Proactive rather than being Reactive.” Just what did I mean by this? In simple terms, do not to wait until the door swings open at your store and a prospective client walks through. You must go out and actively seek Custom Work within your community. There are many large corporate business that can offer their employees achievement awards, holiday gifts, logo jewelry, etc. There are Fire Departments, EMS stations and Police Departments where custom replicas of personal shields are very popular. There are charitable organizations which need custom pieces as loyalty awards, gifts, contest prizes, etc. These categories of custom jewelry items are practical to create and quite affordable when ordered in quantity production runs. Chances are, however, that these organizations will not walk into your store, so be Proactive and go after them. The time you spend cultivating leads will eventually payoff great dividends as you will not only increase your business in the present, but the quality of your work will also be exposed to many new prospective clients within these various organization and corporate business types.

In next month’s newsletter I will discuss, in greater detail, the win-win situation of working in Custom Jewelry Design and how to get the best results when working with a quality service bureau. The process is quite simple, but a few suggestions can streamline the procedures and make it easier to communicate the client’s preferences.

Also, check out our totally revamped website: www.innocadtech.com We are very proud of the new look and will be periodically updating our site to keep it fresh and informative.