Why Trust Sells Jewelry: Live from Centurion with Zillion, Noam Carver and CrownRing

We are live at Centurion. We are at The Breakers in West Palm. My goodness, what a place this is. Gorgeous. I am sitting here with Big Lou, who is afraid to be on camera, so I am staring at his pretty eyes from across the table. We are on a buying trip right now. We are here to pick out the absolute best jewelry for the holiday season. We are meeting with vendors. We are talking diamonds, color, gold. Lou is hellbent on finding some of the most gorgeous stones. He has even tried some rings on. I cannot wait to share those pictures.

We are going to meet with a lot of partners. We have a lot to do, but you can see from behind me just how gorgeous this resort is. We are going to have a ton of content for you. We are going to meet with GIA, we are going to meet with different brands, and we are going to find all the best stuff for you, the consumer, for the holidays, making sure you have everything you need. And only Solomon Brothers is here getting you this content.

This is not for us. We are on these trips for you, to find the most cutting edge, ahead of its time, but also classic and long lasting crafted jewelry you can find. So we will check in soon. This is Nick from Legacy of Luxury, from Solomon Brothers, from Red Beryl, checking out on behalf of me and Big Lou. Nick Constantino here, Solomon Brothers Jewelers, Legacy of Luxury, Red Beryl. We are here on the floor of Centurion at The Breakers.

Holy crap, this place is nice. When I got the invite two days ago and Jaron said, hey man, you want to go to The Breakers, I said yes before he finished the sentence. I have heard the stories. I was not supposed to come, and I am here. I am here with Jay Gerber of Zillion, and we are going to have a fun talk about insurance. Famous last words. No one says fun and insurance next to each other. Until Zillion. This is why we are here.

We are trying to accomplish a couple of things. First, we are going to talk to the consumer about why trust is at the center of all this, and why that is so important. One of the things I have learned from being on the floor here is that relationships are key, and relationships are built on trust.

When we were talking earlier, you framed why trust is a two-way street with something like this: why you are selective with the partners you work with, and why we are selective about using you versus a general insurer. So talk from your standpoint about how you vet jewelers and why that trust is so important to you.

We need jewelers we can trust because we are a B2B2C model. We only sell insurance, or protection, through our retail partners. We want to make sure our policy holders are getting the right evaluations and working with the right jewelers, so that if, God forbid, they have a loss, they are going to be made whole, made whole quickly, and done professionally by our jewelry partner.

Prices are all over the place. Even if you walk this floor, even on the wholesale side, you can point to the same piece and be so far off. And these prices are tied to exchanges that have nothing to do with jewelry. The price of gold is fixed to so many things, from inflation to foreign exchange. It is not as easy as people think to predict. So I have to imagine that from an underwriting standpoint, a good, consistent jeweler that you know is pricing right helps the underwriting.

You are spot on. What we are looking for is jewelers who can tell us, if this customer has a loss, what it is realistically going to cost to replace that item. And we want to make sure we are sending our customer back to a jeweler who is going to charge them a fair price.

Both ways. It is a two-way street. So let us talk about the ten days after you buy something. Let us talk engagement, because it is the easiest to understand. We have a bar in our store because when the guys come in, they are terrified. I was terrified. I took my wife on a train ride to New York City, a horse and carriage ride, and she asked what was wrong with me because I was shaking. So they are nervous to begin with.

When they come to us from all over town, it is because we have the experience. We want them to leave with peace of mind. So talk about how offering your services for ten days helps establish trust between you and that consumer, and between us and that consumer.

What our partners have really done, and we have learned a lot from them, is establish trusted loyalty. They have a lot of value-added services that help them build their brand, and Zillion wanted to fit in with those partners. So what Zillion established was an integration with your point of sale system, so we get all the data we need to make this a super easy process, not just for the jeweler but for the consumer. The consumer is able to leave the store with immediate protection on, with ten days of temporary coverage.

A lot of our partners really like that because they were able to build it into their selling ceremony, and let consumers know: we care enough about you to make sure you are leaving protected. The guy is nervous. He probably just spent seven, ten, twelve, fifteen thousand dollars on a diamond, probably his first big purchase. Odds are he does not have insurance. But you have done the heavy lifting to make sure that customer leaves your store with ten days of temporary protection and a free quote, and then he has those ten days to decide what he wants to do long term.

Buyer’s remorse is a very real thing. I have bought several cars in my life and every time I drive away I think, how much did I just spend on this? Eventually you love the car. I am just saying that adding something like this in those first ten days, when the most buyer’s remorse happens and probably the most fear happens, is another notch of, look, we are taking care of you.

Exactly. We had a gentleman who finished buying the ring and was leaving to get engaged in Cancun. He said he was looking at insurance options, and the retailer said, listen, we have got you. He left with the ten days of coverage and could figure out his insurance needs when he got back. Another step in that value add where the jeweler is saying, we care enough.

One less thing to worry about while you are making the purchase. Ten days is a lot different than day of. If you are walking right out of there, all of a sudden you have to start researching insurance companies. And this is not a criticism of the jewelry industry. They are not bad actors, but because there is so much arbitrary pricing, it makes it hard to trust.

We have all heard the stories about insurance salesmen. It is not held in the highest esteem. So I think that trust is paramount. You are going to see us working closely together to aggregate data and build a new customer portal, so you know before you even walk in the store that this exists. That adds to your peace of mind. Now let us switch. We have been talking to the consumer. Let us talk to the business.

If you own a jewelry store, why would you go out and vet this process with you, versus thinking this is just another item on a regular insurance line?

The consumer today wants ease and convenience. The economic engine driving bridal today is a consumer that is mobile-centric. Because we have all the data through the POS system, our process gives you the ability to send that offer right to the customer’s smartphone. With one click, your consumer leaves with the protection benefit and a free quote. You are meeting an expectation the consumer has today. And together we also want to provide a concierge level of service on our claims.

We hold the consumer’s hand through the process and send our policy holder back to our trusted partner, who then helps them get back into the ring as quickly as possible. Before we started this interview, we were talking about how this is an extremely emotional experience.

Beginning to end, emotion. Lots of different emotions.

It is emotional when they are buying an expensive item, but it is even more emotional if they lose it. So there is a real opportunity for a company like Zillion and our retail partner to say to our mutual client, we have got you. In this time of need, we are going to take care of you and get you back in your ring.

We already did the hard work. We vetted each other to give you the optimal service, the easiest way, at the most important time, which is those ten days following the purchase. Once that peace of mind is met, what they do from there is their choice. But we have them covered in that initial phase. We both exchanged stories, and we do not have to go into them because I do not want to scare people, but you are talking hundreds of thousands of dollars that disappeared and came back. And after you lose the first one, you will probably never lose it again.

Jay, this has been great. Any closing remarks? Anything stand out to you about the show, or is it just freaking awesome at The Breakers?

The Breakers is an amazing venue. Absolutely gorgeous. The retailers that come to Centurion are top drawer jewelers. They care about their clients, and those are the kind of retail partners we are trying to partner with. Thank you very much. I appreciate the time.

Welcome to Legacy of Luxury, live from Centurion at The Breakers. Gentlemen, before I introduce you each for the hundredth time, how freaking dope is this place?

We are super excited to be here. This is such an exciting show.

And they are from Canada, so you know they are being honest about how awesome this place is. Noam, what are your thoughts on The Breakers as a whole?

Palm Beach. The weather, the beach, the beauty, the cars.

I am with Noam Carver and Ron from CrownRing, and we are going to do today a little differently. Noam, you are going to give the brand story. We have some really cool product here, the Silk MFIT. I want you to tell the brand story. But we also have Ron here to translate how that story is relayed to stores and salespeople. A lot of times we talk about the end consumer, but there is also a big B2B audience here about what jewelers can do better. We are really focusing right now on what jewelers can do to be better as times change as quickly as they have.

So Noam, pick anything you want to talk about, but let us do the traditional version: how a brand comes into being, what we think about for the end consumer, and how we differentiate ourselves. Then Ron, we are going to pass it to you, and you are going to talk about how a local jewelry store hears that. How do we translate that message down there? And I am going to stay here and be quiet while you two have that conversation, which is near impossible. All right, hit it.

It all starts with a vision. As a designer, you have a vision of what you want to create, what you want to design, and how you want to represent your brand, your brand story, your brand image. One of my hidden tricks was growing up in Montreal designing one-on-one for consumers, working directly with the customer, rather than being a designer living in a bubble.

Working one-on-one with consumers allowed me to realize that a vision needs to translate into something wearable and timeless. So I have always navigated that delicate balance between innovation and timelessness. Through creating a brand, I am reminded that these are pieces that women or men will wear for their entire lives, will cherish, and that become important heirloom artifacts. When I design, I have that in mind.

Then I try to have some fun. How can I spice things up? How can I hedge on new trends and new designs? How can I create a beautiful merchandising experience so that when the customer comes into Solomon Brothers and sees the Noam Carver display, they are engaged with a beautiful array of product? That is our brand vision brought into reality. You can create some beautiful jewelry, but if it does not connect with your customers, it does not work. Luckily that has been our talent and our focus, and we understood that reality.

I love it. We are going to come back and talk about a specific line, because we have it here. But let us go to Ron. Ron, that is the design and why we do it. I loved when he said you are not necessarily going trendy, but you are leaning on trends and making something well crafted that serves multiple purposes. Because for the end consumer, it is what is in it for me. So how do you relate that message to both the salespeople at the jewelry stores and the owners themselves?

Because you know what the owners care about: the bottom line. Traffic coming in the store. Can you get me product? Do you answer your phones? Now you are taking that brand message and becoming the salesperson who relays it. I think that gets lost in translation and no one talks about it. So give us the secret sauce.

We are so blessed to have Noam behind the design, feeding us incredible product. But it is our duty to translate that product into selling tools for our stores that help navigate the sale. Bridal is the first starting point for most of these couples. Their jewelry story starts with bridal. So coming into a store and starting that purchase history through bridal, you want to give them the best experience you can.

One thing we do very well at CrownRing and at Noam Carver is create programs that help guide the staff to explain what is out there and what is available to the end user when they are buying their engagement ring. That is where we shine as a company and as a brand. We are lucky to have an incredible team with so many years of experience helping understand what people are looking for, and how to translate that into successful programs that create more sales in the store. Everyone designs beautiful jewelry. How do you translate that into sales? Our programs have really been our secret sauce.

A note of credit to you guys: most people talk it, you walk it. I have only done this for eighteen months, believe it or not, and how many times have we met? Dozens. You have to believe in the product, but you have to believe in each other. There is trust, there is rapport. And if you have two or three salespeople who believe in you, it becomes contagious, and then all the salespeople start believing. This is a people business.

Noam, let us bring it up here. We have Silk MFIT, these new rings with silicone on the inside. Sounds so simple, but talk about how it was designed. I am going to hold it up and model it, because I am the best looking of the three of us. And can I just say that this forced perspective of the camera is bothering me? I am definitely taller than Ron and he looks the same height. I have two inches on him easy.

Three feet closer to the screen.

Noam, talk through this one first, because I think it is a great example. This is not the fanciest design. This is about practicality. When you design, think about how much you think about the end user. They have to wear it all the time. This is not supposed to catch your attention, but when you start taking it apart and looking inside it, this is why it exists.

Every now and again you come across an innovation that really blows your mind. When I saw this, I said, wow, this is a home run.

Coming to Noam Carver within two weeks.

Exactly. One thing we see today is that with the high price of gold, men’s wedding bands have become quite a costly investment. So how do you mitigate the high cost, or design and create something affordable that does not compromise the look, the feel, the width? That is one part. The second part is that we live in a very active society. The amount of people out there playing sports, fitness, activities, busy lives. That is another element of daily use. So how do you create a wedding band with a comfort and sport technology that makes it feel almost like you are wearing air? When I saw this, it hit both of those elements.

The interior of this ring is our patented MFIT comfort interior, but it is a silicone insert. This is not your classic silicone ring. The surface of the ring is a wide, hefty gold men’s band. The interior is an active sports interior. It is comfortable, it offers airflow and breathability, and it feels like you are wearing a cloud. And you are able to create a wide, solid ring that is not so heavy that you are paying a lot for gold you do not really benefit from and do not see.

Ron, having been a salesman most of my life, I have to imagine that is a pretty easy sell once you get it in store. Building out the packaging and the program has to be tedious, but once you get there, this is easy to understand. So talk about how it goes from a vision, whether Noam is the designer or not, to being on a board, being programmed, being something we are marketing.

These are super innovative and cool. One thing this really does well is offer a level of finger fluctuation. A guy coming into a store buying his wedding band could see his finger expand or contract down the line and need a new size. Something really cool about this is that when the guest buys his finger size, we actually send two extra inserts: one for a finger size down and one for a finger size up. So he is really buying three sizes in one ring.

Like Noam touched on, with how active today’s society is and how popular the gym is, you want the ability to take off the gold shell and just wear the silicone sleeve, but you also want the ability to put on a nice fancy ring when you are going out for dinner or have an occasion. It serves multiple purposes.

Coming back to the sales-minded outlook, we are all about being a pro-precious company and pushing something that is going to last you forever. This serves as an option when it comes to price point, with gold being so much more expensive than it was a few years ago. But you still want to showcase something with a bit more weight, something full metal, something that is going to last down the line. You have to think about how your ring is going to wear five, ten, fifteen years out. And with CrownRing we have amazing warranty programs. Whether you are buying a classic gold wedding band or a Silk wedding band, we are backing up our product.

All right, gentlemen, a quick prediction segment. Noam, I want to hear from the design side: a prediction, something you are excited about, something you are working on. Ron, the same from a sales standpoint, and what is changing for local independent jewelers. I will go first. I think we are getting to a point of AI fatigue, believe it or not. All the slop being thrown out there is leveling the playing field, so people are going to rededicate themselves to creativity, to building content, to the actual pretty stuff. It has been neglected for a while.

Everybody just wants data, and that is great, and it can differentiate you. But as that normalizes and democratizes, people are going to have to get back to being creative. In the next sixteen to eighteen months, you are going to see that creative process come back into the light, because once the playing field is level, creativity is what differentiates. So Noam, what is something you are excited about from a design standpoint?

I think it is about human interaction. One of the greatest features of being a designer is being able to travel, do trunk shows, meet clients, meet sales staff, and interact one-on-one with different people. It inspires me and feeds my design appetite. Every trip I go on, I come back with a new vision.

And what you were saying about AI is really interesting. We have been seeing all these videos that are so perfect they look artificial. I see people wanting a real human touch, whether it is imperfections or human interactions. Vulnerability. It is also just human relationships. When you come into Solomon Brothers and are serviced by dedicated staff, you are building a long lasting relationship. This is not one transaction. This is a community, a family. That is where a lot of the success of our industry is going to continue to shine: how we approach retailers and customers, and how you approach your greater community. Growing within the community and creating these relationships is the future of our business.

It is on a much more micro level. You cannot be everything to everybody, but you can be a lot of things to a small number of people. Everyone says community. It gets thrown around. But are you investing in your community? Is your community investing in you? They come, they buy from you, they understand that yes, you may pay a premium over some black market site, but you are doing that because you get something back from the community. Ron, what have you got?

Touching on bridal, Noam Carver, and all the exciting things we are bringing to market, we are trying to innovate. That is something we do very well at CrownRing and Noam Carver: innovative products and programs, bringing something new and exciting to the staff. They come into the store every day and see the same product every day. How can you make it fun and interactive? We have so many exciting things coming that are going to add layers of excitement to the selling process and to the customer.

Feeding the stores with incredible product is what excites me. Showing up with something new and innovative like Silk, something they have not seen, reinventing the wheel in such a long, historic industry. Those are the things that excite me.

Noam, last question. What is going to be this season’s must-have item for the holidays? Whether you designed it or not.

The second engagement ring.

I love the sound of that.

I am hedging on this new trend. With the advent of lab diamonds, you might have a beautiful natural stone or a lab diamond engagement ring, but lab diamonds have made it affordable to have different styles. Say you have a four-prong solitaire. Why not add a bezel-set emerald cut to your collection? I see a future where women will have more than one engagement ring.

All right, that is officially the end of the show. We appreciate you guys. You are always great partners. Live from Centurion at The Breakers. We will catch you next time.