Don’t Sell the Steak, Sell the Sizzle!

When it comes to buying jewelry for your girlfriend or your wife, the last thing you want to do is just hand it to her. In the words of America’s greatest salesman, Elmer Wheeler, “Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle!”

Fine jewelry will last a lifetime, and so will the memories attached to receiving the gift. Even if you don’t have a romantic bone in your body, consider the following 5 points:

1. Packaging Matters

Don’t underestimate the importance of a beautiful jewelry box, a well wrapped gift, and a thoughtful card. In fact, scientific studies show that the perceived desirability and quality of even a poorly wrapped gift exceed those of an unwrapped gift. Fortunately, your gift will not be poorly wrapped because Gentleman Jeweler provides wrapping paper and a card along with a stylish jewelry box for every one of our pieces. All you have to do is get out your clear Scotch tape and a pen, but why stop there?

2. Timing is everything

Recently, my wife and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary. We hired a sitter and snuck out to a nice restaurant. Since we were celebrating (and because it’s basically my favorite beverage) I ordered a bottle of champagne. When my wife got up to use the ladies’ room, I took the opportunity to affix her new earrings to the bottle. It actually took her a minute or two after she got back to notice. She was thrilled!

We’re all hyper-busy, but that’s the point. Find a time that is special and calm and you’ll give a great gift.

3. Surprise, Surprise

There was a slight element of surprise in the story above, but I’d like to share with you another story to illustrate a point. When my friend (who will not be named) proposed to his wife, he wanted desperately to surprise her. They had been dating for quite a few years, and at this point in their relationship, they were doing the long-distance thing. She came to visit him one weekend, and he did everything in his power to convince her that he was not proposing. At the end of the weekend, just before she was leaving for the airport, he surprised her with the ring and with a new set of tickets to fly to see his family. His plan sounded good in his head and looked good on paper, but what he didn’t count on was her fatigue just to get this point which muted her otherwise joyous reaction. The moral of the story is overdoing it may have unintended consequences…

An idea for a surprise that you can easily emulate, and not leave her deflated is pack the jewelry piece inside of a series of subsequently larger boxes. Leave notes with different memories in each box like:

Remember that night we sat on your parent’s porch and talked for hours, just looking at the stars
Remember the skiing trip last year when I fell down half the mountain, it was worth it
Remember the first time we kissed outside of your car after our first date
This takes the gag out of the box inside a box joke and turns it into a sweet twist

4. Location, Location, Location

If you and your partner are the adventurous type or just like to get out in the great outdoors, you could give her the gift during the outing. Maybe you could present it at the peak time of the activity.

If you’re going for a hike, you could give it to her at the top of the hiking path overlooking beautiful scenery. If you live by the beach, you could present it to her as the sun sets as you walk along the shore.

There are many ways to present your gift during an activity. That’s one of the advantages about jewelry – it’s small. Pick your favorite location, but don’t forget #1 – wrap your gift…

5. It takes a village

Maybe you couldn’t book that sitter. It’s OK, enlist the kids to get involved. A couple years ago, before I was making jewelry, I brought my son to the store with me to pick something out for his mother’s birthday. He customized a bracelet for her, choosing a stone called Tiger’s Eye (for the gem nerds out there, Tiger’s Eye is a type of chalcedony typically golden and red-brown in color displaying a visual effect called chatoyancy – it also has a cool name). I had him actually give her the bracelet and coached him to make sure once she opened it to explain that the stone is called Tiger’s Eye and that he chose it especially for her. Even if you don’t have kids of your own, enlist a niece or nephew. The point is she’ll be delighted.

Sell the Sizzle With That Steak!

If you’ve ever gone out to a restaurant and ordered steak fajitas, you know that sizzle is as important as the steak. If you’ve found the perfect jewelry for the love of your life, make her experience the sizzle before the steak.

Give her the gift of a romantic gesture alongside the gift, and she’ll remember it for a lifetime. We sell the perfect jewelry for your sweetheart. Contact us about your options.