Getting Rid of Monotonous Anniversary Presents
Sometimes we tend to stick to what we know and the anniversary presents we buy tend to become monotonous. I once had a conversation with a certain lady who had come in to view some jewellery pieces at our Aurex store in March, 2020. Interesting chat it was! So, when she walked in, the first thing I noticed were the many rings she had on her fingers – basically each finger had a ring. I thought that was so cool, because I for one am a huge fan of rings. I presumed that this was her unique fashion statement. As a sales person, at the back of my mind, I was thinking of the latest gold ring that we had just launched, and thinking that it would actually complement her skin tone pretty well. However, the conversation that ensued blew my mind.
After exchanging the normal pleasantries, I couldn’t help but notice that this lady’s very-many-rings were actually from Aurex Jewellery. Naturally, I had to comment that I had recognised the rings. She smiled brilliantly, threw her hair back, pulled the small bar stool that was close by and sat down. What she said took me by surprise.
Customer Wants Variety
She chuckled a bit and said, “You are possibly the one who has been recommending these to my husband, right?”
I could not confirm nor deny the question, but before I could think my answer through, she added, “Say I wanted to sell back some of them, are you able to buy them back and let me pick something else from your displays? You do sell other jewellery other than rings, right?”
At this point, I was totally clueless of the path this conversation was taking. These rings were not old, mind you, they were well maintained- sparkly, all gem stones intact. Then it occurred to me! After taking a closer look at her, I realised that she was putting on some earrings that were seemingly discoloured, and a chain that was definitely not an Aurex chain. “NOT AUREX!” my brain screamed. Well, I took all these details in before I risked being labelled the ‘awkwardly-staring’ sales person, hahahaa! At this point, I had figured that the pretty lady here possibly wanted to widen her jewellery variety.
Jewellery is More Than Just Rings
She seemed like she had read my mind when she added, “My sister, babamukuru venyu (Shona term for: ‘your brother-in-law’) is always buying me rings on our wedding anniversaries. Last Saturday we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and I also got a 9th ring as an anniversary present. He works quite close to here, so he has been buying from this shop for the past 9 years. If you started kushanda pano kudhara (Shona for: if you have been employed here for long) you possibly know him now. I thought you only sold rings here!”
Getting to Know Mrs X
Out of genuine interest, I asked the name of her husband, when she told me, I exclaimed, “Mr. X!” (actual identity withheld.) For the previous 3 years I had been at this Aurex shop, Mr. X religiously came just after Valentines’ and got a ring for his wife – and from our conversations with him, he was very certain that his wife loved rings as anniversary presents. I also remembered that he had come in and bought another one about three days back. Oh, how wrong he was!
We both laughed it off and she took off her discoloured chain and pair of earrings exclaiming that she wasn’t going to wear these ever again. Rightly so, I thought. My ‘educator mode’ kicked in and I started walking her through every other thing she could have gotten on her wedding Anniversary since 2001 as anniversary presents.
Browsing the Store from Earrings to Chains
Firstly, we started with what she was already craving – the genuine gold earrings and neck chains. I could see her wandering off as she processed the endless possibilities. Studs – the solid gold ball studs or the ones with precious and semi-precious gem stones or the fancy ones shaped into almost anything she could think of. She loved butterflies and even mentioned that her first child was named Vanessa – this was the day I also found out that the name somehow had a connotation for butterflies. Imagine the excitement she had when she discovered we had 9 carat gold butterfly shaped studs!
Mrs. X also added that on her second pregnancy, she had complications at birth and almost lost her son. She mentioned that she would also like earrings that symbolized how God intervened and saved them during that part of their marriage – she was a Christian. Lightbulb! I pulled the 18 carat gold cross shaped earrings that we had. They had cute gem stones and I immediately suggested that we could customise the earrings and put a gem stone that represented their son (Malvern)’s birth stone. He was an April baby. Long story short, we ended up custom making those earrings for her on 9k, with cute little diamond stones.
Silver and Gold Chains
Next port of call were the neck chains. Since she wanted variety, she decided to pick a few silver chains as well as 9 carat gold ones, on various designs. I didn’t do much, Mrs. X was a natural, she intuitively and fashionably paired all her neck chains with various pendants – I also got some suggestions that I later shared with my other clients, some of which I had never thought of before! Mrs. X especially liked the Singapore neck chain, so much that she picked several of these on different gauges. She also added an infinity pendant to her collection, “I want my marriage to last till death do us part my sister, if I need a reminder to work harder when the going gets tough, let this infinity pendant be a reminder!”
Customizing Jewellery to Avoid Monotony
The idea of having an engraved bracelet thrilled her. She had to pick 2, one small one for herself and another big one for her husband. She explained that her husband did not own any other jewellery apart from his original wedding band. Both bracelets were ID bracelets and they were engraved with their wedding anniversary date and initials at the back. Below are the sample bracelets that Mrs X treated herself and husband to.
After about 30- 45 minutes of such fun, Mrs. X requested to return the diamond ring that she had been given three days back. It was still in its jewellery box and had never been worn, so we took it back. She called her husband and explained her decision, and he even agreed to top up the remaining amount on her bill. How cool!
I was just reminded of this story because in 2021, Mr. X came to our shop again. This time he did the unexpected. So much so that Mrs. X came to our shop, just to show us her anniversary present (an 18k chain with disk pendants, studded with birthstones for all their kids!) Such creativity! Mr. X indeed had become an informed husband.
Endless Gift Opportunities
To all the husbands (and wives) out there, Aurex offers endless anniversary gift opportunities – you do not want to be predictable each year! Visit any one of the Aurex showrooms and our capable Sales Consultants will walk you through these. From getting what your wives or husbands naturally like, to meaningful reminders of certain events in your marriage journeys, we’ve got you covered.
Toast to better anniversary presents!
