J for JARGON
How many people are 'turned off' by you using phrases that they don't understand?
It's important to try and remember the words you used to use before you began making and selling your handmade silver jewellery and remember the knowledge (or probably lack of it) you had.
For instance when I talk about Sterling Silver - what does that actually mean to a customer. They know to ask, is it sterling silver, but do they know what it means? Silver describes a variety of precious metals - for instance the silver is mixed with copper to harden it, so sterling silver is 925 silver and 75 parts copper - but there are other grades of silver around. Tibetan silver for instance, is vastly inferior quality and do the customers understand this? Fine silver is 999 parts silver and 1 part copper (usually produced by precious metal clay workers) - so a better quality silver, but much softer and would be pretty useless for a ring which is frequently worn. Sterling Silver is the minimum quality of silver which is accepted by the Assay Offices. Anything less which is sent for hallmarking by a British silversmith, would be destroyed!
Hallmarking is a another one which customers have very little knowledge of. Again, I'm asked 'is it hallmarked?' - but do they understand what that means? You can bet that the majority don't. It's worthwhile explaining in a little more detail what they have to look for to ensure that they know what silver hallmarks look like. The more people who understand, the less they're likely to get ripped off!
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