We Know Your Name!!

This past Wednesday evening Sweet Tooth had a special guest.  We easily referred to him as "Michael" but in fact he is the President of Trollbeads USA.  He came to Oklahoma from Princeton, NJ to travel this territory with our new Trollbeads sales rep, Myra and he especially wanted to visit with us.
Our staff gathered around the Trollbeads case, snacking on grapes and cheese and listened to Michael talk to us about the new USA organization of Trollbeads, a company headquartered in Denmark.
Why is this such a big deal, you ask?  Well, for quite some time our store has been the outpost for Trollbeads.  There is no other store in Oklahoma which carries this wonderful bead line, artisan based and uniquely created.
I imagine Michael wanted to know what has kept us going all these years, with the revolving door of showrooms and sales reps which have never stayed long enough to really become a partner to Sweet Tooth.
Our answer to that question is that we respect this line, its beauty, the jewelry artists who work to create it and the Denmark family which has owned and operated the company for many, many years.
These days it is necessary for retailers to wade through all the knock offs, all the mediocre gift lines and jewelry lines to find those special manufacturers whose mission and goal is to put their customers and collectors first.
The USA Trollbeads group is such a manufacturer and our customers who purchase Trollbeads know that they are wearing jewelry which really does stand out above the many other bead lines which from a distance are pretty and shiny but upon close inspection are simply uninspired copy cats of a lot of other bead lines on the market.
And what makes Sweet Tooth different in this regard?  We do not want to be cashiers who ring up sales but have no real knowledge and commitment to the items we are selling.  Boring!!
We like hearing Michael's insider stories.  We enjoy being the first to know what is coming up in the future.  We want to be the store where everyone who works here can tell our customers something special about what we sell.
You hear lots of talk about customer service, but where do you really find that sort of approach?  Is it at the department store where you have to search for a sales person because the company she works for doesn't think it important to have staff on hand to serve you?
Is it standing in line at the grocery and having to listen to the conversations of one employee with another, while you are practically ignored or have to interrupt their conversation to get your questions answered?
I'm not saying Sweet Tooth is perfect in this way, but I am saying that we strive to put our customers first and get their questions answered.
Sweet Tooth's goal is to be a "home away from home", a place where people feel wanted and comfortable.  We want to be the place where it is fun to shop and just like in that great sit com "Cheers", we know your name!!