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Selling
with a Story
When I make purchasing decisions, I generally look for something
that has meaning. Early on, I learned that what interested
me most about the goods I encountered in Asia was the story
that lies behind almost everything you see on our site.
A good
example of this is a ring we wholesale, style R120, the Navratan
Ring. It's an interesting ring: lots of different colored
stones, a real conversation piece. The first one I bought
was for myself, but when people asked about it and I told
them why I bought it, they frequently wanted one for themselves.
The Navratan
is a traditional Vedic Astrology ring. The stones represent
the planets (Nav means "9" in Hindi, Ratan means
"stone", nine stones, nine planets...). The underside
of the ring face is left unfinished so that the stones touch
the skin. This connection between body and stone is believed
to help balance one's energy.
Side note:
the Navratan is a two thousand year old jewelry design, but
the ninth planet, Pluto, wasn't "discovered" by
the Western scientists until the 1930's.
Having
done more trade shows than I can count, I have learned that
price will sell an item, quality will sell an item, beauty
doesn't hurt, but often the easiest and most engaging sale
is made with a story. Because of this I try to find items
that have some unique history to them. When you see our new
Hill
Tribe Silver, you will understand what I am talking about.
It is the sort of thing that when your customers put it on
and understand what it is, they will not only buy from you
this once but they will come back again to see what other
stories you have for sale.
(This article
written by Mike McGinnis and published originally on indiasilver.com.
We allow republication provided the piece is copied in its entirety
with links and attribution.)
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