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Success With Jewelry
161 - Laryssa and Liz on How to Say Your Prices Confidently (Without Over-Explaining)
00:17:47
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to the Success With Jewelry Podcast. Your go to source for real conversations about business marketing and what it actually takes to succeed as a jewelry brand.
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Today I'm Larissa, the strategist systems queen and the one who finds joy in turning big marketing challenges into step by step plans that actually work. Email marketing and generating revenue through it is a specialty of my agency, Joy.
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Joya and I'm Liz, your creative compass and advocate for designers doing things differently. I I live for brilliant brand storytelling, beautiful visuals, and helping designers confidently show up and shine. I founded the Stay Gold Collective to create community and support for independent jewelry brands.
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Together, we bring you nearly two decades of jewelry marketing experience. And on this podcast we're pulling back the curtain on everything we've learned. Whether you're just starting out or scaling to your next big milestone, you'll get honest insights, helpful tips, and maybe a few giggles along the way.
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A
This is episode 161. If you tense up right before you say your price or feel the urge to explain it immediately, you're not alone. Especially with prices of materials on the rise, a lot of jewelry designers start apologizing sometimes without even realizing it. Today we're talking about how to say your prices clearly, calmly and without over explaining. Because confidence in pricing is a communication skill that you can develop. And for insiders, we'll be digging much deeper into this topic. Let's get into it.
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B
What a timely, timely topic. As we are going further into 2026 and metals prices are just so unpredictable. I know last week we, I think I mentioned, I think I said this.
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A
Several times like let's talk about pivoting next week. And I, I thought about it and I was like, but pricing confidence feels really important always, but especially now because I know a lot of designers have just finished repricing their work for maybe the second time this year already, but certainly, you know, they've done it several times in the past year. So getting confident about your pricing is really important. Making sure you're not cutting margins and things like that and just, you know, the price is the price. Yeah.
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B
Well, in a way, if we're talking about pivoting, having to change your price two times already in like the span of one month, plus learning how to feel confident in that. I mean, those are two examples of having to pivot in your business.
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A
That is true. That's very true. We're talking about pivoting a little bit, A little bit and feeling confident in your pricing. I don't know. I guess. Larissa, do you feel confident with your prices?
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B
I mean, it depends. I think. Well, it's definitely taken me a long time to lean into, like, feeling good about having to charge certain things and realizing, well, one also doing research about, like, what is a fair market value for like, services I offer and what do other people charge? Like, that was a really big eye opener that made me have my own confidence and my pricing, but also doing actual math on things and realizing like, well, this is what it is. Like, I don't, I don't have another way to not making this up out of thin air.
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A
You know, I think that's one of the really big challenges for me and for a lot of designers is kind of like you're putting, you have to put an hourly rate on yourself. You know, whether you're selling a product or service, you still have to kind of look at your skill, skill level and, and at like, put a amount of money on the time you're spending to do the work. And I think that that's really a.
- [03:58]
B
Big challenge and it could be really hard for someone like an artist or a designer. And I know even for me too, like, oh, marketing experience is sometimes this like, intangible thing that doesn't come with like a fancy degree or like some kind of fancy title. But just knowing, you know, all the education and everything I've accumulated along the way, I can definitely relate to an artist, like, feeling self conscious about putting a price on that because it's not always something you can, like, I don't know, write on a piece of paper and make it make sense.
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A
It's so true. And it's a vulnerable thing to say, like, my time is worth this much, you know, And I, I think about designers a lot because they, they truly like, created something that's a piece of art. And, you know, the selling end of that becomes so transactional and so, you know, it's just challenging. I can imagine that that's challenging. And I know a lot of designers who have, who are amazing at selling other people's work, but when it comes to their own, it gets harder. And I have the same problem with selling, you know, my services because it's, it's, it is very vulnerable. Like, you know, this is, this is what it costs to work with me. I'm sorry. It's just like I have to spend a lot of hours, like, I apologize a lot when I'm trying to pitch someone.
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B
Yeah. And I mean, so we're, we're going to talk about this about not over explaining, but a big reason why there's a gap in understanding about price on the consumer side is like, they just don't know.
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A
Like, they.
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They think something can just be whipped up out of, like, thin air sometimes. And I think that sometimes that self consciousness might come from knowing to some extent that, like, maybe the consumer, like, isn't gonna get it. Like, they just have no idea, you know, and that's a really difficult, like, place to be in as well.
- [06:04]
A
And, you know, a lot of times. And we've had some great pricing chats, you know, with Hillary Halstead Scott and Sharon Z. Like, we've had some great conversations about pricing where they've given some great tools. So go back and listen to those episodes as well. But you're so right about the consumer not fully understanding how jewelry is made. It's. You know, my dad asked me because I was telling him, you know, that a lot of people are at the gem show in Tucson and they're buying gemstones to use in their work throughout the year. And he was like, yeah, but do they buy their metal there? Where do they buy their metal? And I was trying to explain to.
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B
Him, you know, how.
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A
How you kind of produce a piece of jewelry. From my limited knowledge, even though I've been in the industry for so long, I still don't have, you know, the knowledge of someone who actually does it. The designers out there who are listening. And anyway, it just kind of reminded me again that people really don't know how jewelry is made.
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B
Yes. And on top of that, all the intangible time that a designer has spent imagining it and dreaming of it and finding inspiration for it, like, hours upon hours of that. How do you quantify?
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A
Yeah, how do you quantify it? I would guess most people listening, most designers listening. Your work is probably underpriced. Most people. So feel free to check in with your pricing. You know.
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B
Yeah. This is permission.
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A
Permission to raise your prices. We are big advocates for raising your prices.
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B
Yeah. And I think there's some. A mindset, I have been guilty of this myself, that if you feel like you're giving someone, like, a deal, that they will recognize that and appreciate it and want to buy it more. But that's not how it works. Like, nobody's gonna think that or know that. If anything, they're going to then take your product for granted or undervalue it or think something's, like, wrong with it.
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A
So.
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B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [08:14]
A
I think that, you know, we also have just received, you know, so many emails the past few weeks of, like, you know, information about rising prices like, you know, I'm so sorry, we're going to have to rise. Raise our prices, or because of the metals market, we're going to have to raise our prices. I mean, how many emails like that did you get, Larissa?
- [08:36]
B
Many emails. And also talking about it with clients, too, who are, you know, being very conscientious about it. But even they are sometimes forgetting, like, no, literally everyone's doing this right now. Like, you're not the only people dealing with it. So it's a widespread issue in the industry, and I think a lot of consumers that follow jewelry are aware of it, too. Maybe if someone's not so much into jewelry, they wouldn't know, but I think a jewelry lover would know that.
- [09:13]
A
I think that some something that you just said is something I've been telling designers over the past few weeks, too, is just like, you're not alone in this. Like, we're in this together. It's affecting all of us and our whole industry. And, you know, you raising your prices isn't going to be something that's, like, glaring. You're not going to have higher prices than everyone else now because everyone's raising their prices.
- [09:36]
B
Absolutely. And I think also we as business owners may give too much credit that to the consumer, like, they're actually watching our prices that closely. I mean, yes, of course, they. There may be someone who's had their. Some item on a wish list forever and they exactly know what the price is. And that would be the person who would be maybe upset if the price increase. But, like, I don't monitor prices of things that I buy. Really, I don't either.
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A
And typically, if somebody can buy, you know, something that's a few hundred dollars, you know, I know there's some bigger price increases happening that need to happen, but, you know, it going up a little bit wouldn't affect me. It wouldn't change my decision. And I'm with you. I'm not looking at the price of something unless it's truly in my cart. Like, I'm working on getting my kid a bike for his birthday, and there's the bike that I want to get him is a little pricey. And so it's in my cart and I keep looking at it and I'm like, you know, I am looking for a sale. I hate to say it, but I don't do that with jewelry brands. And I certainly don't do it with, like, artists and designers and things like that. But anyway, so I am conscious of that price. And if it changed, I would be like, okay, I missed the boat, you know, exactly it. I'm still gonna buy it. I want to get him this bike. I'm just taking along a longer time to read about it and text my mom, friends and all of that.
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B
So, yeah, you would probably kick yourself in the foot rather than blame the business.
- [11:19]
A
Like, yeah, yeah, but not every. I mean, not all consumers are like that. I'm certainly like, you know, someone who understands, you know, more of the layers to it. But where was I going with this? Yeah, most people aren't, like, really, like, obsessing over a price unless it's on a wish list, like, maybe. And if they were to message you and say, hey, you raised your prices and I'm disappointed and I really wanted that thing, you, as the business owner always has have the opportunity to be like, oh, well, let me honor that price that you were hoping for, or let me give you this other type of discount or let me, you know, send you a free polishing cloth or something with this or, like, free, like, little gift with purchase or something. Or you could simply say, you know, listen, I had to raise my prices for a lot of different reasons, and that's the price now, and I'm so sorry that I had to change it.
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B
And you're disappointed, and if someone wants to be a jerk about it, well, good, go take your jerk business somewhere else.
- [12:20]
A
Yeah, for real. But also, I. The other thing I was going to say is that. Or what I was going to get into now is just like, how to sound confident in your pricing. But we were running a workshop here locally for some artists who are going to their first kind of retail event. And there was like, a panel and people have done this retail event before. We're talking, and one of them was like, I have a price list when I'm at a retail event, and I refer to the price list. And so I just say the price and I refer to the sheet. And it kind of like puts more of a barrier between me and, like, you know, this is what I have to charge because it's on the list, the price sheet. Even though they made the price sheet.
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B
Smart, I love that because it's almost like. Then you're almost like operating as an employee of the business or something. Like, if. If you were at a trade show and you had a sales team with you, like, they're just reading prices off what the price is. They're not. They don't have an emotional attachment to it.
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A
Yeah. So, like, having it written down. It's on your website. This is what you're going with. I think that that's, that's a good.
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B
Way to do it.
- [13:35]
A
But really, like when you say the price and practice saying the prices because sometimes it is really uncomfortable once you start selling things that are outside of a price that you would feel comfortable purchasing. So just like saying the numbers out loud can be really, really helpful and just, you know, know, state it once, neutral tone, one sentence, stop talking about the price after that because the client needs to think about if it makes sense for them. You don't know what their financial situation is and you don't want to try to know what their financial situation is. So I, I was talking to someone earlier this week too, of course, about like metal prices, because that's, that's what.
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B
We'Ve been talking about.
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A
And I reiterated this, that I heard in a conversation once, an interview I did once, that it's like, it's just a different set of zeros. Like if somebody raises the price $10, that does, I can still buy it. That doesn't affect me. For some folks, you know, extra zeros don't affect them. Like an extra hundred dollars doesn't affect some people. An extra thousand dollars doesn't affect some people. And so you just got to get your head out of other people's wallets.
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B
I love that everyone listen to Liz.
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A
That's coming from, from other, that's coming from a few other sources of great salespeople.
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B
And well, it's nice to like give all this advice or whatever. But I know that the hardest thing is probably like, if you do get a negative reaction, especially in person, if someone's like, oh, wow, like some kind of, you know, passive aggressive thing or make a comment about that. Like if you're a sensitive, per conscientious person, like, it's kind of hard not to take that in and think it's a reflection of you.
- [15:33]
A
It's not a reflection of you. That is their own, that is their own stuff that they're dealing with and responding to and it's out. They're saying that that's not in my budget. That's not saying. They're not saying that the thing is priced incorrectly. So anyway, and I think that, you know something to remember that, like, you know, silence is not a no. I think this is like a more in person comment here. But silence isn't a no. If somebody doesn't respond to you after you say a price, just give them some time. That's when, like, I feel like I keep talking when there's like Silence. I, like, need to fill the silence. But you just need to pause.
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B
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
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A
And, you know, if somebody pushes back, like you were saying, Larissa, there's no reason to defend or negotiate. You know, that's my price. I understand. I totally understand. Maybe it's not something that you want to purchase right now or can purchase right now being, like, having boundaries, like, you know, going into an event or having boundaries just in your head of.
- [16:47]
B
Like, I don't discount.
- [16:49]
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You know, maybe you offer payment plans. Maybe there's something else that you do to help. Help if somebody's unable to afford something. But get clear on what your boundaries are and write them down, and then it's easier to stick with them.
- [17:02]
B
Mm. And feedback can also be a sign back to you that maybe. Okay, so, for example, if you do in person events, and, like, you're like, okay, like, a good amount of people are telling me this is, like, expensive. It's like, okay, maybe don't do events like that too. So it could also be positive in the way of helping you shape your business model and the direction of your sales. Yeah.
- [17:31]
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You could just be in the wrong place. All right, are you confident about your prices? Let us know. Visit successwithjewelry.
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Com.
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A
And if you love the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Send us a message or leave us a review. Thanks for being part of our community.