THE TALK: Ethics, Philosophy and Digital at the Basis of Business
Massimo Gismondi, Ceo of Gismondi 1754, explains the winning formula that has led the brand to a 6% growth in turnover that continued into the third quarter of the year.
Wednesday, 14 October 2020, by Federica Frosini
How do you build a post-Covid on-line sales experience?
In times of serious crises, the market can offer big opportunities but companies must be quick and dynamic to understand the difficulties and face them. I learned my philosophy from a Chinese ideogram: the upper part represents difficulties while the lower part depicts opportunities. I have a tendency to always see the positive side of things and try to go beyond the negative. In business and in the company, there is always a battle between good and bad to be faced and within this dualism, companies must humbly change their business plan and adapt to the changes. And this approach resulted in a 6% growth in turnover during the first six months of the year which has also been confirmed for the third quarter.
So, strengthening relations with the customer is the business strategy to focus on?
Adapting rapidly to a situation and understanding the needs of the final consumer helps and makes business grow thanks to the relations we install with the retail and wholesale customer. In this way, relations become stronger and provide the chance to experience luxury even in the digitized world. We have involved our customers and trained our dealers so that they learn and share my business philosophy, in other words, show a sincere interest in what is important for the customer, who must understand that you are not just there to sell but rather to share something that goes beyond business. Jewelry must communicate a sense of gratification, the result of a series of relations that the company installs through the people who represent it. The customer wants advice, entrepreneurial comparison, and to talk about personal things. We are lifestyle suppliers; the customer knows that he can chat with us about anything besides jewelry because that is what creates relations.
How can this relationship become closer with digital?
The digital world helps maintain relations in two ways. Firstly, with the new generations who communicate and build relations entirely on a digital basis. Obviously, the physical encounter is still fundamental but digitization provides enough gas to fuel this relationship, born from moments shared together. When a relationship has already been constructed, if you are able to show sincere interest, it can also be furthered digitally. In my case, I have customers that I have never met personally and only spoken to through Instagram or e-commerce yet we still don’t want to feel detached. There is always a name and surname behind the screen so that the customer always has someone to contact. In this way, we have managed to build relations and create turnover. It is more complicated for big brands because e-commerce is fueled by the famous trademark’s star.
Let’s talk about digital tools. A common and highly important tool for you is the newsletter. How do you manage it for business purposes?
Sending a newsletter is always followed up personally – either by mail, phone or on WhatsApp – otherwise it disappears like a stone in a pond. A newsletter is like a subliminal message that reminds people we are here. But our follow-up is done by telling private stories that involve the customer. It is through sincere communication that real things can be told and building something solid can become much easier. Data collection plays a vital role in this since it provides feedback on hobbies, interests and what people like to do and share.
We involve people, not customers, because nobody should ever feel pressured by a company that wants to sell you something at all costs. It is the person that becomes involved in something that belongs to him.
Gismondi 1754’s excellence lies precisely in working ethically. There is no business if you don’t respect the person and I am not interested in business to the detriment of mankind. Those who think the opposite are on the wrong road and are taking advantage of a situation that leads them away from ethics. For this reason, Gismondi 1754 has its own company philosophy on which its entire business is developed. Turnover numbers are important for growth and prosperity but they must be the result of a philosophy and a corporate creed.
A company philosophy that also believes greatly in internal training?
Our collaborators are the first people to whom we ‘sell’ the company. Those interested in working with Gismondi contact us directly in order to obtain a link to access the platform where they can introduce themselves and answer specific questions that the company poses to share objectives and dreams. About 280 questions to get to know them, to find out what is important to them as individual people so that they can be placed in a specific role. A questionnaire that cannot be lied to and that helps us to generate subsequent personal interviews. We use a platform that goes beyond the barriers, beyond business, and is based on an authentic philosophy that represents our family values. Principles that I wanted as part of the company and that are now the foundations for constructing the Gismondi 1754 of the future and everything that will be done from here on will conform with these values.
In times of serious crises, the market can offer big opportunities but companies must be quick and dynamic to understand the difficulties and face them. I learned my philosophy from a Chinese ideogram: the upper part represents difficulties while the lower part depicts opportunities. I have a tendency to always see the positive side of things and try to go beyond the negative. In business and in the company, there is always a battle between good and bad to be faced and within this dualism, companies must humbly change their business plan and adapt to the changes. And this approach resulted in a 6% growth in turnover during the first six months of the year which has also been confirmed for the third quarter.
So, strengthening relations with the customer is the business strategy to focus on?
Adapting rapidly to a situation and understanding the needs of the final consumer helps and makes business grow thanks to the relations we install with the retail and wholesale customer. In this way, relations become stronger and provide the chance to experience luxury even in the digitized world. We have involved our customers and trained our dealers so that they learn and share my business philosophy, in other words, show a sincere interest in what is important for the customer, who must understand that you are not just there to sell but rather to share something that goes beyond business. Jewelry must communicate a sense of gratification, the result of a series of relations that the company installs through the people who represent it. The customer wants advice, entrepreneurial comparison, and to talk about personal things. We are lifestyle suppliers; the customer knows that he can chat with us about anything besides jewelry because that is what creates relations.
How can this relationship become closer with digital?
The digital world helps maintain relations in two ways. Firstly, with the new generations who communicate and build relations entirely on a digital basis. Obviously, the physical encounter is still fundamental but digitization provides enough gas to fuel this relationship, born from moments shared together. When a relationship has already been constructed, if you are able to show sincere interest, it can also be furthered digitally. In my case, I have customers that I have never met personally and only spoken to through Instagram or e-commerce yet we still don’t want to feel detached. There is always a name and surname behind the screen so that the customer always has someone to contact. In this way, we have managed to build relations and create turnover. It is more complicated for big brands because e-commerce is fueled by the famous trademark’s star.
Let’s talk about digital tools. A common and highly important tool for you is the newsletter. How do you manage it for business purposes?
Sending a newsletter is always followed up personally – either by mail, phone or on WhatsApp – otherwise it disappears like a stone in a pond. A newsletter is like a subliminal message that reminds people we are here. But our follow-up is done by telling private stories that involve the customer. It is through sincere communication that real things can be told and building something solid can become much easier. Data collection plays a vital role in this since it provides feedback on hobbies, interests and what people like to do and share.
We involve people, not customers, because nobody should ever feel pressured by a company that wants to sell you something at all costs. It is the person that becomes involved in something that belongs to him.
Gismondi 1754’s excellence lies precisely in working ethically. There is no business if you don’t respect the person and I am not interested in business to the detriment of mankind. Those who think the opposite are on the wrong road and are taking advantage of a situation that leads them away from ethics. For this reason, Gismondi 1754 has its own company philosophy on which its entire business is developed. Turnover numbers are important for growth and prosperity but they must be the result of a philosophy and a corporate creed.
A company philosophy that also believes greatly in internal training?
Our collaborators are the first people to whom we ‘sell’ the company. Those interested in working with Gismondi contact us directly in order to obtain a link to access the platform where they can introduce themselves and answer specific questions that the company poses to share objectives and dreams. About 280 questions to get to know them, to find out what is important to them as individual people so that they can be placed in a specific role. A questionnaire that cannot be lied to and that helps us to generate subsequent personal interviews. We use a platform that goes beyond the barriers, beyond business, and is based on an authentic philosophy that represents our family values. Principles that I wanted as part of the company and that are now the foundations for constructing the Gismondi 1754 of the future and everything that will be done from here on will conform with these values.