Business owners enjoying some degree of success often become
complacent, believing that their business somehow 'owes' them
something.
By ERIC BORGGARD For The Tribune
Or so says Claire Baiz, the owner and president of Great
Falls-based Big Sky Gold & Diamond Brokers,
http://www.bigskydiamond.com/index.html a wholesale jewelry
and diamond brokerage established 10 years ago.
It also is the antithesis of her approach to her business.
Baiz, a 45-year-old University of Great Falls graduate with
degrees in history and political science, has energy and
enthusiasm to spare, and complacency isn't part of her
vocabulary. The business has enjoyed considerable success in
recent years, in spite of the sagging local and national
economies.
A significant portion of her business is conducted on an
appointment-only basis with individual customers, but the
keystone to her business lies in diamond brokerage to retail
jewelry stores. She serves accounts mainly throughout the inland
Northwest, but as far away as Atlanta.
While the interesting mix of wholesale and retail business
has enabled Big Sky to prosper during the economic downturn,
Baiz said there are four underlying components to her business
success -- no matter what economic conditions exist.
Those components are a commitment to customers, a vast
network of personal and industry contacts, the positioning of
her business at the cutting edge of the jewelry industry and a
willingness to give back to the community.
***************************
Big Sky Gold
Business: Big Sky Gold & Diamond Brokers
In charge: Claire Baiz, owner
E-mail:
bigskygold@imt.net
To learn more: 453-7300
************************************
According to customers, her reliability, versatility and
trustworthiness border on legendary. Terri Dunwoody of Dunwoody
Jewelry, a 51-year old retail jewelry business in Spearfish,
S.D., is so impressed with Big Sky Gold & Diamond Brokers that
she hasn't used the service of any other broker in the past five
years.
When asked if that was unusual, Dunwoody said, "No, I don't
think so. Once you've developed a rapport with someone you can
truly trust...she's, well, worth her weight in gold. You won't
get that with somebody in New York or Chicago. Claire has helped
us grow our business, plain and simple."
Part of that trust is engendered through competitive prices.
"We are not afraid to expose our margins, because they are
very fair," Baiz said. A high rate of inventory turnover,
coupled with the fact that the inventory isn't financed, allows
her the luxury of slim margins.
"If people comparison shop," she says confidently, "I win."
Great Falls resident Joe Farley, 28, did some comparison
shopping when looking for a piece of jewelry for his wife's
birthday a couple of years ago. After finding Baiz, Farley said
he wasn't likely to be going anywhere else.
"Claire was extremely knowledgeable, and her ability to
explain subtle differences in layman's terms," helped him feel
comfortable, he said. Farley also described Baiz as
"super-connected" with an ability to find, in a timely fashion,
exactly what he was seeking.
A broad network of industry contacts is essential to pricing
and selection. Baiz represents a large number of fine jewelry
designers, and is among a select group of distributors for
companies specializing in large-ticket, or "luxury" pieces.
It is that web of wholesale, designer, retail and dealer
contacts that drives her daily business. The glue that holds
everything together for Baiz is technology. Internet and
database technology has dramatically improved almost every facet
of her business. Demanding nationwide and worldwide customers
can have an array of options in their hands within 24 hours.
Through e-mail and digital photography, communication with
her existing client base is efficient, and it allows her to do
business with people in places like San Francisco and Dallas --
markets that would have seemed impenetrable to a small Montana
jewelry company only a few years ago.
Big Sky Gold & Diamond Brokers has qualified for access to
several closed Internet trading organizations where her
inventory is posted nationally along with those of up to 4,000
other dealers.
Baiz said she has a keen desire to be a good corporate
citizen in Great Falls and northcentral Montana.
She has donated funds or jewelry to charities and
organizations including the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Modern
Art, the Benefis Foundation Mayfaire event, the Humane Society
Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Cascade
County Historical Society.
As a fundraiser for the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage
Foundation, Baiz recently designed a limited-edition pendant
that is being made in Utica by the Yogo Creek Mining Co.
The constant challenge of staying at the forefront of jewelry
technology and trends, while daily putting her skill and
knowledge to the test, is like "an endless game of chess,"
asserts Baiz. Perhaps the most rewarding thing, she said, is her
ability to serve both retail customers and an intricate array of
wholesale accounts from the comfort of her Montana hometown.
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