The Root of Every Sale is Trust
You learn a lot about people when you spend your life selling jewelry.
Not the kind of lessons you pick up from a business book or a training seminar - I mean the kind that come from genuine connection.
You learn a lot about people when you spend your life selling jewelry.
Not the kind of lessons you pick up from a business book or a training seminar - I mean the kind that come from genuine connection.
The kind that comes from working with artists whose ancestors were shaping turquoise long before a “market” existed.
That’s the part of this work that you don’t polish with a cloth. Beyond the stones. Or the styles. Or the price tags. Or what’s trending this year and what’s now a - fad of yesterday.
Underneath all that - the real core of what we do - is authenticity and trust.
And without those two things, nothing you build in this world will last longer than a season.
I still remember when I first met Kevin.
He wasn’t selling jewelry because it was fashionable. He wasn’t trying to be clever or ride the moment. He got into this because he understood people. He knew that your greatest tool as a salesperson wasn’t what sat in the case… it was your ability to see who was standing in front of you.
When Kevin told me that the biggest part of selling wasn’t the jewelry - it was what you stood for and how you treated people - I knew right then he was one of us.
We’ve worked together for years now, and that’s still what sets him apart. He listens. He reads the room. He learns the rhythms of a buyer before he ever reaches for the tray. That isn’t technique. That’s respect.
And that’s why customers trust him.
It may seem that the greatest advantage in this business is having the best stones, or a wide network of artists, or direct access to your own mines. And yes, those definitely set us off on the right path.
But the secret is that those things only matter because trust makes them matter.
At Sunwest, we live in a relationship between two worlds - the world of the artist, and the world of the customer
And trust is the bridge that connects the two - every single time.
You can’t serve one without honoring the other.
And that’s why authenticity matters more here than anywhere else. It is not simply about whether the piece is real turquoise and real sterling (though that is never negotiable). It is about whether the story behind the piece is real. Whether the artist behind it is cared for and their craft respected. Whether the culture is honored instead of exploited.
Kevin said it right - you don’t just sell to the demographic that walks in. You shape it. You elevate it. You raise the bar with what you choose to carry.
That is how heritage survives in modern markets - not by reducing it’s importance… but by elevating it.
Technology is changing the way jewelry is sold - online, live shows, streams, content — but even with all of that… trust is still the currency.
Trust is still the value.
Because of the legacy we built long before the internet showed up….
People know who we are.
They know what we stand for.
They know the artists we partner with.
They know our values.
They know our word is meaningful.
That is what will carry this trade - and the culture behind it - into the next generation.
And that is why I’m proud we have people like Kevin on this journey with us.
Because this story was never only about jewelry.
It has always been about honoring people.
