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INSTORE's Brain Squad Survey - November 2025 (weblink)

GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Please help us identify you:
1.Let us know who you are and where you work.(Required.)
BASIC QUESTIONS
Let's get warmed up with our regular sales questions:
2.How were your overall business revenues in October compared with the same month in 2024?(Required.)
3.HOT SELLERS
What was your best-selling product in October? Let us know why it appeals to your customers. (Please be specific as to the manufacturer/designer, model and retail price, if possible.)
4.How were your LOOSE DIAMOND sales over the last 12 months?
5.CONFIDENCE INDEX
Here is the latest installment of our Jeweler's Confidence Index, which is based on the following two questions:
(1) In the past month, do you feel the short-term outlook for your business has …
6.(2) Compared to the same month in 2024, did you order more or less stock in October?
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Now some inquiries about you and the way you run your store:
7.Let's start with one of the hottest issues of the year -- the gold price. Where do you think gold prices will be by the end of 2026?
8.What's your best advice for other jewelers selling gold right now? (What are you buying? How are you pricing it? Any specific selling techniques that are working?)
9.DO YOU, DON'T YOU
Do you participate in Small Business Saturday?
10.DO YOU, DON'T YOU
Do you use QR codes anywhere in your business?
11.DO YOU, DON'T YOU
Have you ever done a collaboration with another local business?
12.BUZZ SESSION
We're curious ... who do our Brain Squad members think is coolest person in the jewelry business? We mean, when you think "cool" in this industry, whose face pops into your head first? Not the most successful. Not the richest. Just ... cool.

The person who walks into a trade show and the venue suddenly gets way more interesting. The person who always has the right thing to say. Who never looks rattled. The kind of person who makes everything look effortless.

Anyway, please tell us who they are and what you think makes them cool. (As many words as you like.)
13.MANAGER'S TO-DO LIST
Tell us what will be at the top of your to-do list for the first few months of 2026 or any seasonal tips for that time of year.

Have any favorite start of the year to-dos or words of inspiration you'd like to share with your fellow jewelers via video? Share to our Dropbox here:

https://www.dropbox.com/request/TUQsX3ORNHNiRJn6XfOG
14.TRUE TALES -- THE "YOU'RE FIRED. NO WAIT, I'M FIRED." ISSUE

Tell us about the customer you came THIS CLOSE to firing. The one who tested every ounce of your professionalism. Who made demands that defied physics. Who treated your staff like servants. Maybe you actually pulled the trigger. Maybe you bit your tongue so hard you tasted blood. What pushed you to the edge? How did it end? Would you do it again? 250 words. Let 'er rip.

Or what the heck... give us the video version! Shoot a 1- to 3-minute mobile phone video and send here:

https://www.dropbox.com/request/TUQsX3ORNHNiRJn6XfOG
15.NEW YEAR FEATURE QUESTION
Give two predictions — one conservative, and one outlandish (a little wild) for our industry in 2026.
... YOUR TURN
Finally, your chance to sound off about our magazine, the industry or even our surveys.
16.LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Whew! Getting our annual Big Survey issue out the door was a heavy lift. But it's done. If you've gotten a chance to look at it (either the print edition, arriving this week, or the online stories we've been running), we're curious to know what you think. Did anything surprise you? Did you see yourself in the results? Disagree with anything? We want to hear about it.

Or, if there's something else on your mind that you’d like us (and our other readers) to know about — your thoughts about the upcoming holiday season, something you read in INSTORE, feel free to comment here as well.