List member Kai Davis had this to say about the "are 66% of jewelers jerks" question (shared w/permission):

I'd look at the Jeweler that was positive in his communication with me. Is there something different about his :

- Business?- Market?- Marketing?- Services?- Clientele?

That stands out and that I can use to attract more of him and less of the others.

I'd expand my radius and see if I could have conversations with another 5-10 Jewelers. How do they treat me when I call up with a question about repairing my broken belt buckle, a family heirloom that has immense personal value?

Are all of those jewelers jerks? Are some of them? Maybe just a few?

From that, I'd have a better idea if, for some magical reason, the jewelry business attracts a disproportionate amount of jerks (or if my phonebook is cursed with bad jewelers!)

In the end, if I was still interested in specializing in jewelers (even though most of them are jerks!), I'd put up a very strong qualification / lead intake process with an extensive application form. Why?

1) The jerks will get pissed off and either rage-submit or just not apply at all__2) The non-jerks will fill out the form because they're polite and professional

I love Kai's systematic, research-based approach to answering that question.

BTW, if you're not on Kai's email list, what are you waiting for? It's good info: https://kaidavis.com/

-P