Nine commissions and one notebook
Bespoke work is often the most rewarding part of an independent jeweller's business, and the most tangled. At any moment you might have an engagement ring waiting for the customer to choose between two centre stones, a pair of wedding bands at the casters, a pendant made from a grandmother's brooch waiting on the setter, and a signet ring that needs hand engraving before it goes for hallmarking.
Each has its own story in your head, in a notebook, in a WhatsApp thread with the customer and in emails with the stone dealer. It mostly works while you are there. Then you take a week off in August, and the person covering has no idea that the bands need collecting from the caster by Friday or the wedding date is at risk.
Why commissions slip between stages
A bespoke piece passes through many hands: you, the customer, a CAD designer, a caster, a stone supplier, a setter, an engraver, the assay office. Each hand-off is a point where the job can sit, because the next person has not been told it is their turn.
Most jewellery point of sale systems treat a commission like a large repair: a description, a price, a deposit and a due date. They do not model stages. So the real status lives in the owner's memory, and the due date is only checked when it is close.
Customers make it harder by being slow at the decision points. A customer who takes three weeks to approve a design pushes every later step back, but the wedding date does not move.
What drifting commissions cost
| Where it slips | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Design approval waits | Later stages compressed into a panic before the date |
| Stone not ordered in time | Setting delayed while the dealer sources it |
| Casting not chased | Wax or metal sat at the caster for days |
| Hallmarking forgotten | A finished piece that cannot yet be sold as described |
| Customer not updated | Anxious calls and less trust in a costly purchase |
Bespoke customers are spending a lot of money on something emotional. They tend to tell other people about the experience, good or bad. A commission that arrives just in time after a stressful month earns a different story from one where the customer felt looked after all the way through.
The commission tracker we build
We design the stages around how your workshop actually works, not a generic project tool.
- Each commission is created with the customer, the occasion date, the budget agreed and a template of stages that suits the piece, for example consultation, design, CAD approval, deposit, metal and stone ordering, casting, setting, finishing, hallmarking, final payment and handover.
- Every stage has an owner (you, the bench jeweller, an outside trade or the customer) and a target date worked back from the occasion date.
- A board shows all commissions as cards moving across the stages, with anything late or waiting on the customer highlighted.
- When a stage is waiting on an outside trade, the system records who has it and when it is due back, so chasing is based on dates rather than memory.
- When a customer decision is needed, they get a message with what they need to decide, and reminders if it waits too long.
- Notes, sketches, photos and emails are kept on the commission, so anyone covering can pick it up.
If you already use a CRM or project tool you are comfortable with, we can build the stages there instead of starting from scratch.
How the week looks with a board
On Monday morning you look at one screen. Two commissions are waiting on customer decisions, one is overdue at the caster, and the wedding bands need to go for hallmarking by Thursday to be back in time. You make three calls and the week is planned.
- Every commission's current stage and next step in one place
- Target dates worked back from the customer's occasion
- Customer decisions chased automatically
- Anyone covering can see what each commission needs
The creative part stays with you. The system just holds the thread, so it is not all in your head.
Is this how bespoke work feels in your shop?
- Commission status lives mainly in the owner's memory.
- You have rushed a piece to meet a wedding or proposal date.
- Casting, setting or hallmarking dates are not tracked anywhere shared.
- Customer approvals are scattered across WhatsApp, email and phone.
- Holidays are difficult because nobody else knows where commissions stand.