Leading With Integrity

Integrity.

A lot of leaders talk about it. Not nearly as many practice it in their business.

Todd Melet, owner of JewelRecycle LLC, first showed his business integrity at the age when most boys are preoccupied with video games, first crushes, and sports.

Melet had developed an interest in collecting and investing in coins and started spending time at a local coin shop at age 13.

Moment of Truth

“While spending time at the shop, I noticed that the employees - two brothers - were stealing from the owner,” Melet recalls.

He might have kept the knowledge to himself, or been intimidated by the two employees. Instead, Melet told the store owner what he had seen. The employees went to jail, but left the owner without any employees, and as fate would have it, things were about to get crazy.

In the summer of 1977, gold prices were just under $700/ounce adjusted for inflation. By early 1980, they had risen to $2,500/ounce - a 257% increase. The shopkeeper needed honest help, and he saw no better candidate than the young man who had turned in the thieves.

“Every day at 2:30 p.m. I ran to the coin shop and informally helped the owner, and before I was 14, I was hired,” Melet recalls. “By the time I was 15, I was buying millions of dollars worth of gold and had my own little side business authorized by the owner.”

Into the Great Wide Open

After college, Melet set out to become his own boss as an entrepreneur. Seeing how the coin store became part of the community over time left an indelible mark on his sense of how businesses should operate. He started an independent desktop publishing and imaging business that succeeded for years, and which he ultimately sold to a competitor.

From there, Melet started another company that provided online ad delivery for print ad files which succeeded until the rise of web publishing.

A big fan of technology, Melet was longing for a business with universal staying power. He decided to return to his roots and started JewelRecycle in 2009, an endeavor in which customers could bring in diamonds, jewelry, coins, fine watches, flatware, and more to earn cash. His first efforts were at collective shows in upscale hotels in North Carolina’s Triangle Area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. It was a huge success, and led him to open his first brick-and-mortar location six months later.

He incorporated a new technology, XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) that works like a barcode scanner and lets his employees and customers see the precise percentages and purities of metals in items brought up for sale. This takes a lot of guesswork out of his business model. Melet is now looking to franchise JewelRecycle.

Melet understands many have a negative connotation for businesses that pay cash for people’s belongings. Overcoming that bias demanded that he fall back to his earliest teachings of integrity to show his employees how to do things the right way.

“Customers are pleasantly surprised to find our locations are very inviting,” Melet says. “Our people are super nice and give zero pressure. We are very big on educating the customer about what they have and providing a lot of information at a layman’s level.”

What advice do you have for small businesses that are heavy on customer service?

#1 Build a business customers will want to visit

“Customers see from where our stores are situated that we are an upscale operation. They appreciate a safe, comfortable, no-pressure setting.”

#2 Build a dream team

“We focus on the team. We attract, hire, promote, and provide a good work environment to awesome people. Awesome people are what make our business successful. For any business to be successful, you must focus on the customer experience, which is delivered by excellent people.”

#3 Tell people about it

We all know that the “if you build it, it will come” Field of Dreams illusion is just that.

“Many businesses fail because they are afraid to spend money on marketing and think they can’t afford it. But what they really can’t afford is to run a business with no customers.”

These days, customer service often takes a hit when entrepreneurs try to squeeze out profit while keeping prices low. Unfortunately it is the last area to skimp on if you want to build a great reptutation and return business. Melet leads by the example he cultivated as a 13-year-old in 1977, and he’s never stopped since.