A commission enquiry usually arrives as a feeling rather than a specification. Someone wants to use their grandmother's stones in something they would actually wear. Someone wants a ring that does not look like everything in the shops. Someone has an anniversary and an idea they cannot describe.
The jeweller's first job is turning that into a brief.
Step 1: explain the process
Consultation, design, approval, making and collection, with what happens at each stage and roughly how long it takes. Clients hesitate because they imagine an opaque process, and a published outline removes that entirely.
Step 2: explain how pricing works
That price depends on materials, stones and complexity, with a starting point for commissions and how the quote is arrived at. Publishing a realistic minimum prevents enquiries with expectations no jeweller could meet.
Step 3: capture the occasion and deadline
An engagement, an anniversary, a birthday, a memorial. Deadlines matter enormously and determine whether a commission is even possible in the time available.
Step 4: capture the idea
What they have in mind, references or images they like, what they dislike, whether they wear other jewellery and what style it is. Images do far more than descriptions, and asking for them early moves the conversation on.
Step 5: capture existing stones or metal
Whether they have inherited pieces to use, what condition they are in and whether they are willing to have them reset. Remodelling heirlooms is emotionally charged, and it needs a careful conversation rather than an assumption.
Step 6: capture the budget gently
Offering ranges rather than asking for a figure is what lets clients answer honestly. The budget determines the design, not the effort, and saying so makes the question easier to ask and to answer.
Step 7: capture it in conversation
SpideyChat for retail businesses captures commission briefs at any hour, including the evening enquiries that follow a decision made over dinner.
Client: I would like something made using my grandmother's diamonds. Assistant: That is a lovely thing to do, and the commissions page explains how the process works from consultation through to collection, with typical timescales. Could you tell me what occasion it is for, whether there is a date it needs to be ready, and what kind of piece you are imagining? If you have photographs of the stones and any designs you like, those help enormously.
Step 8: set expectations about design revisions
How many design iterations are included, how changes are handled and at what point the design is locked. Managing this early prevents a project drifting for months.
Deposits and stage payments
Commissions tie up materials and time. Publishing the deposit, stage payments and what happens if a client changes their mind protects both sides in a relationship that lasts weeks.
Related enquiries
Ring enquiries follow their own pattern, described in engagement ring enquiries that need a private conversation, repairs in jewellery repair and resizing questions, and custom requests generally in handling custom order requests without losing them.
Measuring what captures convert
Tracking how many captured briefs become commissions shows which questions matter, as described in the data behind chatbot assisted conversions.
Setting it up
Publish your commission process, starting prices and timescales, then capture briefs at any hour. The guides to installing the widget and training your bot explain how.