Kimberfire is not your traditional jewelry store. They source their own diamonds, create custom designs, and manufacture every single piece they sell - all via virtual meetings. It’s a unique process that allows Kimberfire to provide high-quality engagement rings and fine jewelry at wholesale prices.

Jonathan Goldberg, President, and CEO at Kimberfire founded the company in 2013 after hearing his colleagues’ and friends’ complain about the industry. They were fed up with traditional, high-markup jewelry stores. But they also didn’t feel comfortable buying diamonds online. They wanted to work with an expert they could trust.

This led Jonathan to an ah-ha moment: “I saw an opportunity to bring technology and a better approach to the engagement ring buying process.” So, he started building the software, bootstrapped the business, and has grown the Toronto-based jeweler organically ever since.

Setting the foundation for scalable systems

In August 2019, Kimberfire was positioned for fast growth. And Jonathan was looking for ways to scale key processes, including onboarding and training the sales team. 

At the time, he only had one salesperson - who he trained personally by shadowing, role-playing, and sharing notes. But this approach took a lot of his time. And Jonathan realized he would need to automate how he got new team members up to speed moving forward. 

He bet if he could find a system that trained employees on how to do things "the Kimberfire way," he could focus solely on growing the business. He just wasn’t sure what the best solution would be. 

Trainual provides immediate value

Jonathan told us that Trainual popped up in his ads several times before he clicked on the link to learn more. Then, he set a reminder to actually do the research. Once he did, Jonathan said he signed up and started implementing the training tool immediately.

For the first time, he documented everything about his business. He migrated all the notes and email templates from his computer, saying it was a relief to finally have his business out of his brain.

Jonathan says he recognized Trainual’s value even before he used it for training. 

“Once you have all [your knowledge] in there, you not only see the value of Trainual,” he told us. “But also the value of having your business knowledge in Trainual. Both of those together are very important.”

In the future, he imagines using Trainual to bring on a senior leadership team - or even potential buyers down the road. “Just having the software itself increases the value of your business because it shows someone exactly what you do and what they're buying.”

Automating training for faster growth

Once all of Kimberfire's knowledge was documented in Trainual, the team felt ready to bring on 2 new hires using the automated system. According to Jonathan, this approach was a far cry from the one-on-one training he was doing before.

But Trainual not only helps them get up to speed on their own but gets them there faster. It used to take a bit of hand-holding before the salespeople felt comfortable in their new role. But now, they start serving clients as soon as they’ve finished onboarding.

“Even if salespeople are completely new, we can put them on website inquiries because they have all the answers they need in Trainual,” Jonathan explained. And this has proven to be a great starting point for new hires to apply what they've learned.

Saves time on repetitive tasks

Up until this point, Jonathan needed to set aside time and train new salespeople. But now, he simply adds the new employee to Trainual, assigns the training directly to them, and tracks the results. “It’s saved me at least 2 days of my personal time for each onboarding,” he told us.

Plus, he's even used the extra free time to improve processes as the business grows. And thanks to automatic notifications, Trainual lets his team know when he updates or changes any content. So they can go through it again.

With the most up-to-date information, the team no longer guesses what works and what doesn’t. They have the latest and greatest sales practices, responses, and processes. And, as a result, they've increased their close rate.

“[Trainual] makes us more efficient, which allows us to see more customers and close more sales.”

Continuing to grow with Trainual

Now that Jonathan has set the groundwork for future expansion, he looks forward to growing Kimberfire alongside Trainual. His next big goal is to grow outside of Canada and show the world a brilliant way to buy a diamond.

 “We're in a great position to grow our brand and go after a much wider market than we have been. And Trainual is going to help us achieve it!”