Transcription
So luxury brands often pride themselves on providing a luxury experience for their clients, but let's be real, the majority of these experiences are pretty forgettable. A true luxury experience should be so exceptional that it turns customers into lifelong advocates. Sure, your team members are attentive, as they should be when someone is spending thousands and thousands of pounds. That's just meeting expectations, not exceeding them.
I want you to be honest and ask yourself, are you truly doing everything to make the experience unforgettable? I'm Paul Russell, co-founder of Luxury Academy, and with years of experience as a trusted training partner for renowned luxury brands worldwide, I've gained unique insights into what makes a luxury experience truly exceptional. Today, I'm going to share some of that knowledge with you.
First things first, though, let's dump the one-size-fits-all approach. Yes, the basics like conversation skills and attentiveness are important, but they're the minimum expectations. Imagine going into a mobile phone shop and the salesperson told you that this new high-tech phone connected to the internet. You'd be blown away, wouldn't you? It's like going into a five-star hotel saying that they have comfortable beds.
To truly stand out, you need to take a step back and analyze your existing experience. To provide a unique experience to your customers, you need to think uniquely. It sounds obvious, I know, but so many businesses I encounter have just applied the same tired experience as other luxury brands. This is very ineffective and for quite an obvious reason when you think about it. What a 30-year-old high-net-worth client would think of when describing a perfect luxury experience would be vastly different to that of a 55-year-old.
Defining your unique customer experience starts with understanding your brand values and culture. What sets you apart? What makes your brand special? For instance, if you're a cutting-edge luxury brand, but your staff are all about traditional, formal service, there's a disconnect. Your experience should reflect your brand ethos. Likewise, if you're a luxury legacy brand and decide to introduce a more informal approach, then this could be a pitfall with your customer expectations. It always jars me when I walk into really opulent luxury hotels to find the staff wearing suits with no tie and an open collar. It's not trendy, it's weird. The point here is that your customers' expectations should guide your approach. There's no one-size-fits-all solution here. View the experience through the lens of your customer.
And let's talk about the elephant in the room: the lifestyle disconnect between salespeople and their high-net-worth clients. A lot of the time, the reason most brands don't provide a memorable customer experience is because of the disconnect in lifestyle between the person selling the product and the high-net-worth individual buying it. Too often, sales staff act like they're from a different planet. They use language and behaviour that feels forced and unnatural, all in an effort to appear more luxury. And obviously, this is complete nonsense. Of course, the salesperson is accustomed to the luxury surroundings of the store or the hotel, but do they truly understand the lifestyle of the luxury consumer? Often not. And this can result in the high-net-worth client becoming a complex mystery. It adds pressure to the interaction, and the salesperson finds themselves acting awkwardly.
Brands do it as well in their collateral and their marketing, using behaviour and phrases that don't resonate with a luxury consumer. Real luxury companies don't refer to themselves as luxury. Dior doesn't say "luxury clothing." Foster's doesn't call their shoes "luxury," even though prices start over £3,000 for a pair of shoes.
The good news is there's a simple two-rule solution. Number one: speak like a normal human being, not some character of a luxury salesperson. And number two: act like a normal human being. The internet provides a wealth of psychological techniques and tricks that can be used, but think back to the first piece of advice. What would your customer expect? They wouldn't want to be tricked or manipulated. No, a memorable experience starts with a connection, and a connection starts with likeability, and likeability starts with you just being normal.
If you'd like to create or improve your existing luxury customer experience, do these two very simple things. Imagine the customer journey through the eyes of your client and really question whether you're memorable or just meeting expectations. Speak, or train your employees to speak and act in a normal manner around high-net-worth clients, so it doesn't feel forced or fake.
So, I hope that helps.