Table of Contents
Additional Praise for
SELLING LUXURY
Today, our customers references in terms of service are extremely high and go far beyond the luxury sector. In the world of luxury, customers are expecting a top level of service before, during, and after every contact or sale. Reaching excellence in service is essential for each Sales Ambassador so that customers are even more satisfied and loyal to the brand. This everyday challenge should be approached humbly, with the understanding that it is a never-ending learning process.
Bernard Fornas, CEO, Cartier International
To Sales Ambassadors all over the world
Foreword
Selling in a luxury universe is full of magic, passion, and emotion. The customer, the creation, and the Sales Ambassador all enjoy an exchange of views that is just as important as the object itself and its beauty. In this way, the Sales Ambassador builds a relationship and actively participates in the brand experience.
The role of the Sales Ambassador is vital for the success and future of every brand. Selling is a noble profession that is both complex and diverse. It requires a multitude of skills, personal energy, and the ability to be constantly self-motivated.
Brand managers value their Sales Teams, recognizing their achievements and the importance of their role in growing the business. It is my experience that Sales Ambassadors also become excellent sources of information through their contacts with customers. Because of this, Sales Ambassadors can also be involved in suggesting new creations and models.
Selling Luxury is a gem, unique in the world of luxury. Genevive Tour and Robin Lent have brought together their contacts and personal experiences to create a book that is full of excellent advice and practical examples on both understanding the art of luxury selling and keeping customer loyalty.
Successful Sales Ambassadors are always on the lookout for ways to improve the quality of their contacts. Even for the best of them, this book will add to their savoir-faire, sharpen their skills, and increase their pleasure as they participate in building the brand experience.
Selling Luxury presents selling as the rich and fascinating world it is when approached with passion and professionalism.
Alain-Dominique Perrin Executive Director, Companie Financire Richemont, and President, Ecole des Dirigeants et Crateurs dentreprise (EDC), Paris
Acknowledgments
We are very grateful to our agent, Bob Silverstein of Quicksilver Books, for his trust and belief in this book.
Sincere thanks as well to our editor, Richard Narramore, for his support and insight and to his assistant, Ann Kenny, for guiding us through the editorial process.
We are also grateful to Charlotte Duntze and Franois
Le Troquer for giving us access to their networks and many contacts.
Sincere thanks to Caroline Lent and Allan Sanders, our proofreaders, for their advice, corrections, and many helpful suggestions.
Introduction
What happens in a luxury environment that makes it unique? How do you build customer loyalty that can last for decades or even a lifetime? What is the link between a luxury creation and the person dreaming of owning it? How can you give added value compared to the competition? How do you go about up-selling or cross-selling in a luxury environment? How can you take advantage of customer after-sales service situations? How can approaches such as using silence and observation play an active role in the sales process? What are customers really shopping for when they visit a luxury boutique?
Selling Luxury answers these questions and many more using our combined 30 years of personal experience in selling and training in luxury as well as our contacts with top Sales Ambassadors throughout the world. These tips from the best offer pertinent keys to luxury selling.
These 88 approaches are given in a clear and practical manner and are ready to use immediately. At first, some of the points, such as the importance of greeting, smiling, and listening may seem to be nonspecific for the luxury universe. We can assure you that based on our research these basics are essential and very much expected from customers shopping in a luxury universe.
The importance of the role of Sales Ambassadors cannot be stated often enough. They are the brand for the customer. Each Sales Ambassador is responsible for creating the experience that customers will always remember. For those working in sales, applying Selling Luxury is an excellent way to improve performance.
How do you define a luxury customer? It is very simple. We are all luxury customers. We all have our own personal luxury. It could be the park bench we like to sit on and read the paper, the place we go to on Saturday mornings for coffee, or the spot where we go to watch the sunset. We all have those little unique and special things that matter to us, a little luxury that makes us feel special.
What about shopping? Are only the rich and superrich considered luxury customers? Absolutely not. People decide that they want something unique, either for someone they love or for themselves. Their incomes may be very modest. The cost of a creation is far less important than the desire to mark the event or special occasion between family and friends, whether it is a birth, an anniversary, a graduation, or a promotion. Life is a celebration, and to have something exceptional to remember those special moments adds to the pleasure.
Luxury has been with us since the pharaohs in Egypt some 6,000 years ago and probably even much earlier. Luxury will continue to be here in one form or another in the future. Brands may disappear, but the notion of luxury is a part of us and will stay with us.
In
Selling Luxury, we have differentiated the Sales Ambassador from the Sales Associate in order to give clear examples in each situation about what should be done and what should be avoided. We have also alternated between he and she throughout the book, either to identify the Sales Ambassador or the customer. We have purposely not used brand names in our examples for two reasons. First of all, we wanted the brands to remain confidential. There is a discretion in luxury that we have respected. The second reason was to avoid having readers think that certain approaches were only valid in specific fields of luxury sales. We have found that
Selling Luxury performs well across a variety of sales situations. Why 88 points? There are several reasons for our choice. In the same way that, during a sale, there is a symbolism or story behind each creation, there is also a symbolism behind the eights:
Eight is the symbol of balance and harmony, which is a constant challenge in building relationships between Sales Ambassadors and customers.
Eight, in mathematics, is the symbol of infinity. Here we thought of the notion of having lasting relationships with customers.
In numerology, 8 is the symbol of someone who has mastered knowledge. Selling Luxury will certainly improve the skills and competencies of Sales Ambassadors wishing to be virtuosos in the field of luxury.
Finally, in certain cultures, Chinese for instance, the number 8 symbolizes good luck and happiness. In Cantonese, the number eight is pronounced fa. This is the same pronunciation as the sound for to grow richer in the large sense of the word. Two eights double the possibilities.
