“What do you want?” he asked, not even looking up from his iPad.
Huh.
No hello, good morning, or welcome to the store.
Nope. Just “What do you want?”
While I want to believe he didn’t mean to be so rude so early in the morning, that one question stopped me in my tracks and made me reconsider spending money in his store.
Imagine yourself early on a Wednesday morning, thinking you look cute, wandering the Champs-Élysées in Paris and stopping outside the store (that rhymes with more) because there is no line (miracle) — that was me.
It’s no secret I am a Luxury Lover and for my birthday trip I thought a fun souvenir was going to be a new tote and a pretty scarf — but I was wrong. His opening question was so off-putting I didn’t even make it into the store.
I replied, “Good morning, I want to look at a tote and a scarf.” “Wait here,” he replied.
NOPE. Absolutely not.
You might be saying, “Neen you are a being a brat!” or “But Neen, maybe he was busy? Maybe he was having a bad day? Maybe he didn’t like you were wearing his competitor, Louis Vuitton?”
And perhaps you are right — but I don’t care.
First Impressions Matter
Imagine this scenario all over again with the simple actions of looking up from the iPad, smiling, and simply saying: “Good morning, welcome to our store. So glad you are here; how can we help you today?” — easy peasy.
I would have waited and happily burned a hole in my credit card, but I didn’t.
Regardless if it is in-person (in your store, or travel agency, or office) or online (on social media, entering a Teams call, replying to a text message or DM), the first few moments when you meet someone, you and your brand are on show.
What impression do you want to give?
It doesn’t matter what product or service we are talking about — totes, travel, time-saving techniques, or even the newest social media platform Threads — moments matter.
If you want to elevate every experience, ask yourself how can you elevate the first impression.
I am sure my buddy Bernie (Mr. Arnault, the richest man on the planet) doesn’t need my small purchase in his store. He certainly doesn’t train his team to treat clients like this, and as an owner or leader, we can’t control every interaction. I get that.
BUT, we can ensure we are clear about the clients we want to serve, and provide the tools and frameworks to set our team up for success so they can represent you and your organization in the best way. That way, when your clients are ready to buy, you understand exactly what influences them.
In our Luxury Mindset research study, we discovered several factors that inspire leaders to buy luxury purchases (regardless of whether your product or service is luxury, this might also apply to you).
We learned leaders are:
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More likely to purchase if they are familiar with the brand. 56% say previous experience with a brand most influences their purchase, followed by budget (54%) and price (54%).
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Leaders came from different income levels and are thinking about the bottom line. They still care about getting their money’s worth.
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Luxury Lovers are less likely to be influenced by price or budget and more influenced by the exclusivity of the purchase — they want luxuries nobody else has.
Factors Influencing Luxury Purchasing Decisions
If you want to know more you can get a copy of our research findings by clicking here.
Staying top of mind with professional leaders requires brands to balance a variety of communication modes. Regular touchpoints through digital and physical communications while remembering professional leaders have busy calendars, whole lives, and are juggling personal and professional commitments are crucial to success.
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to smile, look up from devices, and choose your words more carefully.
To create the best client experience for Luxury Lovers, brands need to focus on unique and exclusive opportunities, while ProPrioritizers should be targeted by highlighting how their product or service will help advance their image or careers.
My decision to walk into that store was influenced by wanting a special reward for the hard work of the past six months, the reputation of the brand, and their pretty totes. But that short “What do you want?” demand was enough to override each of those factors immediately.
Paying attention to the language brands use in their marketing assets, sales conversations, and training programs is key to appealing to these influential decision makers and understanding the mindset of these leaders is what is influencing their decision.
If you provide a product or service (luxury or not) remember:
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Reputation matters
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Impressions matter
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Kindness matters
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Words matter
Brands can consciously focus their messaging directly at these leaders knowing they are making major decisions in their household.
You might be thinking, “Neen, poor you, you didn’t get another fancy handbag.” (goodness knows I don’t need one — we call that #ChampagneProblems, LOL.). But it’s not about the expensive item, it’s about the experience.
Luxury is about EXPERIENCES, not things.
We all need to focus on elevating every experience for our clients, “online, off-line, all the time” as my friend Erin King says!
When we work with our clients to apply our three-step luxury mindset audit, we are considering how they can:
- Assess mindset (who are the clients you want to attract?)
- Align messages (what are you saying to grow your business?)
- Activate master plan (how will you achieve your goals?)
You can do this for yourself and your company; perhaps a quick audit, consider these questions:
- Who is the audience or client you love to serve?
- Do you understand all four luxury mindsets (because you have them all in your team and clients)?
- Which luxury mindset do you want to attract to your organization?
- How can you learn to speak the luxury language of those mindsets to grow your business?
- How can you design your onboarding, training, sales scripts, and marketing collaterals to support your luxury mindset goals?
- How can you elevate every interaction you have with your clients?
- Does your social media presence represent the best version of you?
- Do you need to update your training and/or onboarding programs to ensure your brand is best represented?
- What are your clients paint points and how can you eliminate them to elevate the experiences?
If you need my help with this, please reach out to me, I love helping leaders solve these questions!
