The Right Mindset to Luxury helps us Build Rapport with the Elite Customer Resulting in Better Sales

I was recently called to work with shop floor sales teams in a luxury retail store.

The program I developed was centered around understanding luxury, the luxury customer and the impact of the salesperson’s personality on the shopper, which would  eventually impact the sale

The objective was to bring together and harmonize the three pillars, the product, the shopper, and the salesperson, so that rapport, compatibility and comfort is created in the interaction and ambience.

Why does the luxury customer buy? What is it that tips the scales to a confirmed sale? And how do we build a relationship so that the customer returns.

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We focus on these questions when we train sales personnel. However, to be able to truly connect with the elite customer, we must ask our sales teams what their own understanding and experience of luxury is.

What does luxury mean to  us personally and how would we define it? What does it feel like and what do our senses experience?

Luxury is not about serving a need, but serving an emotion. That emotion comes from the thoughts we have, creating a feeling within us that prompts us to buy.

Luxury is different things to different people. For some it may be carrying an expensive designer bag, or being pampered at a 5-star hotel, and for others it may be quiet time alone with a great cup of coffee, a book and a blanket.

At a deeper level, luxury is not a thing, but an emotion. It is what it does for us. It is a ‘thing’ that gives us an experience that creates a feeling.

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That feeling comes from different thoughts. It can be a sense of deservingness – that we have earned the indulgence so we make the purchase

Another is a deeper understanding of a quality product, or connecting with its history. I may know all about and appreciate 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, and therefore the ‘feel’ it gives me as I get into bed is what motivates me to buy.

 Being socially accepted in a community is a big one, giving us a sense of belonging with a group of friends.

One of our most human basic needs is to be accepted and appreciated, assuring us that we are no different, but a part of others. Some may buy to feel superior, and like to show off. Again this is from the need to be accepted and acknowledged.

I may be selling a luxury car while I don’t even own a car. Yes I do need to have in-depth knowledge on the features, recognise the value of its accessories and so on, but for me to sell it I very much need to be on the same emotional wavelength as the customer, by identifying with my own experience of luxury and what it serves.

Damaging thoughts are those where we as salespersons  privately cannot understand why a product is so exorbitantly  priced, grudge others for being able to buy what we cannot, or most of all be intimidated by the price tag on a high end item.

It is equally damaging to become arrogant or snobbish, and intimidate the customer. How many times have we walked into a high end store only to be disgusted by the snobbish attitude of the sales person, many of whom have lost a sale by mistaking a casually dressed person as one who will not buy.

What we think and feel is brought out in our body language, our tone and our language all to be sensed by the customer. This can either deter or encourage them.

As we begin to truly ‘feel’ luxury, we are in the zone of making that sale. It is not pretentious, fake or forced, but natural and complementary. 

 Sometimes the very word luxury frightens us, as we think of something beyond reach, and unattainable. In this case, find what works for you. The word you could be looking for is satisfaction, enjoyment, comfort, leisure, a treat.

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Find the experience in your life that gives you any of these feelings. Understand the product truly in depth appreciating its’ making, craft and backstory. Study how that product serves the customer in different ways through its feature, as it serves the fundamental emotional need.

This in turn helps us refine our speech to be eloquent, our gestures and posture to be one of finesse, and our tone to be confident and warm. The sales process is smooth with no sign of desperation or awkwardness.

As we do this, we create rapport with the customer, giving them a sense of comfort as we invite them into our space.

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