The Critical Mindsets of Luxury Service Providers

Often those serving a luxury clientele didn’t come from their world. I certainly didn’t. Therefore, much of the work to succeed in the luxury space has to begin with our own mindset.

Your level of success is proportionate to your level of personal growth. To succeed with this highly perceptive, sophisticated audience, you must be on top of your mindset game.

Feel It to See It

“Fake it until you make it” will not fly with the luxury buyer. Faking anything won’t get you there.

It's better to "feel it to see it". If the luxury lifestyle is in any way unknown to you, you have to immerse yourself in where you are headed. Do you know what the luxury experience feels like? Do you know with absolute certainty what your luxury buyer needs to see, hear, and feel to choose you? Do you know what the world looks like from their perspective?

If not or you’re not sure, this is the work you must do first. Immerse yourself in the world of those you desire to serve. How they live, what they read, where they shop, dine, and experience life.

Feel how they live to fully understand them to see the results you want.?

Raise the Bar

In the ordinary world of business, businesses strive for excellent customer service, creating great experiences, and providing high quality. In the luxury market, these standards are expected. If you meet their expectations of excellence, greatness, and quality, you will have satisfied their expectations. But nothing about the luxury market is about satisfaction.?

You have to raise the bar from great to exceptional. Greatness is expected. If you deliver on their expectations they will not be inspired. Appreciative perhaps but not inspired. If you don’t meet their expectations, you are likely to hear about it. The only choice then to get them to speak favorably about your business and become a loyal client is for you to be exceptional. By definition, to be exceptional is to stand out above the rest.?

Shift your mindset from striving to be great to being exceptional. Nothing less than exceptional will do.

Understanding the Clientele

The foundation of serving a luxury clientele begins with a profound understanding of their needs, preferences, and lifestyles. As I like to say, understanding what makes them tick. Thought about in this way makes you curious.

This involves more than just knowing their preferences and details; it’s about comprehending the nuances of their tastes and values. Prioritize active listening and observation. Every interaction is an opportunity to learn more about the client.

We enacted a policy that when a client contacted us to reschedule an appointment, my team member would inquire in a non-intrusive way the reason for the rescheduled appointment. It was almost always because of some interruption to their schedule. Dental appointments, surprise guests, etc. The reason was recorded in their file so that when I interacted with them, I would ask how their visit went or wish them well from their dental care. Clients were stunned because they knew they hadn’t previously spoken to me about the change.?

It was a nod to let them know we cared about their lives. It also let them know we were a buttoned-down operation and they could be assured we were just as buttoned-down in our delivery for them.

Personal over Professional

This tends to surprise many luxury service providers because from the outside, there’s this impression that the luxury buyer wants to always be treated with the utmost professionalism and formality. It’s simply not true.

The sophisticated luxury buyer is complex and appreciates letting their guard down when appropriate. There’s a time and place for making a great impression and a time and place for simplicity.

I often refer to this as the front and back of the house. The front of the house is where you create the best impression. In retail, that’s the showroom floor. In service businesses, it can be at various stages of service delivery. But there’s also a time for a peek behind the curtain, the back of the house. For example, in interior design, there are plenty of times to impress the client. Perhaps in the showroom, in their home, presenting renderings, and such. But there’s also the visit to the tile factory to pick out the perfect kitchen backsplash.

You can also look at this like a Broadway show. Of course, they want to be blown away by the performance. We also know how valued the backstage access is. The key is to know when to deliver each, professionalism and a personal side.

Serving a luxury clientele is a sophisticated and demanding endeavor that requires a leveling up of your mindset. Think of it not as accommodating but rather a call to be exceptional, to find more in yourself than you ever imagined.

Through this newsletter, I hope to inspire you and provide insights that will give you an edge in your luxury business. The diamond edge--sharp, precise, intentional, and cuts through. All necessary elements to be exceptional in business.

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Few people can speak about the emotions and behavior of the luxury market better than Jeffrey Shaw. Having been a preeminent portrait photographer in the U.S. for 40 years serving the most discerning clientele, as Jeffrey says, "I don't just know this market, I was in their closets."

A speaker who lights up an audience with innovative marketing and branding ideas, offering a whole new perspective on business, customer service, and the behavior of luxury buyers to motivate business owners and luxury brands to implement proven strategies, grow their businesses, and raise standards in the world.

The author of LINGO and The Self-Employed Life, a TEDx speaker featured on TED.com, host of the popular podcast, The Self-Employed Life, and Founder of The Self-Employed Business Institute.

For more information about Keynotes, Coaching, Luxury Marketing, and my year-long High Achievers Mastermind- www.jeffreyshaw.com.