Selling high-end luxury creations requires a different set of skills than does traditional selling. Clients have high expectations for the service they receive and base their purchasing decisions more on emotion and desire than practical need. Whether you are selling diamond bracelets or sports cars, the key to concluding the sale lies in how well you sell rather than what you sell.
In Selling Luxury, Robin Lent and Geneviève Tour explore every component of luxury sales and offer proven, practical strategies for connecting with customers. Rather than sales associates, the luxury market calls for “Sales Ambassadors” who represent the brand with distinction. Sales Ambassadors understand how to connect with customers by discovering their unique motivational desires. This requires a multitude of specialized skills: passion, perseverance, empathy, daring, and curiosity. Through personalized service each and every time, Sales Ambassadors are able to build trust, brand loyalty, and lasting customer relationships.
If you want to succeed in the luxury sales universe, Selling Luxury is for you. You’ll pick up the skills and approaches that work everyday in a multitude of situations. You’ll learn how to:
- Connect emotionally with customers
- Exceed your customers’ expectations
- Turn every customer contact into a brand experience
- Personalize your customer service
- Learn about customers through observing and discovery
- Create the desire to purchase
- Deal positively with customer objections
- Build a relationship of trust and brand loyalty
The universe of luxury is no place for traditional hard-sell tactics. Instead, you have to subtly adapt to your customer in a deeper way. Doing so takes a truly personal touch. Selling Luxury shows you how to develop these skills and make them a key part of your own unique selling style.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Alain-Dominique Perrin xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
Part One: Initial Thoughts 1
1 The Vital Role of the Sales Ambassador 3
2 In the eyes of the customer, the Sales Ambassador is the brand 5
3 Loyalty begins with the fi rst contact 6
4 Keep in mind how you like to be treated 7
5 There are customers behind customers 8
6 The incredible loss from one lost customer 9
7 The emotional side of the purchase 10
8 The island vacation or the earrings? 11
9 The price is only one of the factors 12
10 The “Wow” comes when you go beyond expectations 13
11 Discretion and confi dentiality 14
Part Two: The Frame of Mind of the Sales Ambassador 17
12 Be a person before being a Sales Ambassador 19
13 Turn every contact into an experience 20
14 Get inside the customer’s story 21
15 Congratulate customers 23
16 Compliment your customers 24
17 Every complaint is an opportunity 25
18 The other competitor 26
19 Service costs nothing 28
20 The great danger of prejudices and preconceived ideas 29
21 Work as a team player 30
22 Relationships and mistakes 31
Part Three: The Savoir-Faire of the Sales Ambassador 35
23 The successful selling style 37
24 Life is a celebration 38
25 Use each contact to inform and educate 39
26 The power of timing 40
27 Time is a precious sales tool 42
28 The art of using silence 44
29 Music as a metaphor for selling 45
30 Select the words you use carefully 46
31 Tones, rhythms, and volumes 47
32 The competition, your customers, and your advantages 48
33 Personalize your service 49
34 Pleasure comes from consistency 50
35 Maintain your energy 51
36 Make someone’s day 53
37 Each telephone contact is another opportunity 54
38 Analyze the sale you made 56
39 Analyze the situation when the customer did not buy 58
Part Four: Preparing to Sell 61
40 The impact of the right atmosphere on customers 63
41 Luxury is in the details 65
42 Keep the service level up even when things are busy 66
43 Prepare your selling tools 68
44 Know what you have in stock 69
45 Learn how each creation was crafted 70
46 Know what is happening in your city 71
Part Five: Welcoming and Discovering the Customer 73
47 A greeting needs a smile 75
48 Your body language speaks louder than words 76
49 Listening with your eyes 77
50 The importance of discovery 79
51 The gift purchase 81
52 The power of questions (quality over quantity) 82
53 Be a careful listener 84
54 Find out how your customer feels about your brand 85
55 Make statements to obtain information 86
56 Introduce yourself 87
57 “Just looking” 88
58 The art and importance of reformulation 90
Part Six: Proposing, Romancing, and Handling Objections 93
59 Keep your proposals simple 95
60 Create curiosity 96
61 Handle everything you sell as a precious object 98
62 Position the offer 100
63 Make clever use of the light 102
64 Romance your creations to enhance the emotions 103
65 Storytelling 104
66 Invite the customer to try on the model 106
67 “Wrap” the price as if it were a gift 108
68 The art of exploring “Let me think about it” 109
69 Prepare for dealing with objections 111
Part Seven: Concluding and Making Additional Sales 113
70 Be aware of buying signals 115
71 Tips to conclude 117
72 Suggest the best solution 119
73 The importance of reassuring when concluding 120
74 “Picture” the purchase 122
75 Advise customers about maintaining their purchase 123
76 Suggest ways of offering a gift 125
77 The additional sale 126
Part Eight: Building Customer Loyalty 129
78 Loyalty comes from offering gifts linked to the purchase 131
79 Offer two business cards 132
80 Make a good last impression 133
81 Every departure is a preparation for another visit 134
82 Loyalty comes from remembering your customers 136
83 The database is an essential tool 137
84 Celebrate the newborn 138
85 Build loyalty by staying in touch 140
86 Ask for a referral 142
87 Customer after-sales service and the broken dream 144
88 The ideal after-sales service scenario 146
Outcomes of the Eight Stories 149
Conclusion 153
Index 156
Samples
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