How to crack the code to the ‘elusive’ luxury market
The luxury market is a place of mystery and exclusivity. It’s a member’s club that many business owners and consumers want to be a part of, but don’t know how to break through the glass ceiling to find a way in.
But what if I told you that finding your place in the luxury market is easier than the big players in this space would like you to believe?
In fact, it’s so easy that just about anyone can walk through the door… if they have the code.
You don’t have to come from luxury to understand luxury. I certainly didn’t. But after spending 15 years working in the high-end wedding industry, planning events for the elite with budgets of £1 million+, I’ve learnt a thing or two about how the high-ticket market moves and how to operate successfully within it.
Five years ago I decided to bring my knowledge of everything high end into the wider business arena, sharing the secrets that most don’t want you to know.
In the online space, you’ll find plenty of coaches and business owners discussing high-ticket and VIP offers, but don’t be fooled – this isn’t the same as luxury. No, luxury is altogether something else.
I should start by saying that what is luxury to one may not be luxury to another. There are so many different types of luxury – relaxed luxury, eco-luxury, traditional luxury, the list goes on – but ultimately, the one thing everyone’s version of luxury has in common is the experience.
Working with my past clients meant I gained a deep insight into the world of wealth; How it works, how it moves, and most crucially, how the wealthy want to be looked after.
What I learned is that when trying to cater to the demands of the wealthy, how they want to be looked after and the experiences they expect sets the stage for their perceptions of luxury.
Serving clients in the luxury market was an eye-opening experience for me.
When you’re constantly surrounded by people who don’t worry about money, who demand the best of the best and don’t have to think about where their funds are coming from, you start to think about how vast the opportunities to make money are.
You begin to understand how people want to spend their money, what they value and how else you can also make money and grow your business within that space.
When you’re operating in this world, you don’t need to worry about whether people have money or not. For the most part it’s a given, but it’s also truly none of your business. A big part of luxury is perceived value, and this is as true for the people spending as it is for the people selling.
Instead of worrying about whether people have the money, your attention should be focused on creating, selling, and delivering luxury goods and services that the wealthy desire, value and will talk about.
Once you start working in this space, I can guarantee that your mindset will quickly change around how much people are willing to spend for something they value – it’s one of those things that often has to be seen to be believed.
After working in this world for so long, I can categorically tell you that there is no price tag too high, if the perceived value of the experience matches the desires of the buyer.
Ironically, one of the first things you have to know (and a lesson I quickly learned) is that you’re actually at greater risk of losing a client by undercharging than anything else.
Subconsciously, these high-net-worth individuals equate quality with a higher price. If you charge too little, high ticket buyers will be repelled by a belief that a lower price means lower quality and a lesser experience.
Always remember, the luxury market isn’t looking for savings.
A high price tag means fewer people will be able to afford it, and fewer people being able to afford it means your product or service becomes automatically more exclusive – a must-have, collectible, and elusive experience.
Let’s use an example from my past life as a wedding planner – if I were to charge a starting price of £40,000 to plan your wedding and another planner was putting forward a proposal for £5,000, you’re going to wonder why one proposal is so much lower than the other.
You might ask, “What’s missing? What do they not understand about the brief?”
Under-pricing in the luxury market calls into question whether you understand your craft and what’s required to deliver the quality of product, service and experience that’s expected.
But it’s not enough to simply add a few zeros to your existing offer and call it a high ticket offer. That’s very short term thinking and ethics must prevail.
Once you’ve secured the client or deal, you must deliver an experience that matches the high ticket price. You have to deliver luxury throughout the entire encounter – not just in the offering.
So how do you sustain a luxury experience following a high-ticket offer?
Instead of just adding a high price tag on your offer, you need to look at the entire customer journey and realise there are so many points within it that you will benefit from by making them an exquisite experience for your client.
Explore the quality of what you’re providing, look at the time you’re giving, the ROI you’re providing, and what your clients will walk away from the experience with.
I host a regular high-net-worth networking event known as The Luxury Circle. This event is designed to bring together high performing individuals, business owners, and buyers in the luxury market, providing an exclusive space for them to meet, mingle, and enhance their business opportunities.
This event is all about the experience they receive and the connections they make. The reason people come to the event (and return to the event) is because of the magic that happens from the moment they walk through the doors.
From choosing an exquisite, high-class venue, to providing the finest food and beverage experiences to offering VIP activities & sending them away with luxury gifts. Every part of The Luxury Circle is carefully curated to create a memorable, high-value, and high-return event that will keep people coming back, while also mentioning it to their friends.
The customer journey is crucial.
One of the crucial, more well-known elements is how you onboard clients. Onboarding sets the tone for how they’re going to work with you. It sets and manages expectations for you and your clients. People feel immense comfort if they know what’s going to happen and feel connected to you at all times throughout their experience.
Mapping out your offboarding process for clients to make sure they have a smooth exit out of your world, is just as important as the way you welcome them in.
As a Psychology graduate & obsessive, I love to incorporate what I know of how people experience moments. One of the things I have always remembered is the concept of the “primacy and recency effect”; how someone begins and ends an experience or moment is how they will generally remember it.
How something starts and how it ends defines how you feel about that experience.
My personal favourite part of the customer journey map is how you can incorporate, what I call ‘delightful surprises’ for your clients. Your clients know what they’ve paid for, but by creating moments with gifts and experiences that are totally unexpected you create details and excitement in the experience with you that they will always remember and, crucially, rave about to others.
These delightful surprises are the special touches that often set an experience apart and elevate it from ordinary to luxury.
When I mentioned The Luxury Circle earlier, I told you about the unique experiences and the gifting – these are examples of some of the delightful surprises my clients receive.
People always remember how you made them feel, so by looking after them, you convey how deeply you value them, and if there’s one thing buyers in the luxury market like to feel, it’s valued.
Breaking into the luxury market might seem like a daunting prospect, but with the right knowledge, the right strategies, and most importantly, the right mindset, there’s no reason that your business can’t be present and stand strong in the rooms you want it to be in.
If you’re interested in working with me to help you align or increase your business or client journey within the luxury market, contact us directly at hello@deepbajwa.com.
