Selling Luxury: Connect With Affluent Customers, Create Unique Experiences Through Impeccable Service, And Close The Sale

Praise for Selling Luxury
"Geneviève and Robin have brought together their talents to create a book that gives all Sales Ambassadors the fundamentals in selling and building customer loyalty."
—Hamida Belkadi, CEO, De Beers Diamond Jewellers, USA
"Selling Luxury is filled with ways of exceeding each client's expectations through offering a service that surprises and delights."
—Aaron Simpson, Group Executive Chairman, Quintessentiall
What does it take to sell high-end luxury creations to the richest clients in the world? In Selling Luxury, Robin Lent and Genevieve Tour, with thirty years of combined experience, share their savoir-faire. You'll also pick up tips from multi-million dollar luxury sales professionals who will help you understand the complexities of the universe of luxury. Selling Luxury will show you how a salesperson can acquire Sales Ambassador status by offering the impeccable service associated with the world's most prestigious brands.

Robin Lent is Senior Consultant at AC3, a Paris-based company that specializes in training and communications. Robin has been working for eighteen years in the field of luxury. He can be reached at robin@ac3.fr.
Geneviève Tour is a Training Consultant at Cartier and a luxury specialist. She has spent many years as a Sales Ambassador in the United States and France. Geneviève has an MBA in luxury brands and twenty years of experience in marketing and communications. She can be reached at genevieve.tour@club-internet.fr.

Foreword by Alain-Dominique Perrin.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
Part One: Initial Thoughts.
1 The Vital Role of the Sales Ambassador.
2 In the eyes of the customer, the Sales Ambassador is the brand.
3 Loyalty begins with the fi rst contact.
4 Keep in mind how you like to be treated.
5 There are customers behind customers.
6 The incredible loss from one lost customer.
7 The emotional side of the purchase.
8 The island vacation or the earrings?
9 The price is only one of the factors.
10 The “Wow” comes when you go beyond expectations.
11 Discretion and confi dentiality.
Part Two: The Frame of Mind of the Sales Ambassador.
12 Be a person before being a Sales Ambassador.
13 Turn every contact into an experience.
14 Get inside the customer’s story.
15 Congratulate customers.
16 Compliment your customers.
17 Every complaint is an opportunity.
18 The other competitor.
19 Service costs nothing.
20 The great danger of prejudices and preconceived ideas.
21 Work as a team player.
22 Relationships and mistakes.
Part Three: The Savoir-Faire of the Sales Ambassador.
23 The successful selling style.
24 Life is a celebration.
25 Use each contact to inform and educate.
26 The power of timing.
27 Time is a precious sales tool.
28 The art of using silence.
29 Music as a metaphor for selling.
30 Select the words you use carefully.
31 Tones, rhythms, and volumes.
32 The competition, your customers, and your advantages.
33 Personalize your service.
34 Pleasure comes from consistency.
35 Maintain your energy.
36 Make someone’s day.
37 Each telephone contact is another opportunity.
38 Analyze the sale you made.
39 Analyze the situation when the customer did not buy.
Part Four: Preparing to Sell.
40 The impact of the right atmosphere on customers.
41 Luxury is in the details.
42 Keep the service level up even when things are busy.
43 Prepare your selling tools.
44 Know what you have in stock.
45 Learn how each creation was crafted.
46 Know what is happening in your city.
Part Five: Welcoming and Discovering the Customer.
47 A greeting needs a smile.
48 Your body language speaks louder than words.
49 Listening with your eyes.
50 The importance of discovery.
51 The gift purchase.
52 The power of questions (quality over quantity).
53 Be a careful listener.
54 Find out how your customer feels about your brand.
55 Make statements to obtain information.
56 Introduce yourself.
57 “Just looking”.
58 The art and importance of reformulation.
Part Six: Proposing, Romancing, and Handling Objections.
59 Keep your proposals simple.
60 Create curiosity.
61 Handle everything you sell as a precious object.
62 Position the offer.
63 Make clever use of the light.
64 Romance your creations to enhance the emotions.
65 Storytelling.
66 Invite the customer to try on the model.
67 “Wrap” the price as if it were a gift.
68 The art of exploring “Let me think about it”.
69 Prepare for dealing with objections.
Part Seven: Concluding and Making Additional Sales.
70 Be aware of buying signals.
71 Tips to conclude.
72 Suggest the best solution.
73 The importance of reassuring when concluding.
74 “Picture” the purchase.
75 Advise customers about maintaining their purchase.
76 Suggest ways of offering a gift.
77 The additional sale.
Part Eight: Building Customer Loyalty.
78 Loyalty comes from offering gifts linked to the purchase.
79 Offer two business cards.
80 Make a good last impression.
81 Every departure is a preparation for another visit.
82 Loyalty comes from remembering your customers.
83 The database is an essential tool.
84 Celebrate the newborn.
85 Build loyalty by staying in touch.
86 Ask for a referral.
87 Customer after-sales service and the broken dream.
88 The ideal after-sales service scenario.
Outcomes of the Eight Stories.
Conclusion.
Index.