Every Sell Is a Tell
A small luxury brand can usually find a client or two quickly when it introduces a new product or service. What takes time, is sharpening and proving its business model. That is where luxury entrepreneurs should be focusing their time and too few do. Too often entrepreneurs are in search of capital or partners, or some magic marketing button, when in fact he or she should be proving it can sell its product and produce consistent and reliable revenues. Moreover, the entrepreneur must prove there is a unique reason for it to exist in the minds of the purchaser. Every time you sell something, your buyer is saying something about themselves. You want it to be the right thing and magnify this in your marketing.
The luxury business model is most interesting because there are so many to choose from today. In the past there was just brick and mortar, and you were either a retailer or wholesaler. Today direct-to-consumer is bigger than ever, largely online, there are more luxury brands than ever, and everyone is competing with low-cost provider, Amazon. Then there is eBay, and several luxury resale sites. Your client may decide to find a comparable resale item, or that luxury is not necessary at all. When it comes to a service, there is great pressure to go with the low-cost provider. This makes your business model essential. You must prove you can build a business in the wake of all these pressures and choose a business model that perpetuates the right idea.
I often tell luxury entrepreneurs that finding a client is the most important step. When you find clients, you also find someone with motivations you can study. Ultimately the most defensible position for any business is having a mob of raving fans with wallets in hand who are not interested in buying the product or service from anyone other than you. However, you will only get there if you approach creating your business model as the formula for achieving this result. In other words, your business model cannot just be about distribution it has to be about penetrating the psyche of your target audience. They must want to buy from you, even if it is more difficult, more expensive, and there are other choices.
I’ve written about creating meaning, and using the right language to do so, but this extends beyond that. You must pound into their minds that your name, your product, where they bought it, and how much they paid for it, is all part of their personal brand. The question is, how can you make the mere existence of your brand in someone’s home, hands, or your photographs evidence they not only have exquisite taste, but they are an exquisite person. Perhaps even that they are affluent and wealthy. Observing the recent acquisition of Tom Ford, by Estee Lauder I can guarantee a major part of that acquisition was wanting to have the Tom Ford mystique. A bottle of Tom Ford perfume in your home or eyeglasses on your face, says something. That something is worth Estee Lauder paying a high multiple of earnings.
What luxury entrepreneurs must do, is get past the wall of sameness. I often look at ads, and catalogs and see no difference between one brand and another. Having great product and business ideas is not enough. In your business model, you must also help the purchaser define themselves so that every sale provides protection against your obsolescence and furthers both your and their distinction.
I create “luxury frameworks” for small luxury brands to help you achieve the kind of distinction I’ve described here. Learn more by writing me: info@andretaylor.com for details.
At Taylor Insight we help luxury and premier businesses excel and grow by attracting, retaining, and growing with affluent clients. We provide exceptional strategic, marketing, sales, and service guidance, and a portfolio of high-impact learning programs.
