Goldilocks and the 9 oz. pour

I have recently rejoined the ranks of business travelers. Of course, many things have changed since the onset of COVID-19—from needing to wear face masks in the air to experiencing hotel life without room service (and without your room being serviced). These minor inconveniences aside, I was pleased to discover a change that is not in any way related to the pandemic, but is certainly something I had wished for time and time again.

Before I go any further, I’d like to digress a bit to talk about Goldilocks, since she is an integral character in my story. As you may know, Goldilocks was the young girl who stumbled upon the house of the three bears and, uninvited, went inside (breaking and entering might be a more apt description). Once inside, Goldilocks found Papa Bear’s porridge too hot and his bed too hard. At the other end of the spectrum, Mama Bear’s porridge was too cold and her bed too soft. Baby Bear’s porridge and bed, however, were “just right” for Goldilocks—an “impudent, rude little girl” according to the fairy tale. Though I try never to be impudent or rude, I do sometimes wish for an in-between option when presented with two choices. I want that “just right” choice afforded little Ms. Goldilocks.

“What does all this have to do with luxury service?” and “What is the 9 oz. pour?” you may ask. When ordering wine at a restaurant, the standard pour is 6 oz., and the wine is customarily served before the meal. This means I’ve usually enjoyed a few sips of wine before my dinner arrives, but then I run out of wine before I’ve finished eating. I must then decide either to order another glass of wine or to drink the water, which by now is warm. A second full glass is often more than I want at this point. I have, on occasion, asked whether I could purchase a 1/2 glass of wine and am usually told “no.” But I now see a few restaurants are offering the choice of a 6 oz. or a 9 oz. glass of wine, priced accordingly. This is my Goldilocks moment—9 oz. is “just right!”

This has led me to think about other ways the service industry might offer Goldilocks moments. One that immediately comes to mind is the idea of the late checkout. Most hotels require you to checkout before noon. Of course, you may still have a day of sightseeing planned or perhaps have a late flight, and it would be wonderful if you could have just a few extra hours in the room. Now several hotels make that option available at an additional cost, or offer it as a perk to their premier level guests. Either way, guests can opt for the checkout that’s “just right” for them.

Think about other ways you might be more accommodating to your customers. If you offer only one option, is there a way customers can extend or add to it, or a way they can reduce it to better meet their needs? If you currently offer two options, is it possible to present a middle choice? How can you add some flexibility in the choices you offer? Remember, the luxury customer always appreciates the opportunity to customize or personalize their selections.

And while you’re pondering that, Goldilocks is going to go enjoy her nice, perfectly-sized glass of wine.

When “No problem” is a Problem

When “No problem” is a Problem

One of the perks of working in the luxury industry is that you sometimes get to stay in lovely places and dine in very nice restaurants. One of the drawbacks is that you can become hypercritical of the service you receive. I write this blog with the intent of providing insight and guidance on what luxury customer service should look like. If I call out a particular phrase or behavior, it’s not from arrogance, but from a strong belief that when customers are willing to spend more, they should receive a commensurate level of service. That means every action, word, gesture, and expression on the part of the luxury sales and customer service professional should echo the premier experience. The luxury professional should always be thinking of ways to improve the customer experience. When I was at Tiffany & Co., the mantra was “always say it better.” That translated to taking a moment after each customer interaction to reflect upon how you could have improved the experience for the customer and how you might have phrased something better. Which brings me to my latest pet peeve.

During a recent business trip to Miami, I was looking forward to a lovely dinner at a highly recommended restaurant. Everything was perfect—the linens were white and crisp, the silverware gleamed, the menu presented tantalizing suggestions, and the lighting and music were appropriately subdued. I made my selection and after a few minutes the waitperson returned with the glass of wine I had ordered. As she set it down before me, I said, “Thank you very much.” She smiled and replied, “No problem.”

The response, “No problem,” is something I expect to hear when I thank the roadside assistance person for changing my tire, when I thank Siri for telling me what film won Best Picture, or when I extend my gratitude to the clerk who bagged my groceries. The phrase is fine in an informal context, but I cringe a bit when I hear it in a luxury setting. It may be a little thing, but when it comes to delivering exceptional service, it’s all about the little things. “No problem” also contains two negative words: ‘no’ and ‘problem’. If I’m thanking you, why should the first word out of your mouth be “no” and what exactly was the “problem” we managed to avoid?

There are a few other phrases I would group with “no problem” as being too casual for a luxury experience:

“No worries.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Of course.”
“Anytime.”

So how can we say it better? A simple, “You’re welcome,” is always a welcomed response. Other more appropriate replies include:

“You’re very welcome.”
“You’re so welcome.”
“You’re most welcome.”
“With pleasure.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
“It’s my sincere pleasure.”
“It was very much my pleasure.”
“Certainly. I’m happy to be of service (or assistance).”
“Thank you for your patronage.”

Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to create a memorable and enjoyable experience. Consider how you can create a warm and engaging greeting and how your parting words might encourage a customer to return. But also think about how you might improve all the small exchanges in between the greeting and farewell to enhance the luxury experience. How can you say it better?

I’ve only offered a few ideas here and I’m certain my readers have more to share. How do you respond to “thank you?” I invite you to contribute your own suggestions below.

LuxeCX Roundtable: Transforming the Customer Experience Means Transforming the Sales and Support Teams

luxecx-victoria-1.jpg

I recently had the honor of presenting at the LuxeCX Customer Experience in Luxury Roundtable in New York City hosted by Luxury Daily. The conference featured eighteen speakers focused on the critical role of customer experience in the luxury sector. My own presentation centered on the need to train sales and support teams whenever you are in the process of transforming your customer experience.

Brand and marketing teams often drive new customer experience transformation initiatives. But, in my years of leading the training function of some well-recognized luxury brands, I found they frequently forget to include the front-line customer ambassadors: sales and customer service teams. The sales and customer service associates are the “bookends” of the customer journey. Sales associates are usually the first point of contact your customer has with the brand and customer service associates support the end stage of the customer experience. More often than not, I had to chase down the directors of the marketing, product and brand teams to find out what new customer initiatives were in play.  My goal was to ensure that the transformed customer experience cycle included our customer-facing teams.

Continue reading “LuxeCX Roundtable: Transforming the Customer Experience Means Transforming the Sales and Support Teams”

Are You a Luxury Customer?

MirrorOne of the most difficult challenges in training luxury sales associates, is that they feel disconnected to the customer. They don’t live the “high class” lifestyle they believe their customers revel in. They could never imagine themselves paying so much money for a “frivolous” item. They may even decide a certain customer would never be interested in a high-end brand based simply on how that customer is dressed or what car he or she is driving.

Many of us don’t see ourselves as a luxury customer. Indeed, in a rather humorous piece for the New York Times called “So You’ve Wandered Into a Too Expensive Store,” the comedy writer, Monica Heisey explains the sense of panic that can ensue when you walk into an upscale store:

The air smelled too good; there were too few items on the shelves. By the time you’d touched the first wafer-thin turtleneck, you knew: This is a too-expensive shop.

Heisey then shares some tips on how deal with this embarrassing situation, including asking the salesperson to find another size as a diversionary tactic so she can make a quick exit.

Continue reading “Are You a Luxury Customer?”

Luxury isn’t snobby, it’s inviting.

I’m currently reading Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise by Horst Schulze (co-founder of The Ritz-Carlton Company). So many wonderful ideas and words of wisdom from someone who laid the foundation for service par excellence!

This quote from the book sums up my approach to luxury “Elegance without warmth is arrogance.” Luxury should never be snobby; it should always be inviting.

Below is a link to a previous post about a study that showed while a snobby approach to luxury selling might result in increased sales, the increase is temporary. Ultimately, customers reject this strategy and leave the brand.

The Devil Sells Prada… and burns the customer!

 

 

 

If you can’t say something nice…

happy-unhappyDo you remember Thumper in Walt Disney’s film Bambi?  While watching the newborn fawn attempt to walk for the first time on trembling legs, Thumper remarks that Bambi really doesn’t walk very well. Thumper’s mom then chastises him by asking him to repeat what his father had taught him. Thumper hesitantly replies, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.”

The questionable grammar aside, what does this have to do with luxury service?

In any type of service situation, you may be called upon to convey a message to a customer that could cause disappointment: “I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.” But this is not a post about basic customer service niceties such as telling customers what you can do for them, rather than what you cannot; demonstrating empathy by saying you understand their frustration; or remembering to use their name in the conversation. This is a post about how you can say things better. And luxury customers always expect better.

Continue reading “If you can’t say something nice…”

When Matchy Matchy Works: Keeping Your Brand Message Consistent Across Channels

wereonitYesterday I visited the website of an upscale department store brand to order my favorite Chanel blush. Everything started perfectly. The brand’s logo was displayed elegantly across the top of the page. Its signature black and white color scheme was set off by striking, high resolution images. The ordering process was easy and I was even offered three free samples upon checkout—just as I would have been had I purchased the product in the store itself. Perfect! Almost… As I completed the transaction a final message appeared on the screen: “We’re on it!”

Continue reading “When Matchy Matchy Works: Keeping Your Brand Message Consistent Across Channels”

Luxury Associates Need to Become Luxury Curators

Curator

I recently returned from the largest international conference for professionals in the field of learning and development sponsored by the Association for Talent Development (ATD). Nearly 11,000 attendees from over 80 countries attended 300 concurrent sessions in Denver, Colorado. The exhibition hall boasted more than 400 leading training services providers. As I wandered the aisles of learning content vendors, one word repeatedly caught my attention—curated.

‘Curate’ is not a new word. Its root goes back to the Latin curare, which means to care. The first known use of the word ‘curator’ as someone who is in charge of a museum or art gallery collection dates back to 1561. The word has evolved over the centuries and today Dictionary.com defines ‘curate’ as “to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation, as music or website content.”

Content curation is so omnipresent in consumers’ lives today that we barely notice it. Your shows on Netflix are curated based on your viewing history, Spotify tailors music selections specifically to your taste, most news services feed you content according to your specified preferences, and shopping services such as StitchFix will curate a personal wardrobe for you. Curation as a marketing and sales technique gained ground in 2011 with Steven Rosenbaum’s book Creation Nation.

I love the idea of turning luxury sales associates into luxury curators for two reasons. The first reason is the root of the word – to care. Care needs to inform everything a luxury associate does: caring about the customer, caring about the customer’s needs, caring about the luxury experience, and caring about the presentation. The second reason is the idea that the curated experience is a personalized experience for the luxury consumer. Today’s luxury customers seek experiences that are customized to their personal preferences, that are exceptional, and that they can share and remember. Recently, Saks Fifth Avenue launched a service through which associates are available 24/7 to curate personalized virtual boutiques for individual customers. But curation isn’t just about technology. As Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute says, “Technology today presents an immense opportunity for targeting potential customers, but it is ultimately the intimate humanistic relationships that sales professionals form with customers that keep them coming back.”  It is the luxury sales associate who holds the key to building those connections.

What do luxury sales associates need to do in order to become luxury curators? To find some answers I searched “How to curate?” and found some great tips on Coschedule.com. Coschedule is a marketing calendaring service whose tips are specific to how to curate online content. I’ve borrowed the heading for each tip and turned each into a suggestion for sales associates who are looking to create a curated luxury experience for their clients:

  • Provide your take on things – Add your own personal touch. To paraphrase Coschedule, provide every piece with context. You should always surround the piece with your views, knowledge, and insight. Share a story about your brand’s heritage or an intimate detail about the craftsmanship.
  • Don’t make it all about you – Remember your customers have different preferences than you. Research and understand the lifestyles of your luxury customers. Read luxury travel and style magazines, subscribe to luxury blogs, and know your competition.
  • Answer your audience’s common questions – Be knowledgeable about your brand, your services, distinguishing product characteristics, shipping and return policies, corporate responsibility programs, etc. Common questions may also include concierge-type recommendations on where to eat, shop or find local attractions.
  • Be very, very selective – Rather than rattling off a list of features, share two or three benefits (a personalized statement of value) you believe best meet your customer’s needs. To turn a feature into a benefit, think of the customer asking “Why is this important to this me?”
  • Take advantage of in-house expertise – Observe your co-workers. How are they interacting with customers? What can you learn from them? Be open to asking for feedback. Ask your manager to observe you and provide suggestions on how you can improve. If you don’t know the answer to a question, make sure you find someone who does.
  • Don’t forget your CTA’s (Calls to Action) – Your relationship to the customer doesn’t end when he or she walks out the door. Think about how you can proactively reach out to customers to grow the relationship by building upon additional needs. A hand-written thank you note is always welcome. You may want to invite them to an upcoming event, alert them to a new item, or just check in to see how they’re enjoying their purchase.

If you view your role as a curator rather than a sales person, you will provide the level of care and personalization necessary to turn every customer interaction into an extraordinary luxury experience.

 

Luxury: An Intimate Experience

roseI’ve frequently written about the importance of the customer relationship when selling luxury. I’ve focused on the need to use the right language and gestures to create an environment of elegance and grace. But, until now, I hadn’t thought about intimacy and how it relates to luxury.

Continue reading “Luxury: An Intimate Experience”

GRACE: The Perfect Recipe for Luxury Customer Service

GRACEDaniel Humm is the chef and owner for the Michelin three-star restaurant Eleven Madison Park and The NoMad in New York City. He’s also the recipient of six James Beard Awards, four stars from the New York Times and the S. Pellegrino Chef’s Choice 2015 award. Mr. Humm was recently interviewed by New York Magazine and asked how me keeps his team motivated. He replied:

We treat every service as if it’s the only one that matters, the same way a sports team prepares for a championship match. Everything we do is done with intention and the desire to make the guest’s experience the best it can be.

Continue reading “GRACE: The Perfect Recipe for Luxury Customer Service”