In a price fixated, commoditized world, helping your client understand the value of choosing the right materials products and services for their project can be difficult and frustrating. Worse yet, failing to make the case for true luxury can result in a disappointing result for the client, and negative business effects for you.
Here are 3 Ways to Start Communicating Luxury’s Value more effectively:
- Connect your product to a desired Experience:
It’s been said that the millennial generation values experiences rather than things. Luxury marketers must connect the value of their product or service to the experience it will provide, rather than focus on product features that may or may not be important to the client. Facts and figures do not engage the human brain, engaging narratives do. Particularly ones that feature oneself as the hero.
Ask your client to imagine experiencing what it will feel like to use this product. How will it make a task easier, or help them make a loved one happy. How will the product contribute to a special occasion with family, or create the atmosphere for a relaxing retreat. Imagining a great experience creates emotion and emotion creates value. The greater we imagine a product will enhance or facilitate a positive experience, the greater value we’ll see in it.
- Frame your service and products as a Solution to your clients’ problem.
Luxury clients value their time and appreciate those who remove friction from their life, helping them spend their time more efficiently and focused on what matters most.
Use open ended questions to understand what is driving the purchase. “What do you like about your current X ?”, “What do you hate about your current X ?” “Does your current X help or hinder you?” “What about this process frustrates you?”
You may hear answers like: “There are too many choices”, “This all looks the same to me”, or “My current solution is unsatisfying and takes time out of my day.”
Frame your premium product or service as the solution to that problem. And incorporate their answers into the reason you are presenting your solution. “Because you said you didn’t like “X”, I thought you’d like Y.” “I agree this process can be confusing, but that’s why I’m here, to make it easy for you.”
- Associate your product and service as aligning with the clients’ Values
Luxury is typically associated with asserting ones status – “I have the culture and the means to wear this/drive this/own this”. Today, the people making luxury purchases and the way they think about what they buy is changing. Rather than asserting their status, luxury products are chosen because they align with the buyer’s values. People pay more for products that are environmentally sustainable, crafted by an artisan rather than machine made, have company policies that treat their employees well and give back to their community. When building rapport with a client, discerning such values can change the conversation about premium solutions from justifying cost to highlighting shared concerns.
