Cover Working with VIP customers can be as challenging as it is exciting (Photo: Getty Images)
Working with VIP customers can be as challenging as it is exciting (Photo: Getty Images)
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Luxury expert Daniel Langer looks at the different ways luxury brands can handle challenging VIP experiences
In the hyper-competitive world of luxury, where expectations are as high as the price tags, the true essence of a brand is often tested in the reality of dealing with what some salespeople call “difficult and demanding” VIP clients. However, what may seem difficult and demanding from the perspective of a brand is the minimum expectation from the perspective of many luxury clients.
Moreover, what is challenging can also be an opportunity for brands to showcase their excellence and commitment. Handling seemingly challenging VIP clientele is an art, and a necessity that is often neglected by brands and service personnel—which underscores the paramount importance of luxury training in these high-stakes situations.
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High stakes, higher expectations
Luxury isn’t just a product or a service—it’s an experience, an emotion, and a story. When a VIP client presents a challenge, they’re not just testing a product’s quality or a service’s efficiency, they are putting the brand’s story, ethos and values to the test. This is where the paradox of luxury becomes evident: the higher the stakes, the greater the opportunity to solidify a brand’s legacy in the eyes of its most critical audience.
Navigating choppy waters
Dealing with demanding VIP clients requires a nuanced balance of empathy, patience, expertise, and—most crucially—impeccable training.
The luxury clientele is adept at discerning authenticity and sincerity, and seek not just resolutions but gestures that resonate with their stature and expectations. It’s about transforming a potentially negative experience into a display of a brand’s commitment to unparalleled excellence.
Read more: How Asian markets are embracing quiet luxury differently
The importance of luxury training
Herein lies the crux of the matter: luxury training. It is not just a professional requirement but the foundation of creating a luxury experience. In a recent conversation this writer had with the CEO of a luxury hotel group, lack of training is the number one issue that creates inconsistency in brand experience. In today’s reality, many brands just focus on financials, quarterly sales, and immediate transactions. As a result, the most important clients are often alienated.
Training in luxury is not just about learning the basics of high-end service; it’s about instilling a mindset, culture and ethos that resonates with the very essence of luxury.
And, importantly, it has to be about the core values of the brand and how its emotion differs from others. It’s about equipping the front-line personnel of a brand with the fundamental knowledge to create extreme value, with the rational and emotional intelligence to perform at the highest level required in the world of luxury.
Transforming challenges into wins
When a salesperson, armed with extensive training and a deep understanding of luxury, interacts with a “difficult” VIP client, they're not just solving a problem. They are providing an unforgettable experience, a moment that has the potential to turn a VIP client into a lifelong advocate who recruits likeminded acquaintances for the brand. The most successful brands are always able to rely on their best clients to recruit new ones.
A call to action for excellence
The call to action for luxury brands is clear and dramatic: invest in luxury training, not just as a routine process, but as a core strategy. Embrace it as a fundamental pillar of your brand’s journey towards excellence.
Remember, every “difficult” client simply has high expectations, and how your staff creates extreme value determines whether your brand remains in their relevant set. It takes seven interactions to build loyalty, and less than two to destroy it. For luxury brands, the path is unequivocal—luxury training is the superpower.
Named one of the “Global Top Five Luxury Key Opinion Leaders to Watch”, Daniel Langer is the CEO of the luxury, lifestyle and consumer brand strategy firm Équité, and the executive professor of luxury strategy and pricing at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He consults many of the leading luxury brands in the world, is the author of several best-selling luxury management books, a global keynote speaker, and holds luxury masterclasses on the future of luxury, disruption, and the luxury metaverse in Europe, the USA, and Asia.
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Named one of the “Global Top Five Luxury Key Opinion Leaders to Watch”, Daniel Langer is the CEO of the luxury, lifestyle and consumer brand strategy firm Équité, and the executive professor of luxury strategy and pricing at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He consults many of the leading luxury brands in the world, is the author of several best-selling luxury management books, a global keynote speaker, and holds luxury masterclasses on the future of luxury, disruption, and the luxury metaverse in Europe, the USA, and Asia.
