Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: How to Run Circles Around Your Competition - Part 5

Providing Stellar Customer Service, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, sparks word-of-mouth advertising because it is remarkable. And, it engenders client loyalty, which is the cornerstone of market leadership. Best of all, it is something that you can train yourself to provide. 

Mastering the art of Stellar Customer Service can help you run circles around your competition. 

In Part 1-4 of this article series we discussed the first four steps to train yourself to provide Stellar Customer Service. Step #5 is the biggest secret of all, the key that can take your practice into the stratosphere!  In the game of luxury real estate marketing we call it “Dwell Well!” 

To dwell means to live; to dwell well means to live well. But, to dwell also has another very important meaning: to fasten one’s attention, to think, speak or write about at length or with persistence; to linger over. If sustained market leadership is your quest you must be absolutely fastidious about what you dwell upon. You must dwell well!   

Choosing what you fasten your attention to on purpose, keeps you on purpose. Allowing outside influences to determine what you focus upon can distract and derail you. This is the biggest secret of the most successful athletes, sports champions and market leaders in all fields of business. 

To understand how this works, think about a time you were driving on a highway to an important appointment and there was an accident on the OTHER SIDE of the road. The traffic flow on YOUR SIDE of the road came to a complete standstill because the people in front of you were rubbernecking; they were not dwelling well.  

Although, the dwell well principle applies to all aspects of your life the area of customer service is a great place to practice it.  When you encounter sub par customer service notice how much time you spend grousing about it. See if you can train yourself to keep that time to a minimum.  Instead of dwelling upon it by complaining, faultfinding, grumbling or griping about it to anyone who will listen, redirect your attention to Step #1-4 of the Stellar Customer Service training cycle.  

Start dwelling on what you appreciate about the brands to which you are loyal. Acknowledge those who provide you with Stellar Customer Service.  Practice the “I’m worth Stellar Customer Service” mindset. And, start spreading the word about others’ Stellar Customer Service.   

Don’t put up with sub-par service; take the time to switch to the best because you know you deserve it. Fasten yourself to Stellar Customer Service as a recipient and you will become a rising star yourself, an expert at providing it.  By insisting on Stellar Customer Service from yourself and from others, you are certain to dwell well. By doing so, you will be able to run circles around your competition.  To dwell well, dwell well! 

-Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Part 1   l   Part 2   l   Part 3  l   Part 4   l  Part 5

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: How to Run Circles Around Your Competition - Part 4

Van Gogh's Starry Skies

In Part 1, 2 & 3 of this articles in this series we covered the first three steps for TRAINING YOURSELF in the art of Stellar Customer Service. Here is STEP #4:  Spread the Word about Stellar Customer Service. 

We all know that referrals are, by far, the best source of business for luxury real estate marketing professionals or any business for that matter.  How can you increase the probability of receiving MORE REFERRALS so you can consistently run circles around your competition?

By offering remarkable, Stellar Customer Service you are more likely to spark word-of-mouth advertising.  But, there is more to the story than that. You can become a very powerful magnet for referrals simply by being a person who consistently spreads the word about OTHERS’ Stellar Customer Service.

The most exciting aspect of this is that you can actually test this out for yourself. You can measure your results as you amp up the power of your magnet based on the frequency of your own word-of-mouth advertising and the amount of referrals you GIVE! 

Make it a game; it really can be fun. And, IT FEELS GOOD to do it! By looking for examples of Stellar Customer Service that you can spread the word about you BRING OUT THE BEST IN PEOPLE!  You EXPECT TO FIND IT in every encounter you have with service providers.

This phenomenon became very clear to us one day when we received Stellar Customer Service from a waitress at one of our favorite restaurants in Beverly Hills.  We were awestruck when we overheard the people at the table next to us complain that they received horrible service from the very same waitress.

We watched as they brought out the worst in her by hurling insults with a very derogatory attitude. Before we left the restaurant we spoke with the manager and praised the same waitress, not on her behalf to defend her, but because it felt good to do it.

It does not take that much extra time in your day to go out of your way to spread the word about Stellar Customer Service.  The rewards are TANGIBLE when your intentions are genuine and you come from a GENEROSITY OF SPiRIT.  Those who share this value will naturally gravitate to you. And, they will go out of their way to promote YOU. Running circles around your competition then becomes the inevitable outcome.

Watch for Part 5 where we will reveal the biggest secret of all, the key that can take your practice into the stratosphere!  In the game of luxury real estate marketing we call it “Dwell Well!” (Step #5).

-Written by Ron & Alexandra Seigel-

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Luxury Real Estate Marketing Tip: How to Run Circles Around Your Competition, Part 1

Way, way, way too much advice has been offered about providing excellent customer service as a luxury real estate marketing professional.  The point is this: Great customer service is not a technique that you can mimic.  It can best be learned through you own direct personal experience. But, to run circles around your competition with superlative customer service requires a complete shift in attitude and also a shift in your fundamental ground of being or mindset.

One of the cornerstones of Apple’s meteoric raise to the top is their exemplary customer service.  Their approach is helping their customers solve their problems rather than trying to sell them products, and also listening carefully about their frustrations without being judgmental, i.e., just let them “vent”.  That is a shift in attitude and mindset not a technique.

To the contrary, we recently walked into an upscale department store only to be greeted by 6 salespeople eagerly applying a technique that Wall Mart made famous with just one greeter at the door. We cringed on the way out as the same salespeople robotically greeted us, not remembering that we just walked through the store from the front door (not from the back entrance).

By far the best way to become an expert in luxury real estate customer service is to TRAIN YOURSELF! In Part 2 of this article series we will provide the quickest way to train yourself on this vital component of a successful practice and how to run circles around your competition by doing so.

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: Do You Need a Sub-Brand?

One of the biggest concerns that we hear from luxury real estate marketing professionals is the fear of narrowing their niche to the top tier price range homes because it may alienate some of their friends or previous clients in lower price homes.  However, by diffusing your focus and attempting to be all things to all people, you run the risk of diluting your brand position, i.e., what your brand stands for and what you are known for.

One global luxury brand has done a masterful job of compartmentalizing its various sub-brands with their multiple price points. By identifying its brand with sports in general (beyond polo, “the sport of kings”) Ralph Lauren has managed to attract not only high net worth consumers but also those who aspire to be wealthy. 

The key here is that Ralph Lauren created separate sub-brands that stand for different things and focus on different target markets. For example, the Ralph Lauren Black Label Staor Tan Motorcross Jeans is priced at $495; their basic denim jean, sold at Macy’s, is $90. 

Yet, for some, wearing a shirt or other clothing embroidered with the ubiquitous polo pony logo has completely lost its appeal.  Apparently, a significant number of customers felt this way because Ralph Lauren made an ingenious move to lure disenfranchised customers back to the brand and keep others from switching. 

On their interactive website, you can customize their signature polo shirts, terrycloth bathrobes and other articles of clothing with YOUR OWN INITIALS instead of the pony! On certain items, the embroidered Polo logo has been moved to the bottom hem of the shirt. That way if you tuck it in it does not show.

You can choose from many color combinations of fabric and embroidered logos and several different font schemes for your initials. Once you make your shirt selection, your color choice and your font choice, it displays that combination on the model’s shirt.

Quality of manufacturing is not the question here because Ralph Lauren has built a strong reputation as a brand you can trust.  Blending in and “leaving the brand” is the issue.

In the luxury services arena, some banks have figured out how to offer two levels of service without alienating any of their customers. To accomplish this they too created sub-brands. For example, there is definitely a world of difference in the level of service between Chase Private Banking and their standard banking services.  The amount of dollars entrusted to the bank (for investment purposes with J P Morgan in this case) is what separates the two sub-brands.

There is a huge lesson here for luxury real estate marketing professionals. Bespoke (tailor made) or customized service is what your top tier customers have come to expect.  If you or your company wants to be known for more than one level of service, you must differentiate the two levels by creating sub-brands.

Crafting and developing your sub-brand is just as important as building your primary brand.  Do you need a sub-brand? 

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: In the Pink

The proportions and combinations of colors used in your luxury real estate personal or company branding is an important aspect of communicating your marketing message.  Certain colors have strong emotional connotations and also cultural bias that can work for or against your brand.  

For example, red, white and blue can stir the deep emotions of patriotism. Several regional and national American real estate brands have used this color combination to their advantage. 

This color palette was sampled from the photograph of the peonies above. When you think of the color pink what associations come up in your mind? 

Various shades of pink can be used in personal and company branding to communicate a range of thoughts and feelings from subtle to bold.  Mary Kay Cosmetics, known for their pink Cadillac rewards to sales people, has shifted their brand to a more sophisticated feel by making black and white the dominant colors of their brand with a pale pink as the accent. 

T-Mobile has used shocking pink as an accent to black, charcoal gray and white. Whereas, world-renowned Fauchon, purveyors of fine gourmet foods in Paris, unabashedly uses pink as their primary brand color with black and white as the accent. 

Pink is a color that has long been associated with the female sex. Today, more men choose to boldly embrace pink and ignore this cultural bias. 

The famous British traditional shirt maker, Thomas Pink (80 stores worldwide) is part of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy group. Pink’s luxury brand color scheme incorporates black, white and gold with pink as the accent. Their mascot is the “Cheeky Fox” and their brand story is quite interesting. Mr. Pink was the 18^th century tailor who invented the iconic scarlet red hunting coat. But, it was referred to as PINK in honor of its originator. 

One of our clients, Courtney Ranson, specializes in the Washington Park area of central Denver, Colorado, also known as “Wash Park”.  Her ultimate favorite color is fuchsia, a very strong pink.  We used this color deliberately as an accent (with deep plum as the dominant brand color), to communicate her passion for her beloved neighborhood and also to romanticize the area.  Her slogan (incorporated in her logo) is Denver Wash Park -“ The Heart of the City”. Watch this Video Case Study.

Colors plays a big role in luxury real estate personal and company branding. Your personal color preferences need to be balanced with what is appropriate within your marketplace and also what makes your brand stand out from your competitors’. 

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Luxury Real Estate Personal & Company Branding: Open New Channels of Creativity

A major part of our luxury real estate personal and company branding practice involves developing strategies to help our clients gain or sustain market leadership and also coaching them to execute their strategies. From our perspective, the art of coaching is essentially this: 

Encouragement to shift from reacting to current conditions to proactively creating new channels of creativity through which inspired, innovative action can flow.

Contrary to the majority of business coaches we believe that holding our clients accountable for anything is an utter waste of time-theirs and ours.  For those of you who seek to consistently command the lion’s share of your marketplace, or a niche therein, there is absolutely no need for motivation tactics from your coach.

If you feel the need to be held accountable to achieve a goal of this caliber, motivation is the last thing that will work.  It may be a quick fix at best, and it will not produce enduring results. Your passion and your competition should keep you engaged in the game and on your toes. Or, you might as well get out of the game, altogether.

There is no amount of wheedling, prodding, cajoling, coaxing, persuading, sweet-talking, enticing, invalidating, flattering or intimidating that will get you where you want to go.

Unwavering support and encouragement to dissolve your own self-doubts (the only thing that can stop you from consistently realizing your dreams) is the “secret sauce” that is required from your coach.

In this article series, we will discuss how proactively opening new channels of creativity can not only be the catalyst to attract new and exciting opportunities, but also to open the flood-gates of bountiful career satisfaction and self-actualization.

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The Language of Luxury to Cover the Club e-Luxe International Summit Live in Paris

We are excited to announce that The Language of Luxury has been invited by our LOL media partner, Luxe Corp, to cover the  Club e-Luxe International Summit in Paris on June 12, 2013. This is the premier annual event on marketing via digital media for the luxury goods and services industry.  We will be broadcasting live from Paris online during and after the event. 

Some of the luxury companies that have participated in recent Club e-Luxe events include LVMH, Gucci Group, Cartier, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, Boucheron, Hermès, Piaget, Chopard, Fabergé, Vertu, Hublot, Dior, Coty, Pernod Ricard, Rémy Martin, Sonia Rykiel, L’Oréal, Lanvin and several others.

The event will focus on the theme of “The Web Economy: Understanding How Digital Media is Re-writing the Rules of Luxury & Transforming Value Creation". In addition to Web Economy, some of the topics to be addressed are: Digital Luxury Scorecard, Social Economy & Luxury, E-Commerce Economy & Luxury, Mobile Economy & Luxury, Digital Private Data Currency, E-Services Economy & Luxury, E-Communications Economy & Luxury, Digital Legal Frameworks, Virtual Reality Value, Digital Luxury Value in Asia and others.

Club e-Luxe which was created by Luxe Corp in 2006 in recognition of the important role of the internet, digital media and new technologies in luxury, has emerged to be the reference in digital luxury. The objective has remained to provide luxury companies with access to the most advanced strategies, knowledge, applications, systems, tools and concepts required for luxury to thrive online and offline in the context of new technologies and innovation. 

 

Here is a link for more information: 

http://www.luxe-corp.com/en/index.php/club-e-luxe