The Language of Luxury

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Monday, November 29, 2010

Marketing Luxury Real Estate: 2011 is the Time to Break All the Rules Series

To be a true standout in your marketplace, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, think like a trail blazing iconoclast. The dictionary defines an iconoclast as somebody who challenges or overturns traditional beliefs, customs and values. To get into the iconoclastic mindset, check out the TV series, Iconoclasts on the Sundance Channel. Robert Redford, executive producer of the series, explains: “Iconoclasts explores the intersection where two great talents meet, and where creativity comes alive.” (The series is no longer produced, it can be found on the Sundance Channel in reruns.)

Each segment pairs two iconoclastic individuals who are great examples of a one man or a one woman brand, yet dissimilar in their life’s work. It then explores their views and their ideals. Each individual has blazed a path and has explored the leading edge in their personal inimitable fashion and passion. They have expressed their authentic selves. Each has strayed from the comfort of the normal and the average. They have each fearlessly opened doors that were considered taboo. They have stayed true to their own ideals regardless of the consequences.

One of the earlier episodes paired Norman Lear and Howard Schultz. Norman Lear is best known for his 1971 production of All in the Family, a comedic sitcom exploring bigotry and race, which according to the experts was doomed to fail. Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks, and he recounted his efforts to raise money to fund Starbucks and how everyone told him, he would fail because he wanted all of his employees, including the part timers, to get have health insurance and stock ownership in the company.

In our series, we will highlight iconoclasts from all walks of life. It confirms that all is very well with our world as long as there are iconoclasts to blaze new trails. Are you an iconoclast?

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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Marketing Luxury Real Estate: 2011 is the Time to Break All the Rules

This is the first of a series on Iconoclasts and Iconoclastic Thinking. 2011 is the time to break all the rules!

To become a market leader as a luxury real estate marketing professional, you do not have to be an iconoclast. But, to sustain market leadership in 2011 and beyond, it is a must. An iconoclast is a person who challenges conventional wisdom and traditional beliefs, and often shatters the very foundations upon which traditional, institutions rest.

In his book, Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently, Gregory Berns profiles such independent thinkers as investor Warren Buffet, glass sculptor, Dale Chihuly, Apple’s Steve Jobs and Picasso. As a professor of both psychology and economics Berne focuses primarily on successful iconoclasts. He identifies three major “mental roadblocks to innovative, iconoclastic thinking:

1. Perception and visual imagery—seeing opportunities that others do not see

2. Fear of failure and ridicule—becoming an non-conformist

3. Social skills, social intelligence – excelling at social networking

A company can be iconoclastic but you will most likely find a visionary, unconventional thinker at its helm. Cirque du Soleil, the iconoclastic Canadian company, challenged one of the great American icons, Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey’s three ring circus.

The founders of “Cirque” did away with the expensive animal acts, musicians, the highly paid circus stars, such as the trapeze artists and created an entertainment venue to which you did not necessarily have to invite children. In the process, they created a multi-billion dollar industry that dominates the world of entertainment in Las Vegas.

Essentially, Cirque identified an uncontested market niche that they could “own” and delivered extraordinary added value. That is the formula for market leadership. With multiple shows running simultaneously, not only in Vegas but, throughout the world, Cirque runs circles around its only viable competitor. They literally rendered the three ring circus, irrelevant, not to mention the notion of "the greatest show on earth".

How can you explore the realm of iconoclastic thinking in your luxury real estate marketing practice? To sustain market leadership innovative thinking is no longer an option it is an imperative. In fact, it is not enough to just be an innovative thinker. You must become an innovative doer.

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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Importance of Shifting Paradigms

As a luxury real estate marketing professional who works with foreign buyers, it is important to appreciate cultural differences. Have you ever been in a situation when you thought you were “on the same page” with your client, only to discover that you were actually a world apart? You were looking at and talking about the exact same set of facts, but you both were aligned to a different model of thinking or paradigm that yielded alternative meanings. To bridge the gap in understanding the only answer is a paradigm shift.

It can be an astonishing revelation to discover that other people do not see things in the same way you do and can still be right. The ability to shift paradigms can help you to understand more people and avoid arguments that seem unsolvable. It can also help you to become a better negotiator and more innovative, especially if your competition is prone to being entrenched in the status quo.

Try this experiment:

Look at the wooden boxes in the image above.
Focus on the darker brown square.
Does the dark square appear to be on the right side of the boxes facing right?
Or, does the dark square appear to be on the top surface with the boxes facing left?
Can you switch back and forth by softening your focus?

Shifting paradigms takes practice. But, the rewards are immeasurable. You literally need to think “outside of the box” using this example, to shift your thinking.

The next time you are speaking with someone who sees exactly the same set of facts that you are looking at but is coming up with a completely different interpretation, think of these boxes. Two sides of an argument really can be right sometimes. Take the time to loosen your grip on your fixed way of viewing things and try to see things their way. Your perspective will always be there again when you come back. It doesn’t mean you have to take actions that go against your grain. At the very least your life will become richer because you have learned a “new language” of perception.

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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Strategy versus Tactics

If market leadership is your quest, as a luxury real estate marketing professional it is extremely important to understand the difference between strategy and tactics. Strategy is the overarching plan to out-think the top producing competitors in your marketplace or niche. Tactics are the specific methods you use to execute your strategy or to generate more business in general.

The primary purpose of a strategy is to win top-of-mind status in a category of business or a niche within the category. Studies show that consumers can only hold three companies, service professionals or products in their minds (on average) in any given category or sub-category. Therefore, the battle for mindshare and the resulting market share really only applies to those who desire to be one of the top three contenders in any given category. That is why marketing strategies are only for those who are interested in gaining or sustaining market leadership.

Tactics for generating more business without a strategy for securing market leadership in some category can only yield mediocre results. That is because the top three contenders are targeting the lion’s share of the business and winning over the mind’s of the consumers, while all others are fighting over the crumbs. In the unabashed pursuit of market leadership the stakes are always very high and so is the level of gamesmanship, the tactics required to conquer the category.

Facebook recently announced a messaging service combined with email that could rival Hotmail (Microsoft) and Gmail (Google). According to comScore, Microsoft is currently the largest provider, with 362 million unique email visitors in September, followed by Yahoo with 273 million. But Google's Gmail is growing fast, with 193 million unique visitors in September. When Facebook launches world-wide in the coming weeks, more than 500 million users of Facebook will have access to the new messaging service.

Facebook took a look at the category of web-based email and recognized an “unfair” competitive advantage. A strategy was born to compete with the top three contenders in the category and dismiss one from the top tier. They already have all or most of your contacts in their/your “address book”. Free email like these services represent both an opportunity to promote and grow the company leveraging viral marketing as you and your friends communicate with each other. It also represents a tremendous opportunity to generate advertising revenue. The stakes are extremely high.

Facebook also learned that the younger generation, in particular, does not have the patience for email and prefers instant messaging which represents two major strength of the company (younger users and IM). The platform will be primarily used for instant messaging.

If you do not want to settle for the battle of the crumbs, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, you must identify an uncontested market niche that you can dominate. Seek out opportunities that you can win, niches that you can serve better than any other competitor in your marketplace.

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: The Luxury of Magnificence

Shamanka Rock, Lake BaiKal, Siberia

As a luxury real estate marketing professional it is important to understand the subtle nuances in the meaning of luxury itself. Luxury can mean lavishness, creature comforts, sumptuousness, opulence and extravagance. Yet, it can also be the appreciation of the simplest things in life like a beautiful sunset that requires only the time to observe and enjoy it. This is the luxury of magnificence.

Some of the most magnificent luxuries on our planet include mountains, oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, forests and deserts. One lake contains more than 20% of the world's fresh water supply. Lake Baikal, in Siberia, (also known as the "sacred sea") is the oldest and deepest lake in the world. It measures 400 miles long and 5700 feet deep in the center. It holds more water than all of the Great Lakes combined.

One can clearly see a depth of 75 feet from the surface. Because of the high level of oxygenation, the lake is teaming with fish and organisms even at the bottom. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world. Some of the species have yet to be identified or categorized. New breakthroughs are continuously discovered there. For example, scientists are testing fresh water sponges from Lake Baikal which may be capable of curing certain cancers.

Our excitement about Lake Baikal was ignited by the story of a marine biologist, Marina Rikhvanova, who succeeded in having an oil pipeline moved two miles away from the lake. Had the government's plan succeeded, a single oil spill could have polluted the lake in 20 minutes. Traveler's magazine gave her the World Saver's Environmental Award.

In Japan people of great talent and artistry are honored as national treasures. As we see it, Marina is a global treasure. Seek out the richness and generosity of spirit in the people around you and you will find a vast and deep reservoir of luxury.

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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Salts of the Earth

If you are considering a house warming gift for the holidays, and you are invited by those who fancy themselves to be gourmets, here is a relatively inexpensive but thoughtful idea for you: Gourmet Salt! Understanding the varieties of gourmet salts can also give you social currency, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, among those in the know on this topic.

One of the latest gourmet treats is to finish a dish with a particular type of salt. For instance, Fleur de Sel, a French salt is gathered with a special rake to harvest only the top layer of the salt bed. This work is usually done by women because of their delicate handling of the rake. The name "Fleur de Sel" comes from the aroma of violets that develops as the salt is dried. Fleur de Sel is recommended when baking chocolate cake to enhance its taste.

The list of gourmet salts is quite extensive. Peruvian pink salt is the one for that beefsteak tomato you just picked from your garden. Nazuna sea salt, from Japan, transforms the taste of fish and seafood. Hawaiian pink salt is great for grilling your meats.

The fascination with salt is not a new one. Until the 1900s, salt was considered a currency. Salt was often taxed, and some clever bakers (the Italians) figured out how to make bread without salt, so they would not be taxed. The Romans paid part of their soldiers‚ wages in salt. The word "SALARY" is derived from the Latin word "salarium" meaning a payment made in salt. The 12th century Mali Empire in Africa valued salt so much that paid for its weight in gold.

Salt is also used for bathing. For instance, salts from the Dead Sea, the second saltiest body of water in the world, were used by Cleopatra for bathing. She paid for and obtained exclusive rights over the Dead Sea area, so she could continue her beauty regimen. She also built pharmaceutical and cosmetic factories near the Dead Sea. The ruins of these factories remain to this day.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Sustainable Living - A New Standard of Luxury

Female Eider Duck and her Chicks

To become an expert luxury real estate marketing professional it is very important to know your luxury buyer’s mindset. Not all luxury buyers are conspicuous consumers or jet setters. In the quest for the best, sustainable living and caring for the environment have increasingly becoming mainstream priority values.

Identifying your buyers’ priority values and amplifying them in your selection and presentation of properties allows you to connect with your clients on a very deep emotional level, the level where most buying decisions are made. Taking these factors into account can accelerate the pace at which you build a trusting relationship. It lets your clients know that you care about what is important to them.

Sustainable living is all about aiming for a lifestyle that can be sustained without exhausting natural resources. It is a new standard of luxury and it is reflected in consumers’ choices of goods and services. It applies to individuals as well as communities.

Do You Know What the Best Duvets in the World Are Make Of?

Vega Archipelago in Norway is a beacon of sustainable living due to a partnership between human being and nature. According to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, these islands are representative of “the way generations of fisherman and farmers have, over the last 1500 years, maintained a sustainable living in an inhospitable seascape near the Arctic Circle, based on the now unique practice of eider down harvesting.”

Each year, during the nesting season, the inhabitants of the main island, Vega, move to the smaller islands to build eider houses for the eider ducks. They use old boats, driftwood and bricks to build a safe environment for the birds’ nests. Eiders are the source of eiderdown, feathers that the female plucks from her chest to line the nest and insulate her eggs. The humans protect the eggs and the hatchlings from their natural predators.

Once the ducklings are hatched and sea worthy, the nest is left to use for eider down duvets. It takes approximately 70 nests to make one duvet. These duvets last for over 100 years, and are literally “light as a feather”. They are simply the best duvets in the world.

If you want to impress an environmentally conscious client, especially in a mountain resort location, give them an eiderdown duvet for a closing gift. They will remember you every time they turn down the bed.

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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Salute to Eco-Cool Luxury

Photo Courtesy of Aston Martin

If market leadership is your quest, as a luxury real estate marketing professional, it is essential that you look beyond your immediate marketplace and explore innovative ideas in the realm of luxury goods and services. That is one of the key precepts behind the Language of Luxury. Learning about what is cool in the world of luxury is a must. It can sharpen your own focus when crafting your personal brand and also help you to attract more high net worth clients.

By far one of the world’s coolest brands is Aston Martin. You may have first encountered an Aston Martin as the tricked-out sports car driven by James Bond in Goldfinger. Recent models have appeared in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. So far these fine automobiles have been featured in 10 Bond films.

In 2011, Aston Martin will go eco-cool with its new city car, the Cygnet, that sets a new benchmark for compact luxury. Cygnet demonstrates Aston Martin's commitment to innovation while conforming to strict new emission and size standards in Europe. The Cygnet simply does not compromise Aston Martin’s rich heritage of style, artistry, performance and personality.

At just three meters long, the Cygnet gives the driver a new dimension of freedom, able to slip into gaps in traffic, exploit the smallest parking spaces, consume the least fuel and emit the lowest emissions, all while delivering exceptional levels of quality and comfort. According to Marek Reichman, Aston Martin's Director of Design, “With an almost unlimited palette of materials, colors and textures, each hand-finished Cygnet will be truly unique, a personalized space within the city”. He says, “Luxury is not constrained by scale.”

Adopting to change is crucial in your luxury real estate marketing practice. But, change does not have to mean sacrificing quality of service.

Photo Courtesy of Aston Martin

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Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: An 18 Carat Gold Marketing Idea

Hong Kong

While Google and Apple duke it out in the smart phone market space, one luxury smart phone brand, Ventu, stands apart by adding an extraordinary promise of value for the discerning consumer. Vertu provides an excellent example of how to differentiate you as a luxury real estate marketing professional.

Google’s Android smart phone platform is surging ahead and gobbling up market share from most major contenders except Apple. One in five smart phones now run Android. But, with most of the Apple’s competitors using same Android platform how can one be remarkably distinct from the next? How can these competitors hope to compete with each other? Watch for price wars. That will surely be the result of this glaring example of commoditization.

Enter Vertu! Vertu recently launched their first smart phone in Hong Kong—the Constellation Quest—which is available in 18 carat yellow gold and surgical grade stainless steel. It is truly functional art.

Each Vertu smart phone is manufactured by a single craftsperson. When you purchase the phone its settings are personally configured for you by Vertu’s trained assistants, based on your individual preferences. After the purchase, you can avail yourself of their 24/7 personal assistance program called Vertu Remote Assist. You r phone is accessed remotely, with permission, on an as-needed basis by Vertu’s technical support team who also offers you concierge service.

How can you apply Ventu’s strategy in your luxury real estate marketing practice?

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Luxetera, Etc.: TheTaste of Excellence!

ANNOUNCING: 100% iPad & iPhone Compatible LOL Videos!

The international Caviar House & Prunier offers travelers a Taste of Excellent at Terminal 4 in JKF Airport, New York. Click Here if this video is not displayed in your email subscription.

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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Luxury Real Estate Marketing: Embracing Change Provides the Competitive Edge

When going after the market leadership position as a luxury real estate marketing professional, you will often find that the incumbent is complacent and slow to adapt to new technology. Those of you who can recognize when major trends are afoot and are quick to respond can make great strides in out-thinking your competition.

Steve Jobs said no Flash for Apple mobile devices. Did this pronouncement stop consumers from buying Apple’s mobile products? Apple sold 4.2 million iPads in the last quarter. But, what about those luxury goods online stores that built their websites on Flash? When Jobs speaks, they have to listen, because if they do not their competition will. Adaptation to change provides the competitive edge.

High-end clothing and accessories merchants have spent lavishly to liven up their e-commerce websites with video and animation that run on Adobe's ubiquitous Flash technology. It is understandable that they are frustrated with Mr. Jobs’ position. But, customers are increasingly accessing the web while on the go via mobile devices. And, iPads are expected to be one of the hottest selling items during the Holidays. Target, Best Buy and even Verizon are now geared up to sell these tablets with the expectation of cashing in on Apple’s popularity.

Net-a-Porter.com, a top luxury online retailer jumped on the alternative technology to build their site and now has a competitive edge over megastores such as Saks 5^th Avenue this season. Being nimble in relationship to competitors who are more entrenched in the status quo can give you the leg up.

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