Since we launched The Upgrade, one question keeps landing in my inbox. Founders tell me they are natural and spontaneous, that they have no idea what the codes of the luxury world are, and they ask whether they will really fit in once they start working with wealthy clients.
I had no idea how deep that fear went. So let’s take it apart, cliché by cliché, starting with what luxury actually means.
What luxury really is
The first thing people associate with luxury is a high price, and yes, the price does create a selection. What matters is what sits behind it: real know-how, very high standards and rarity, meaning a product that is hard to find or a service that only a few people can access. Anything limited naturally becomes more expensive.
Luxury is also hard to reproduce, at least in theory, since the world of counterfeits keeps trying! What no copy can ever give you is the prestige of a name, and the pride of owning that object or of having worked with that particular artist.
Cliché 1: luxury means fashion or hospitality
When we think about luxury, we picture runways and palaces. Those worlds are part of it, and they are a small part.
There are tattoo artists with a six month waiting list, and interior designers who politely tell you they might be able to start next year. There are surgeons people fly across the world to see, event venues you need to book ridiculously early, and photographers who accept a limited number of weddings per year. Not one of them sells clothes or hotel rooms, and every one of them sells luxury.
Products work the same way. A Montblanc is a pen, a beautifully made one, and people happily pay a small fortune for the craftsmanship and the prestige of the name.
There is a very strong chance that what you sell today, you could sell close to ten times your current price, with the right communication, the right marketing, a real client experience and a solid strategy.
Cliché 2: luxury means stiff aristocrats with their little finger in the air
In a lot of heads, luxury looks like Madame de la Coquillette checking whether your shoes deserve her living room. Those people exist, and they are a tiny part of the picture.
There are as many kinds of wealthy people as there are kinds of people. Old families with an education built on etiquette sit next to new fortunes who could not care less about codes, like many people who made their money in crypto and come from very modest backgrounds. The Gulf countries have their own culture and their own way of spending. Artists and musicians live by completely different rules again, sometimes in a hoodie and sneakers that cost more than your car.
I grew up in a very modest family near the German border, with no aristocratic education whatsoever. Today, I work with clients who look like me, who love a good laugh and a nice glass of wine. Some of my best memories are nights that ended at two in the morning in a great restaurant, laughing with clients about everything and nothing.
Cliché 3: wealthy clients treat you like a servant
Walk into a low cost clothing store on a Saturday afternoon and look at the floor. Clothes everywhere, because someone assumed the sales assistant would pick them up. Nobody in that store is a millionaire.
Difficult clients exist in every market, and so do wonderful ones. Money gives everybody a bigger budget; it does not change who they are. From my own experience, I have even met more adorable clients in the premium and luxury market than anywhere else.
Cliché 4: adding a zero to your price is enough
This one is dangerous. Raising your price without changing anything else is the best way to hit a wall, and at worst to sink your company. Wealthy clients still expect quality, and the price has to make sense with everything they see and feel.
When your price rises, everything around it has to rise too. At CocoSpark, we work on five pillars, inside The Upgrade and with our agency clients: your price and perceived value, your sales techniques, your client experience, your communication and branding, and finally your networking, productivity and mindset.
Cliché 5: you need to afford what your clients afford
Most of my outfits come from Zara, and I work on events that cost millions. Your clients are there for the result and the experience; they are not checking the label inside your jacket.
Presentation still matters, and your look should be coherent with the clientele you want to attract. Elegance comes from the care you put into presenting yourself, the same care you put into your work.
Cliché 6: you have to make yourself small
If you shrink in front of a client, he feels it, and he understands very quickly that he can push you around. That is true in every market.
When you stay professional, set boundaries and speak politely as an equal, the client respects you even more. My peers are often surprised by the relationship I have with millionaire and billionaire clients, and my answer is always the same: I stand my ground and my personality stays intact. That respect is what makes clients open up, and an open client is the one you can deliver something exceptional for.
So, is this world made for you?
Luxury is much bigger than fashion and palaces, and wealthy clients come in every personality. What they expect from you is excellence, and excellence can be built, pillar by pillar, without becoming someone else. Your spontaneity and your humour are an asset in this world, and the right clients will love you for exactly who you are.
Join The Upgrade, our six month program for founders under $500K a year: www.cocospark.com/the-upgrade
Working with the CocoSpark agency: www.cocospark.com