I keep reading how the consumer index continues to improve…a sign that perhaps a recovery is over the horizon.

The question many are asking themselves is will the wealthy return to the products and services they used until October of 2008?

I think a fundamental shift has occurred with some segments of the affluent. Billionaires are still spending on luxuries for themselves and their families.

Those buyers who have assets around the 10 million and over mark have been dramatically effected. Not only by a decline in their personal wealth, but also by the fear of government intrusion into their businesses and new taxes.

I received a fax from Dan Kennedy which affirmed these observations.

If your business relies on the high net worth buyer, buying trends can be very important to watch.

For example, are luxury retailers seeing an uptick in business?

or Are luxury resorts seeing an increased demand?

If these things start to happen, a slow recovery is in the cards for the luxury market.

It will also tell us if the landscape has been fundamentally changed for the high end buyers.

I was on an interesting webinar last week sponsored by Google. The topic was how the affluent use the internet. As many of you know, I’ve posted on this and am developing a program to help businesses market online to the affluent buyer.

The most interesting statistic from their survey was that millionaire earners are the most prolific shoppers on the internet.

WHY?

Because they have money to spend but very little time. This is a point I make repeatedly with my clients trying to market to the affluent. We know they lead very busy lives and have very little personal time. So, it makes sense that their first stop in any purchase is the internet.

If they don’t like what they see of your product or service, then they’ll simply move on and eliminate you from consideration.

What were some other salient points from the webinar?

• The affluent believe that a company who is not online has cheapened their brand
• They get annoyed if they can’t purchase something online and have to call a store to make a purchase
• Brand awareness isn’t enough…you must have data to satisfy the need for due diligence
• TESTIMONIALS ARE KING!!! Those of you who have spoken with me know how strongly I advocate ‘peer recommendations’ or testimonials.

Google also found that more companies are trying to use the internet because of cost-cutting.

Are you reaching the affluent using the internet?

If not, you should be.

If you are…are you seeing good results?

I’ll be hosting a teleseminar in the next few weeks on using the internet to reach the affluent.

So, stay tuned for more on this topic!

Susan

There seems to be a feeling out there that the entire market of buyers are frozen. They don’t want to commit to anything. And, let’s face it, there’s NO good news these days on the economy.

A colleague and I will be hosting a special webinar this Friday on the topic…’Are people still buying’? The answer is YES.  We’ll be presenting 3 specific case studies on our experiences this summer and how the finding the right tactics for each situation helped improve sales. Sometimes dramatically.

If you’d like to attend, please email me and I’ll send along the registration information. There is a fee of $89.

If your fractional sales are down and you’re looking for some ideas to improve before the end of the year, you can’t afford to miss this special webinar.

Your investment is completely refundable if you’re not satisfied with the information we have to offer.

Good luck and good selling!

Susan

For obvious reasons, I don’t usually write posts on the ‘b’ people, as we used to refer to them when I was selling jets.

I thought you might like to know who they are and where they’re located. This comes from an article from the Times of London.

They’re located in the following countries: Russia, Middle East, Brazil and China. Those economies are creating new millionaires every day.

The challenge for today’s rich is to set themselves apart from the ‘merely affluent’. They want things nobody else can experience, afford or, preferably, even imagine’, says Robert Frank, author of Richistan.

What does this have to do with my blog readers? Well, if you dilute this message down a few billion dollars, and look at the markets of the mass affluent to the ultra affluent, the same applies. They aspire to be at the next level. You might  look at what EXPERIENCES you can offer your clients.

If that message works on a guy (sorry ladies, but they’re mostly men) worth a few billion dollars, then it will definitely work with your affluent clients.

Happy Monday!

Susan

I was walking through the living room the other day, and overheard Jim Cramer Talking about the affluent consumer. Are they still spending was his question?

Just as an aside, I have CNBC on all day. If you’re marketing or selling to the affluent, you must be in tune with the stock market. CNBC and the Wall Street Journal are my ‘go to’ sources.

Back to Cramer. He was interviewing the CEO of Loew’s hotel chain. And he asked him about the affluent consumer. Were they seeing a slow down?

The answer was NO. They’re only seeing a slow down in certain markets. Like Las Vegas. He felt that was due to too much supply and not enough demand. Maybe Vegas was over built? That’s a question for others to ponder.

The bottom line is that the affluent are still spending. If you’re not doing business with them, you need to figure out how you can target this recession proof customer.

Susan

Anyone who has heard me speak or purchased Selling to Millionaires, is familiar with my suggestions for marketing to the affluent: joint ventures, events, direct mail, etc.

However, there’s one subject area that I haven’t focused on, and that’s internet marketing. Many businesses assume that to reach the affluent you need to use offline methods.

I believe the internet is a powerful tool for marketing to the affluent, and, if used correctly can provide great results.

The average affluent individual spends around 20 hours a week online. They will check you out online before they ever pick up the phone to call.

You should have a couple of online goals:

• To craft a message that resonates with an affluent buyer
• To develop a way for them to learn about you without having to make a phone call
• Use a system that provides a way for them to ‘raise their hand’ and say their interested

Are you using the internet?

Do you know the best ways to reach the affluent on the internet?

If not, you’re probably missing a huge opportunity to get positive exposure for your business.

Susan

Here are some excerpts of my recent interview with Dan Kennedy:

Dan:  Susan, You set records selling to millionaires. The saying is ‘the rich are different from you and me’. Just how different are they? What do they want from the sales professionals, marketers and service providers they buy from?

Susan: It’s essential to understand how many of these individuals accumulated their wealth. Many started businesses, worked very hard and sold the business. Or, the business grew to be worth tens of millions of dollars. The common perception, that the wealthy are ‘trust fund’ babies isn’t true. They represent a very small amount of the affluent.

Most of the affluent are middle class people, with middle class values who worked hard to become wealthy. If you understand this, you should be able to effectively sell and market to them. They don’t buy price, they buy value. The challenge for marketers and sales people is to understand the true value of your product or service to a high net worth individual.

Many businesses make the mistake in assuming that features and benefits are the reason an affluent person decides to buy. Keep in mind, if you’re really wealthy, everywhere you go has similar amenities. You need to find a message, a value message, that resonates with the exclusive buyer.

I’ll give one example of how you can help with their due diligence phase. Try putting an informational white paper on your website for them to download. They’re much more likely to download a report than call a sales person. Understanding the need for due diligence should help you market in the appropriate way.

Value for an individual is determined by your sales person in the first conversation.

We’ll discuss effective sales techniques in a future posting!

If you are marketing and selling to the super affluent consumer, the fourth quarter of this year should be your best time in 2008.

Those who are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for election results, will know who the next president will be (assuming we don’t have ‘hanging chads’ in Florida to worry about!).

What can you do to improve your chances of getting business from these consumers from October to end of December?

I recommend a few things:

1. Don’t discount as a way to close! These consumers aren’t attracted by price slashing, but rather by the perceived value weighed against the price.
2. Work on your value proposition, for sales and marketing.
3.  Take an existing product or service and create a new message that makes it more exciting and innovative. This will provide the reason for someone to buy.
4. Your advertising and branding message should talk about value, so the consumer who still has plenty of money, will get off the sidelines and buy.

Remember, spending time on your value proposition for sales and marketing will make the difference in your bottom line for 2008.

What’s worked in the past, will most likely NOT work this year, so thinking about value TODAY will pay off in sales in December. If you wait until sales are slow in Q4, you’ll have waited too long.

Susan

I’ve had quite a few requests to publish a newsletter or put all of the information I gather onto a website.

If you have any thoughts on what kind of information would help you the most, please visit this link and fill out a brief survey.

Click Here To Take The Survey

Thanks for your help!

Susan

When I was selling fractional ownership of Learjets, over 50% of my sales came from owner referrals. Dan Kennedy, in his book No BS Marketing to the Affluent, calls this peer recommendations.

There’s nothing more important to a prospective client than a recommendation for a product or service from someone they know.  Does this mean they buy without doing any due diligence? Hardly. It does mean; however, that you get the first call and an opportunity to sell against your competitors. In other words, you get to set the buying criteria.

The next logical question is…how do you get referrals from the affluent?

The best way is to stop being a sales rep and start being a client services advocate. I was the main point of contact for all of my owners. No matter what kind of question they had, billing, catering issue, etc I was the point of contact. And, I would research their problem and get back to them. I never relied on others in the organization to return these calls. I would get the answer and return the call.

This made me a resource and a problem-solver.

When it came time to give a referral, my owners always helped me out.

If you’re selling to the affluent, the best resource you have is yourself.

Start being an advocate for your owners, and they’ll reward you, and the company, with many referrals.

Susan