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

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

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!

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

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

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

He’s internationally recognized as a Millionaire Maker, helping people turn their ideas into million dollar fortunes.

In his NO B.S. Marketing to the Affluent Newsletter, Dan interviews me on Selling to Millionaires. The interview will be published in 2 parts, with a special teleseminar in July.

If you’d like to read Part 1 of this exclusive interview please visit:

http://www.susanadamshome.com/articles/DKSTMPart1.pdf

I’d love to hear your comments.

Susan

If you have trouble downloading, just email me susan@susanadamshome.com and I’ll forward the interview.

Susan

They view real estate as a diversification of their portfolio.

Of those with annual incomes between $150,000 and $249,000, 24%plan to buy a second  home this year.

TWENTY FOUR PERCENT!

What does this mean to you as a marketer or seller of fractional ownership?

Effectively marketing to these people will be the difference between a ‘boom or bust’ 2008 for your business!

You can’t rely on summer traffic to drive your sales this year. You must be in front of the group you need to sell to through your advertising and marketing.

My 3 tips:

• Develop a message that resonates with your target group
• Find creative ways to market to your audience
• Make sure your sales people have the proper skills to close prospects (If you’ve been using ‘time-share’ based sales training, you need a new model)

Good luck and good selling.

Susan

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Imagine you’re an affluent individual and have no awareness for the product that’s being marketed to you. The first thing you must do, as a marketer, is make them aware.

Now, how much exposure will it take to get them comfortable enough to call an inquire?

I don’t know the precise number, but it will take more than one marketing attempt.

I have clients tell me every day, ‘I tried that. Sent a letter. Didn’t get much response’. Maybe because your prospect needs more exposure to your product or service than just one letter or postcard!

If they’re not hearing about you through word of mouth (the best way to reach the affluent) then you have to be prepared to make several marketing attempts before you know  they’re not a good prospect for you.

Also, make sure you have an engaging and informative website. If you do pique someone’s interest, that will be their first stop. If they like what they see, then they might raise their hand as an expression of further interest.

And that’s what you’re looking for…an affluent prospect to ‘raise their hand’ and ask for more information.

That’s a successful marketing attempt to the high net worth buyer.

We’ll be talking about the following ideas:

• Finding the right advertising and direct marketing that resonates with your target buyer
• Finding qualified buyers
• Overcoming resistance due to all the bad news

You’ll also have an opportunity to ask your own questions. In fact, there’s a space in the registration form for you to ask your ‘big question’.

Here’s the registration url:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/436844801

Hope to see you on the call.

Susan