going the extra mile for your affluent clientle
Kenrick Cleveland
I read a story about the Ritz Carlton Hotel recently that has me thinking about what it means to truly court and cater to an affluent clientle in a way that will keep them interested and involved with your product or service.
It is the policy of the Ritz Carlton Hotel that any employee (ANY employee) can spend up to $2,000 without management's prior authorization, to solve the problem or need of a client of the hotel.
A business man was staying at the Atlanta Ritz Carlton and headed out to Hawaii for a very important meeting and presentation. He realized he had forgotten his laptop in Atlanta. Without his laptop, he had no presentation. He called the hotel and his call was routed to housekeeping who had informed him that they had found his computer.
The businessman asked them if they would please send it by FedEx so that he could have it first thing in the morning for his presentation.
The next morning when the man went to the front desk, there was a woman from Atlanta Ritz Carlton's housekeeping department waiting for him. She handed him his computer and said, 'This was too important.'
Now I ask you, will this man ever stay at another hotel in Atlanta? Probably not. And will he tell this story to his friends and colleagues? Absolutely. And his friends and colleagues will tell their friends and colleagues and this is how amazing publicity is created. An affluent clientle expects good service and superior quality, and yet, even this incident seems to go above and beyond expectations.
Going above and beyond doesn't mean you have to break the bank and spend $2,000 every time someone has a problem. . . After all, you're not a major hotel chain with that kind of petty cash laying around. Going above and beyond can mean a simple note or a birthday card.
One of my coaching students, a financial adviser, recently told me a story about sending a birthday card to one of her EX clients. This was an EX client only because she was prevented from courting her due to a non-compete clause which was about to expire. My student followed up the birthday card with a phone call a few weeks later and the ex client (soon to be reinstated client) said to her, 'You know, my husband's financial adviser sent out a birthday card as well. But instead of sending me the birthday card, he sent it to my husband, whose birthday isn't for seven months.'
Boy, was that a costly mistake and fully avoidable. This once former client is now a current client as a result of the small consideration of getting a birth date correct.
Attention to detail, going above and beyond, simple pleasantries, even a kind word. . . all of these things not only make other people feel compelled to do business with you, but they make the recipient feel good. Funny thing is, they also have the added bonus of making the person giving them feel good.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy clients using http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion strategies.
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