Frederickl

Lead everything

Selling Luxury

Hi all,

By day I work in tech - I’m a data analyst. By night I am working with my dad to set up a company selling luxury furniture items. I know this community is mainly SaaS and I think it’s a really dope community. Im hoping this community might be able to help: my question is this: I am trying to sell chopping boards and knife blocks. How do I do discovery? We have beaut products, but I have learnt that when trying to sell, you need to understand your customers problems. In the broad world of luxury, people don’t have problems… Or at least that’s what I think, maybe I am missing something. I am not and never have been a salesman, but it is crucial to what I am trying to achieve with my dad, so fuck it I am going to do it. Where I am getting a bit stuck is this conflict as described above. I can relate to a process where you engage a potential customer, find out about their company, their problems, and then frame your product in the context of their problem to make the sale. But with luxury, there is no problem. So what is the strategy in this case?

Again, understand this community is SaaS and so doesn’t deal a lot with luxury, but I bet a few of you have been in this world and can help me out :)

http://lewisdesignlondonaccessories.com/

🔎 Prospecting

👑 Sales Strategy

14

10 comments

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jefe

Arsonist

4

🍁

Those are some real pretty pieces. I don’t know much about the market but they’d look dope on my countertop. While my knives were the equivalent of £600-700 I’m certainly not in a place to spend anywhere close to that on a block.

You mention discovery. What’s your model? Are you selling to businesses to carry your product or the end consumer? I sense it’s the latter. There’s generally not a ton of discovery in B2C, but either way, how are you engaging with them? If it’s e-commerce are you actually talking to them? If you want to have actual conversation with online leads how are you going yo plan that out? Somebody buying knife blocks and cutting boards probably isn’t likely to fill out a lead form and jump on a call the way a software buyer is

SalesMama

Executive

3

Senior Account Executive

Rather than SaaS vs Luxury, I think the biggest differentiations here are:
1 - B2B vs B2C. I can’t speak to this I much (maybe someone else can chime in), but with cutting boards you’re looking at individual kitchens with household budgets.
2 - rather than only thinking of the “problem” of needing your products, you could broaden your scope (I.e. people who need gifts for people who prepare meals/cook). I would start brainstorming to have a good pool of potential prospects before worrying about discovery

sketchysales

Politicker

3

Sales Manager

I got to ask a few questions and can provide my tuppance worth.

1. Why are these so expensive? Your about the product section doesn't evoke any emotion to the product and theres nothing there to really justify the price of your product. I would lean into the whole "hand made" side of it, show pictures of the workspace, the maker and evoke emotion that way.

2. The website is a little hard to figure out, took me some time to see where I could buy it and get a price. Additionally the product details are very sparse. Whats the dimensions? Whats the background on the wood used, how is it selected, worked and crafted into the final product?

3. While I have no doubt they are lovingly hand made, I am unsure how you will drive your customer to your site without spending stupid amount of money on paid ad's, which speaking from experience, you will never pay off with a product range this limited and niche. I would probably start with Etsy with this sort of thing, I know not considered a luxury site but I dont see how you are going to get any traction otherwise.

4. The last thing I would maybe do is consider reaching out to luxury interior design agencies, present the product to them and offer them a portfolio they can have to accessorize a home. I still think you will need to widen your offering to have any luck with this.

Lastly, and honestly I mean no offence by this but as a keen furniture maker and woodworker myself, I cannot comprehend how you can realistically charge GBP609 for that chopping board. The description states end-grain but technically that is not a end grain chopping board, the cutting surface is long grain which is not as hard and wont last up as long as a true end grain chopping board. I do not mean to offend with that but when selling luxury you have to acutely aware of that fact people tend to care more and tend to be more educated as to the details compared to when you sell at a budget price point where convenience is a bigger player.

I could go on and offer more thoughts as to the direction but thats probably enough.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Just sell them online. No one is going to call you to about a $500+ cutting board.

Also, as someone who cooks a lot and loves to splurge on kitchen stuff that's ridiculously expensive.

BlueJays2591

Politicker

2

Federal Business Dev Director

These look awesome but damn. You weren't kidding when you said luxury

Arzola

Valued Contributor

-1

Business administration

this comment is for me? haha

Notmyrealname

Politicker

1

AE

Firstly, are you trying to find customers to sell to, or waiting for customers to contact you and trying to close them?

Secondly, what's luxurious about your items? I see a chopping board and knife block, both made of wood, and they're up for £600-700. Why would anyone, regardless of their income, pay that much for a basic item they could get for much less?

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

sooooo if I was you i would go the direct to consumer route by putting content online showing off how awesome your products are. not how great they work, but the effect they have on the overall kitchen.

how having YOUR products make the whole environment more luxurious.

So you are not taking calls with ppl and trying to ask them questions. you are showing them on line what their life could be like by owning your products.

punishedlad

Tycoon

1

Business Development Team Lead

Echoing @jefea bit here, but are you trying to distribute to other vendors so they can carry your products? Or hoping to maintain your own dedicated store?

Arzola

Valued Contributor

0

Business administration

Hello!

I tell you that I have sold luxury items (very luxurious). But your market does not change much in the way you attack it.

The first step is to detect a need and your direct and indirect competitors.

After you detect the need, be it for luxury, because it looks very nice, for its advantages, etc... that is, a cutting board that was made of Himalayan oak, giving it a unique color and blah blah blah. Here you are indicating the reason why it is worth so much and what is luxurious is given by the extravagant.

Believing that millionaires or people with economic ease do not have problems is a mistake, they simply use methods and things that the common person would not use to solve the problem. For example, do you go to work? yes, you use the bus or your Renault truck, they get on the ferrary... they both go to work, the medium is the one that changes

And once you have identified why your brand should and is luxury, the prices using your direct and indirect competitors and understanding the needs of the market, it is simpler to start a marketing campaign in the places, channels and type of advertising to capture to the clients.

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