Lessons From Luxury #10: Make ‘Selling’ Unnecessary

Elegant Insights: Luxury Lessons for Life and Business' is a series of #12 invaluable lessons from looking deeply beyond the glitz and glamour. For better margins, stronger loyalty, and elevated leadership - personally and professionally.

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Luxury brands have mastered the art and science of selling so well that they don’t need to sell to anymore - they are being bought from. They don’t sell goods and services. The goods and services sell themselves. As Prof. Peter Drucker put it: "The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits and sells itself. The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous."

Creating Desire Before the Transaction

For luxury businesses, selling is not about the transaction. The decision to buy into genuine luxury takes time and stems from a long period of nurturing dreams and desires, sometimes over a lifetime. High-end luxury purchases are rarely spontaneous and consequently, the influence at the point of sale (say for example, at a Ferrari dealer, or a Rolex boutique) of a salesperson’s ability to ‘push a sale’ is much more limited. For real luxury brands the ‘selling’ happens on a higher level or, more specifically, at the brand level to fuel desire to a point where it converts into latent demand.

Luxury brands are excellent at this, leveraging concepts like deliberate exclusivity, pricing, empowerment, scarcity and meaning-making – all to create and fuel desire. The ‘sales’ people become more of a guide or consultant to ‘funnel the desire’ so that the ‘sale’ happens much more organically. 

"Sales is not about selling anymore, but about building trust and educating." – Siva Devaki

No one needs a Harley to get from A to B

There are good examples on how some of these concepts transcend into the non-luxury space. For example, Levi Strauss & Co. releases limited edition jeans and collaborations with fashion designers, creating a sense of exclusivity. The brand also offers custom tailoring and personalization services, similar to bespoke offerings in luxury fashion.

Starbucks Reserve is another example. It offers a more upscale environment with rare and high-quality coffee blends that are not available in regular Starbucks stores. Moreover, Starbucks Reserve products are priced higher, creating a sense of exclusivity and luxury.

Harley-Davidson Motor Company doesn’t just sell bikes. It sells belonging to an exclusive social club. It uses tribal marketing and cult branding tactics. This community-building strategy enhances the brand's appeal by offering a lifestyle and a sense of belonging. A Harley-Davidson is the ticket to a word full of adventure and the experiences that come with it.

➡️ For more examples and more depth, read my full thinking piece on this topic here.

So what can we learn from this?

Don’t just sell products. Sell ideas, dreams, fantasies

• William Bernbach was the first radical advertising man to apply reverse thinking in a way that would boost the sales of a product that didn’t have much hope: The Volkswagen Group Beetle. At the time, all cars were advertised with their engine power and size. Faster, stronger, bigger. In other words: everyone was selling a product. Bernbach came up with the famous and radical advertising campaign “Think Small” for the VW Beetle. Instead of selling the product, Bernbach sold an idea.

Deliver a personalized experiences that aligns with your brand's values.

• Teach your team about the history of your brand, the founder and how the products are made or services created. Explain not only what to communicate to the existing or potential customer but also how to communicate it via storytelling. Salesforce e for example excels at this by training its sales teams to share the company’s origin story and commitment to customer success. They tailor their communication to resonate with specific industries, turning technical features into strategic business benefits.

Make everything an experience.

• Samuel Roxy Rothapfel’s innovative thinking transformed the cinema experience. For instance, there was a jungle theme in the cinema when King Kong came out. The extravagance and the experiential elements helped the cinema appeal to not only the lower segments but also to middle and upper segments. These new cinemas were called the Palace Theatres. Until this turning point cinemas were mainly Nickelodeons. (1 nickel per movie). Rothapfel invented a new market within the cinema industry, making the competition made irrelevant. Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group would be another example of upscaling experiences to deliver superior value.

Don’t just run a business - build a brand.

• Customers are willing to pay a premium for products and services that come from a strong, recognizable brand because a brand represents more than just the product itself; it embodies desirability, credibility, and trust. Luxury brands don’t merely sell features - they sell a vision, a lifestyle, and an emotional connection. They offer experiences that resonate deeply with their audience, turning everyday transactions into aspirational moments. Apple doesn’t just sell technology; it sells innovation, design, and a sense of belonging to a forward-thinking community. This brand-driven approach gives them unmatched pricing power and customer loyalty. As Sir John Hegarty aptly put it: “Don’t start a business, build a brand.”

Start with Understanding, End with Desire

The first step in applying these lessons from luxury brands is to develop a deep understanding of your customers - not just what and how they buy, but why they make their purchasing decisions. This requires looking beyond surface-level data to truly grasp the motivations, desires, and emotions that drive their behavior. Once you have this understanding, review your entire customer journey from start to finish. Take inspiration from luxury brands and re-think how you can create more desire and elevate the entire experience. By doing so, you can transform your brand into something more than a business; you can build a brand that resonates deeply with your audience, building loyalty, trust, and long-term success.

When are you starting?

Onwards and Upwards 🚀

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About: Markus Kramer is the MD at specialist consultancy Brand Affairs, advising Boards, Executives and Operational Teams on all aspects of Strategic Positioning, Reputation and Brand Management. He is a senior visiting Fellow in Strategic Brand Management at Bayes Business School and holds degrees from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, University of California, Berkeley Extension and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of The Guiding Purpose Strategy© and Co-Author of the Responsible Investment Brand Index RIBI™.