Interview with Dutch Business Women Club (BWNL) -

English Transcript

Business Women Nederland: I am sitting here with Marion van der Krogt and the first thing I am always asking is what is the most important tip you can give our viewers? I’m very curious, Marion!

Marion van der Krogt: The most important tip I can give is to start with customer marketing and customer retention as soon as you have two clients. Don’t wait too long but start with thinking about your strategy and design a process on how you are going to implement that as soon as you have two clients.

BWNL: Oh, that’s interesting! I already have a lot of questions. But maybe first it’s a good idea to tell our viewers who you are and what you do?

Marion: Sure! I’m Marion van der Krogt, the founder of Alox Consulting, a CRM & Clienteling Consultancy for luxury and premium brands, both product- or service based. I assist with designing their customer marketing and CRM strategy and how to grow their revenue with their existing client base. I also assist with strategizing and implementing a high-end client experience and luxury client loyalty programs.

BWNL: Yes, customer experience is always important and I am very interested in your first tip to start with customer marketing after the first two clients, because how do you even start? What do you need to do?

Marion: Firstly there is often the misunderstanding that brand owners think they need to retain every client. I always advise my clients in luxury that they should focus on their top twenty percent of clients because you won’t be able to implement customer retention activities for everyone. As a luxury brand it should not be your intention to keep everyone but to ensure you retain your top twenty percent of clients and from there attract new clients that are similar to them. There is a lot of profit to be made if you focus on those top clients. And so if you start after your first two clients you can already make that distinction – which one of those two clients has been more valuable to your business and not just how much was the initial transaction, but also look at the future potential, the expected customer lifetime value. Ask yourself is this someone that has the financial spending power to become a regular client? There are also clients that might not spend as much themselves but are a multipliers, they refer you to a lot of other valuable clients.

Of course there is a distinction in how to do this if you have a collection-based business versus a custom/bespoke business, but you need to look at your offering and determine what is the next best offer, that follow-up product or service that you can offer. This is something that can be drawn up in principle already from the get-go: What is the next-best offer for each of your products or services? What makes sense? How are you going to communicate this? How are you going to ask for referrals? Start thinking about this early on and define how you are going to do this in a luxury way, and not the mainstream or spammy way because that’s not necessary. Translate it into what a relevant and logical next step for that customer could be.

BWNL: Yes, that’s interesting and now I'm thinking about our viewers maybe they aren't on that luxury level yet, maybe the ambition is working towards it, how would they actually do this with this in mind, with your tip in mind? How can they have a go at it and where can they distinguish themselves?

Marion: There is definitely a way to distinguish yourself, this focus on top clients is a signal. And pricing is also a signal if you have a high-end product there is always room for a luxury version, what can you offer, what can you take off people’s hands, that’s really what a luxury experience is. It is proactive, it is relevant to the consumer. Your overall look and feel needs to be luxurious too if you want to compete in the high-end market.

BWNL: Do you sometimes notice differences in for example, the influence of culture?

Marion: Sure! Some of my clients are in the US, on the East-Coast, some are in Asia and that certainly influences the way they design their customer experience. In certain parts of the world it’s quite normal to spend a lot of money on things and show it off, in other parts of the world it’s more of an understated type of luxury consumption.

BWNL: What do you think about selling luxury in times of crisis? Like now during a pandemic?

Marion:  I think new opportunities have arisen for entrepreneurs in the luxury segment. Luxury products don't get cheaper because there's a crisis, the top 1% - those who always have that disposable income of course still buy. We have seen that hard luxury, high-end jewelry has sold comparatively better during the pandemic, and buyers want something a little personal, custom, and so the opportunities for brands are there to tap into this. 

So you need a strong online customer approach and most of my customers who are seeing strong sales, most of them are purely online, they don't have a shop at all and that is fine, that’s not a problem for them. But I'm thinking about brands that have really always focused on the instore experience and suddenly had to switch to online only and I think that was difficult for them.

Firstly, they had to come up with a new process and new technology or software and had to start creating a luxurious customer experience online. That’s more challenging than if you have a nicely decorated shop with a professional sales associate.

Still, there are many ways to bring the brand personality alive in an online or virtual consultation and buying process, showing the person behind the brand. And many of my clients’ success shows that you don’t need to have a physical store to run a profitable luxury brand.  

BWNL: Thank you Marion, it’s been extremely interesting to have you share your insight with us. Marion is a member of the Dutch Business Women Club and this was our weekly videocast. Marion, can you give our viewers one last tip?

Marion: Absolutely! My final tip would be to reflect if a luxury business model would work for you. Many entrepreneurs price their product to compete with the mass-market but forget they could just as well carve out a niche in luxury. There are many buyers who have the money to spend, you just have to find them or make them find you. If you realize that Louis Vuitton currently sells a handbag in the shape of an airplane for about 100,000 Euros, I know that’s an extreme example, but you quickly realize there is disposable outcome there and you could capture your share of it.

BWNL: Indeed many entrepreneurs struggle with their prices, so what you are saying is that there is money out there?

Marion: Most definitely, there is a buyer for every budget!

BWNL: Thank you very much for your time today. You can find Marion via www.aloxconsulting.com .

Marion: Thank you for having me!