1517 – Types of High-End Clients with Elizabeth Cake Emporium’s Elizabeth Solaru

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0:54With us right now, it's Elizabeth Solaru. Elizabeth, you are a coach and you serve a very interesting niche. This is going to be a lot of fun because you work with ultra high net worth individuals. You are also have been the managing director of Elizabeth's Cake Emporium for over 16 years. And that longevity has allowed you to work with many, many ultra high net worth individuals, royal families, in a world of, I like your language here, in a world of discretion, confidentiality, press embargoes, and non-disclosure agreements. Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.

1:37I'm really looking forward to speaking with you today. In your work in coaching, is the idea then that you're working with business professionals that want to do more work in kind of that world of the ultra high net worth individual? Absolutely. They're usually looking for two things. They're looking to, because the question I get asked all the time is, how do I find rich clients or how do I find high end clients? So in that question, I believe they're asking the wrong question. I believe they should be asking, what is the most value I can provide a high net worth client? Because when you flip it that way, you begin to realize that maybe there are certain things about yourself and your product that you need to get right first, and then you will attract these people.

2:32So that's what I do. I help people do two things. I look at their businesses. I see what they could do better, but not in a generic way, what they can do better to attract a specific type of high end client. Because I've looked through my email list and I did because, you know, I'll tell you about my background later, but I have both a scientific brain because I used to be a scientist and I have an artistic brain as well. But I find that many people go into business thinking, I want to sell to high-end clients, and that's great. However, there are different types of high-end clients, and I've mapped them out, and there are seven different luxury type clients.

3:21Yeah, we'll do tell. You know, and what I think what you're saying here, and this is very, very important is that if, you know, whatever marketing methods you're learning about, you know, sliding into DMs and just, you know, kind of very traditional marketing, and you could just have an ugly, you know, salesy lead capture website, that's not enough today. Um, so when we think about working with a very, um, you know, someone, if you're, if you're, let's say you're working because you're not necessarily going to work with directly with the person and chances are you're not until you maybe a couple of conversations and you're going to be working with a handler, a director, a manager.

4:10Um, and their job is to, well, can, And can I have you explain generally how engagement typically works? Yeah. But I guess my point is they are going to vet you. That's their job. Oh, and I'm sorry. I got to be quiet. Here, I'll let you. No, that's all right. I would say yes, for the most part. Having said that, we tend to forget that high net worth people are also on social media. Some of them have a tendency to have more gatekeepers than others. So some will have gatekeepers. So the handlers that you describe, they're what I call the gatekeepers. And the gatekeepers can be anything from the driver, the security guard, the bodyguard, a family office.

4:59It could be a close friend. So there will be some degree of vetting. But sometimes, just like anybody else, if they love what you do on social media, they might slide into your DM for a change. So it does work both ways. So it's not necessarily you sliding into somebody's DM. They could slide into your DM. However, if they like what they see, they make the approach. the problem is how do you respond without you getting overly excited giving too much away you can give enough of the produce away but don't give the farm away it's how you handle that because at the end of the day some of them not all of them but I would say majority want to be treated normal they don't want to to be seen as a cash cow so this is my cash cow oh my god you know don't get overly excited at that stage it's an inquiry but make sure you've lined up your processes so that if you're speaking with their handler you give them enough information so that they can give that to the principal and then they can come back to you so that's how it usually happens and I'm in a relatively um I would say good position because I tend to I met most of my clients when they were trying maybe getting married maybe a birthday maybe through a wedding planner maybe through an event planner or some or some of them just found my work online and literally tracked me down but my point is regardless even if you feel you want to make an approach there is a way to make an approach without looking like a groupie so that's some of the things I talk about when I'm coaching or when I speak on stages, because I've done quite a number of luxury conferences, breaking down the different luxury client types to organizations.

7:07Yeah. Well, that's, and that doesn't happen overnight because I would imagine, you know, your authority and your reputation is pretty important. What are things that we could start doing today to improve our perceived, you know, that we would be a good fit for that clientele? Okay, so it depends on which clientele you want to serve. So let me give an example. So you've got two examples that are categories. So one, I would call the comfort first or the safety first. so to them money is not an issue they're the ones that value discretion they're the ones that value um you know no you know ndas and note press embargoes that sort of thing um you know reputation management etc that's them then you have another set of clients so let's call them the simply the best so they want everyone to know that they've spent a lot of money on xyz and how do you know the difference between the two if you go on social media and this is a massive tip if you go on social media you're simply the best will show off their latest purchases so be it a house be it a car where they holiday where they whatever it is where they yacht where they summer where they winter they will show it off on social media because they want everyone to know now the thing is um people might um have a stereotype of them and say oh my god you know that no that stereotype is actually a stereotype then you have the other client who their social media a massive tip is that their social media say their instagram will be set to private that's the first clue it will be set to private but there is a way to get to them if you then look at the other people that instagram recommend to you some of them will be their friends so you follow them also when they buy stuff say they buy stuff from a designer um or they comment on a designer's post or something the designer will go out of their way to thank them so you need to look at whoever has you know this designer or car person or whatever it is who are they thanking on their post so you then that's how you begin to know okay this person values discretion um is not very loud on social media and some of them may actually not use their real names on social media and for some reason I have a knack of finding these people on social media because that's my wheelhouse the safety first or the comfort first because for them it's all about what makes them feel safe so for them a key word is trust use the word trust in your marketing use the word integrity in your marketing not necessarily honesty because everyone claims to be honest you can use the word trust discretion um integrity those are nice words to use with the other client type who are simply the best very easy just use the word best this best that i won this prize i've got all this social proof these are my awards this is who i've served because they want to know who else in their network have you served however even with the simply the best do not run your mouth so don't um don't give personal info um do you know the ex you know they might ask you do you know the do you know josh you know do you know the elegies yes i know the elegies of of florida and keep it just keep it like that don't tell don't tell them what you know what you've done for Josh don't tell them you do not even do that so those are the two differences um but then I go into a lot more detail obviously with you know my my upcoming book etc and I actually break down um some of the simply the best because there are about seven different types and I break down um the comfort first as well there are about seven types of those and the ones that would get you your next client, because that's the most important thing.

11:37You need to network with the ones who are generous enough to get you your next client, because that's how I got my lucky break. Yeah. Yeah. So your reputation, your network is, I would imagine is going to be really, really critical. And Elizabeth, talk about, share more about how you work. Who do you typically serve now as a coach? What types of business services are they providing? And feel free to go through as many different types of personas that we should get their ears to perk up a little bit. Yeah. So I tend to serve people who want to get high-end clients. Having said that, if we look at the service industry, for example, the person could be a creative.

12:32You could be, I don't know, say a photographer. You could be a builder, a designer. You could be a maker because I tend to attract a lot of creatives because I was a creative myself. I've worked with artists who want to position their art in front of people I've worked with hotels I've worked with um people who there's there's a lady she's got directory listing and she wanted a certain type of person on the directory so I've worked with a with both service and product-based um entrepreneurs but having said that the first thing we need to start with is, is your product any good? That's the basis.

13:17It doesn't have to be the best in the market. Funnily enough, it just has to be the best known in that particular circle, because best known will always beat best. So, and I find that a lot of entrepreneurs are sometimes too much in love with their product. So they think I've got to perfect it. I've got to perfect it. No, you don't have to perfect it, but it has to pass a certain test. So it has to be more than functional. The service around it has got to be a luxury type service. Even basic things like your tech has got to work. So once you, once we've gone through that checklist, then we can begin to start to position you to attract those high-end clients so it's about your product as much as it is about the marketing the branding the the the outreach um your reputation just you know we we have a look at the whole thing holistically and then we begin to say okay for your type of luxury business because there are different types of luxury businesses for your type of business this is the right type of client for you and then we can match make and that came from my because um very early in my career I used to be a scientist I was a microbiologist and I worked um for several years as a scientist and then I did an MBA went to work in the city as a headhunter and as a headhunter my job is to match make so all I'm doing is finding in the right client and the right candidate and I'm putting them together and I that's the approach that I take to when I'm coaching a business as well so it's not just about you um getting a high end client they've got to be right for you and they've got to bring cash into your business as well because there is a certain high-end client that will not pay there is and there's a certain type of client that it's easier for you to get your payment from.

15:31So those are some of the things that we teach. Yeah, and that happens. Yeah. Yeah. Is it because the, can you talk maybe about kind of, is it impossible standards? Is it, we just need to, if we're going to serve this clientele, We just have to just be absolutely meticulous in how we deliver. You know, is it overall, there's definitely some pros to this. We've talked about, you know, some of the considerations. But I would say the upside is, you know, when you do have a payday, I would hope that the profit would be okay. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, these are not easy clients to serve. So if someone's having said that, you know, I know they're not easy to serve, but sometimes the ones who pay you the most are actually the easiest to deal with because the higher the pay, the more they pay, the more they trust that you are the expert and they leave you alone.

16:38And they're not bugging you every five minutes because what they paid you in relation to their wealth is not that much. having said that there's a certain type of client, if they pay you a huge amount, because relative to their wealth, it's a massive amount, they're going to be bugging you every five minutes. So there's a, you know, so there's that type, but, um, back to your earlier, um, question, which was around, um, uh, sorry, what was it? What was it again? I think the question was around. Well, yeah, just the level, um, you know, if you're going to serve this clientele to like, you better be pretty good at managing the details.

17:19Absolutely. So to give in, I wanted to actually bring in an example. So there was a wedding recently, high profile wedding. And it's a great case study for as an example of if you want to serve a high end client. So the father of the bride is actually suing the wedding planners to you know for about 150 something thousand um dollars when i looked at the so i went to the uh i went and read the papers that had been filed in the court case now this guy's a billionaire so he doesn't need the money but when you look at that client type that he is um and let's let's start from the beginning there are two families so you've got the the Beckhams um David Beckham and Victoria Beckham their son married his daughter now he obviously he foot a lot of the wedding because it was his daughter blah blah blah the first red flag was when the previous wedding planner when when he they parted ways with the family that was a massive red flag so with weeks to go they had to hire another set of wedding planners i believe those wedding planners probably said yeah we'll step in we'll do an amazing job blah blah blah blah blah massive red flag when you go in like that you go in as you said prepared you go in get your lawyer to draw up papers to say if anything goes wrong we will not be held liable or responsible so up front with when you're dealing with somebody like that you've got to be very upfront because they've got an army of lawyers.

19:00So that was red flag. Number one, red flag. Number two was the planners got too friendly with the family. So they were talking about taking tequila shots and stuff like that in the WhatsApp group, you know, Oh my God, that was such a hard day. I need a shot of tequila. You do, you do not do that. No, no, no, don't take the bait. And this is very crucial because sometimes the clients are so friendly. They start treating you like family because they can. But remember, you are there to serve. You are not family yet until the job is over, until you deliver to their satisfaction. Do not take that bait.

19:42So that was red flag number two. Then another red flag for me was the guest list. The Beckhams, they turned in their guest list in order, on time, everything was correct. Straight away, I knew the type of client that the Beckhams are. I could tell straight away. And again, I go into a lot more detail later on in my book this guy on the other hand he is a certain type he's what I would call a mogul when you are dealing with a mogul everything is boardroom level even though it's his daughter's wedding it's like a boardroom level you you know so that's number one then a second thing about the family is that his daughter is a certain type and his wife is a certain type so you've got three people in this relationship in this wedding and they are different luxury types so as a planner if you have to deal with all three um different um types it's a different so that was you know these are some of the learnings that I drew from that.

20:57So it just goes to show that once you know a person's type, when it comes to buying luxury, you're able to handle them a lot easier because sometimes we say, oh my God, that client was difficult, but they were not difficult. They were just being true to type. Yeah. This has been a fascinating conversation, Elizabeth. But your website is luxurybusinessemporium.com. You also are a podcaster. Your podcast is Luxury Business Podcast. So our friend that's listening to our conversation right now, just do a search for it in your podcast app and hit subscribe on Luxury Business Podcast. And you have coaching programs.

21:43You've got a mastermind. And again, those are all available at luxurybusinessemporium.com. Elizabeth, anything else or anything that we missed? no not at all I just wanted to say a massive thank you to you I get your emails religiously I really applaud what you're doing for the community especially the podcast community through your you know through your emails I've been able to connect with other podcasters they've been guests for me I've guested for them so and I know sometimes people don't always come back to say thank you to you, but what you're doing is really resonating. And proof is I'm all, you know, all the way from London, I'm on your podcast.

22:25So thank you. So that's all I wanted to say. Yes. Thank you so much, Elizabeth. That's very kind of you. Again, Elizabeth Solaru, and again, your website, luxurybusinessemporium.com. Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me today. I've enjoyed myself.

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