Club Class Clients or Economy Clients

Here’s an article about attracting Club Class Clients. Club class clients have money to spend on the products and services you offer, so how do you get them?

Have you ever travelled Club Class? The seats are more spacious, the seat converts into a flat bed, you’re served champagne on arrival, you can walk around, help yourself to endless snacks and drinks, there’s a choice of menu, you eat with proper metal knives, forks and ceramic plates, the serviettes are of proper cloth. You’re treated like royalty. The experience is very much high class, very much more comfortable than what you get in economy – cramped seats, no leg or elbow room, plastic trays of sandwiches, limited drinks, you sleep almost upright (or as far as the seat will recline).  Not so in Club Class. And the expectation is that you look the part. You dress well and look like you belong to Club Class.

I have a friend who works for an airline at the airport and a mutual friend was booked to travel long haul in economy. He asked our airport friend if there was any way he could get upgraded to Club. You might think that’s a cheeky ask, however, if you don’t ask you don’t get and nine times out of ten it is possible to get friends unofficially upgraded, so without making any promises, Airport Friend said she would see what she could do.

On the day of travel, as passengers were waiting to be let on the plane, Airport Friend made her way over to the gate, checked with the staff and as predicted, Travelling Friend and his wife would more than likely be upgraded once everyone was on board. She went to find Travelling Friend in the waiting lounge by the gate to let him know.

When she saw him her heart sank.

Travelling Friend was wearing scruffy jeans and trainers, he wore a t-shirt that was crumpled; he was unshaven. Travelling Friend was not dressed like he belonged to Club Class. He was dressed scruffily for economy (now you know why it’s called ‘riff-raff’). There was no way that riff-raff (whether they’re airport friends or not) would come anywhere near the esteemed Club Class area.

Airport Friend felt embarrassed. She felt embarrassed by Travelling Riff Raff Friend’s appearance. She felt embarrassed to have even asked for the upgrade. And even more embarrassed to tell Travelling Riff Raff Friend that he was not dressed right for upgrading.

How we present our business

This got me thinking about how we present ourselves and our businesses. How do we turn up and what are we expecting?

I’ve recently spoken with a couple of people who had poor looking websites that to be honest, looked like they had been hobbled together by a 10 year old. Think cheap, old fashioned, low-grade. One even had a logo of the host giving away that they paid nothing for their website. Yet, surprisingly, the services and products they were selling were aimed at the high end. And they were wondering why they weren’t getting any sales. Not even sales conversations.

Here’s the thing. If you want to attract high end ‘club class’ clients who have large budgets to spend on your type of products and services you have to turn up like you belong in ‘club class’ and not riff-raff. Just like Travelling Friend who wanted to be upgraded to Club Class, turning up scruffy did not make him an attractive candidate worthy of upgrade. He didn’t stand out as someone to take note of.

Similarly, if you’re attending networking meetings, whether you like it or not, people (potential customers and referrers) are judging you on how you turn up…. what you’re wearing, how you wear it, are you scruffy, smart, late early on time, all before they’ve even decided to speak with you. And then there’s your business card, is it well designed and on quality card? Or a cheap quality with the online printing company’s logo on the back indicating it’s free.)

Same with your website. Potential customers and referrers are making judgements based on their first impressions when they visit your online profiles and website. On a subliminal level, they are receiving messages from your website about your credibility, expertise, value and worthiness. How the website looks, colour, use of text styles and images as well as how easy it is to navigate to and find out information and buy from you. Whether you stand out above your competitors or even better, appear to be the only one who solves their problem (club class) where you set the price. Or are you one of many who could solve the problem (riff raff!) competing for elbow space and price. As well as the obvious statements you’ve made on your website, the subliminal messages all play a part in helping visitors decide whether to be your client.

So, did Travelling Friend get upgraded after they shut the plane door? Unsurprisingly, no. They showed up unremarkable, like riff raff. They flew their long haul trip like the other hundreds in riff-raff.

So how are you showing up online?

Let me review your website! In a 30 minute free online marketing review consultation I’ll give you at least 3 things you can do to improve your website’s effectiveness to getting more Club Class sales.

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