Who Should You Hire to Take Care of Your Very Important Clients (VICs)?

In the last two decades, building the Private Client team has been one of the most challenging yet fulfilling parts of my role in establishing Private Client businesses for luxury brands.

I interviewed and hired talents across all industries, from hospitality to insurance and high-street fashion brands to luxury watch specialists. In my consultancy role, I have also trained over 1,000 clienteling experts internationally.

Over time, I realised that knowing who the person really is beyond what the resume says is far more interesting for the clients and essential to thriving in the clienteling role.

Here are the five traits that make for an exceptional clienteling expert - one you should not miss in your VIC team:

We are in a client-focused business; nothing is more important than client empathy when making VICs feel truly seen.

Client empathy is the curiosity and the ability to recognise and understand clients' perspectives holistically - their needs, feelings, subtle emotional changes, and hidden meanings beyond what's said over a conversation.

Client empathy is hard to train - it comes with someone compassionate and able to apply deep listening and detail-focus to their client interactions.

Who do you enjoy spending time with?

We are always drawn to people with interesting stories to tell, people who are fun to hang out with, and those who are confident and radiate positive energy.

Hire someone who has unique stories and believes in their own 'mountain of values'—this could be about the hobbies they enjoy, the places they travel to, the knowledge they possess, the way they take care of themselves or see the world, and so forth.

In today's world, we can learn anything we want to—it is less than compulsory for someone to come with exact job-related knowledge, and more important is to be one who is always hungry to learn and to improve on his own initiative.

Luxury and fashion are constantly evolving, so we want to have someone in the team who stays ahead of trends, identifies the new waves before the clients do, and is seen as a true 'client advisor'.

One of my favourite sayings from my top-performing VIC Stylist is, "To sell is not to sell". What he means is to blend selling so well into the lifestyle that it becomes so subtle and relevant that clients don't feel pushed to purchase.

Creative selling is constantly discovering and identifying clients' needs before they notice themselves. It is also about creating innovative ways to engage and delight clients beyond the obvious.

The VIC Stylist I mentioned has the most delightful celebrations with his clients, from celebrating one's horse winning a race to a mother's giving birth.

It is easy to tell apart someone who's truly enjoying their job from someone who's doing it under pressure.

To be successful in the clienteling industry, one must be passionate about their roles, enjoy the process, and be in it for the long game.

The ones who are having fun themselves are likely to make it fun for the clients—and who doesn't want more light-hearted moments in life?

Credit this article to all the Private Client teams that worked with and inspired me.

Whenever you are ready, here are the ways we can support you (or your business) to thrive in your industry:

• Review your customer loyalty strategy

• Audit luxury Customer Journey & Experience

• Master The Art and Science of Clienteling

• Design your VIC Event & Experience

• Deliver an Inspiring Keynote

• Support your leadership and communication development