At Velvet, communication is focused on the customer and on excellence
Fashion, luxury and glamour can teach us good marketing lessons through interesting stories like “Velvet,” the Spanish series from Antena 3, now in its fourth season. Looking back at how fashion was seen, felt, understood and lived at the Velvet Galleries toward the end of the 1960s invites us to remember lessons that are perfectly applicable in our 2016, because ultimately, there are qualities that never change: the customer, exclusivity, added value, tailor-made solutions and innovation.Walking into the galleries means understanding communication as a two-way circuit, where everyone from the galleries' heir, Alberto, down to the newest clerk knows the business well, is invested in it, and looks to satisfy each of its exclusive customers. He even adds his own share of value by clashing with his father, Don Rafael, who has a conservative style that the young man wants to change, since he wants to expand the market by giving it an air of modernity and sophistication for its customers — something the Paris market already enjoys and that needs to be brought to Spain.
But what is it about Velvet that captivates us? What makes us watch it again and again are those phrases and tips that remind us that nothing is possible without the customer, and that everything is achievable if we're willing to give more. As one of its characters would say: “Let's show the Oxford department store who we are.”
The customer as a symbol of happiness.
“A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all,” said Michael LeBoeuf, and that's something the department store's staff saw clearly. Its owner, Don Rafael Márquez, said his only mission in life was to bring happiness to his customers, and that they always achieved it — especially since the wealthier the customer, the more demanding her fashion knowledge.At Velvet, communication skills are a tool that sells itself. The clerks make direct, pleasant eye contact with each customer, and listen closely before recommending anything tailored to them. Their professional language blends the words: glamour, class and money — something a wealthy person loves to hear again and again. This gets the customer to arrive out of curiosity and leave more than happy, exceeding their expectations after a shopping experience that invites them to come back again and again.
One occasion, a thousand opportunities.
The launch of each fashion collection becomes an opportunity to bring together the cream of the aristocracy and generate networking. Every special date, like Christmas, is also an opportunity to combine layout and design in a unique, trend-setting way. Velvet's window displays and counters, under the direction of the daring, elegant designer Raúl de la Riva, come to life and adapt to each of his designs, because he's willing to pour all his talent into the galleries and, together with them, become a symbol of new distinction.Today's marketing constantly monitors and spots opportunities to put brands in the spotlight, from activations involving a specific segment, to product launches, or building a news angle to catch the media's attention in exchange for information that adds value for their readers. The opportunity to stand out might be right under our noses — all we need to do is develop that observer we carry within us. The way to discover it is easy: think about your customer and ask yourself: What are they looking for, and how do they look for it? Refine the answer and find the most creative way to meet that need to score a point in your favor.
Quality and warmth to win hearts.
“We don't sell clothes here. We sell haute couture, exclusivity, quality, class — and our customers don't come here just for that, but for the treatment we're going to give them.” That's the line with which the head of staff, Don Emilio, the store's longest-serving employee, opens the galleries' doors while training his staff. And even though every business is out to sell a good or service, presenting it plainly, with no tone or flair, can come across as cold, boring and routine.When a person buys insurance, they're not buying “money for dying” — they're buying “peace of mind in a difficult moment, in which their family will be protected, even when the most important person, them, is gone.”
The same happens there. We know it's clothes, dresses or suits, but the added value lies in the quality that the designers and seamstresses put into every garment — perfect, sophisticated, gorgeous, leaving everyone speechless; and it doesn't matter if a wedding dress gets lost, they're capable of designing an even more stunning, beautiful one overnight by working as a team, all to win over their customers.
Innovating and growing to endure.
If you think customers have become more demanding than they were 1, 10 or 20 years ago, I'm afraid to tell you that's a mistake. Customers have always been demanding, especially when they're used to quality and good service. They'll always want to know what else you can give them, or what other options they can enjoy.Like any thriving company, Velvet went through a difficult financial crisis, which forced it to look at new business opportunities: breaking away from the founder's traditional, rigid style of fashion to make way for a De La Riva collection for a bold, modern woman — which didn't achieve the expected success, but was still a step on the road to success. Or the decision to design uniforms for the flight attendants at Airsa, an airline that wanted the biggest department store of the era to surprise them with an elegant model that also offered comfort to the flight attendants. Designing the new line, presenting it fabulously in just a few minutes, and overcoming many more challenges along the way, was no obstacle to meeting the goal.
The same happens with that customer who often asks us for “something different” or “something never seen in our country,” but who challenges us to break the mold, to innovate with quality and professionalism, because that's the only way to stand out from everyone else — the only way to endure.
As De La Riva would say: “We're artists, we don't make mistakes, we just change our minds” — a fun way of showing us that we can always improve our customer care and service. And to remember that sometimes a mistake can lead us to the best business opportunities.