Elizabeth Solaru With Luxury Business Emporium

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of High Velocity Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Elizabeth Solaru, and she’s the CEO and founder of Luxury Business Emporium. Welcome.

Elizabeth Solaru: Thank you so much. I’m very excited to be here. And thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. For folks who aren’t familiar, can you share a little bit about Luxury Business Emporium? How you serving folks?

Elizabeth Solaru: Yes. So essentially small businesses that want to get into the luxury industry or businesses that want to serve the high end client, I help them get those clients. So that’s what I do in a nutshell.

Lee Kantor: So you’re a coach for brands to help them kind of, uh, earn their way up to the luxury market.

Elizabeth Solaru: Absolutely. So I coach I also consult for a number of brands.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How’d you get involved in this line of work?

Elizabeth Solaru: Ah, that’s a very good question. So I started my career many, many moons ago as a scientist. I was a microbiologist, I worked in a hospital. And then I remember thinking, there’s got to be more to life than being a lab rat. So I decided to, uh, do something different. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew it had to be something in business. So I went off and did an MBA. I probably should have just used that money to set up a business, but, hey, so did an MBA. And then I became a headhunter, started recruiting very high end chief executives and chairs and finance directors, etc. and then 2008, as you know what happened the city tank. So I was laid off from work, and I decided to set up a company that I’d always wanted to do when I was a child, and that was having a cake shop. So I started my cake company, but I knew I had problems because I needed clients, and I knew I wanted a certain type of client. So I took the yellow Pages, I called the Yellow Pages, and as it would have happen, I happened to call someone who happened to be the cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth, and she happened to be one of the best wedding planners in the world, and I started working with her. She wanted, you know, I said, I’ll bring some samples, you can try my cakes. And that’s how it started. And that was my entry into the luxury world. And then that went on for quite a while. And then 2020, the pandemic hit. We were all at home, and I think a bunch of us went on to clubhouse. And then I realized that apart from experts and professors of luxury or luxury experts, not many people were talking about luxury businesses from the perspective of a founder. And that was what I dedicated my rooms in clubhouse to doing. And then people were like, oh my goodness, you should definitely write a book. So I wrote a book, The Lux Printer, and here we are today.

Lee Kantor: So how do you help? To me, I’m a big fan of if no matter what your business is, you should have kind of a premium high end service around it or a product that targets that market just as a rule. But in you, in your work, are you really helping brands kind of rethink, okay, how can I take what I’m doing and kind of measure it up to be a luxury brand? Like what what what is your typical client conversation about?

Elizabeth Solaru: Um. Okay. So I’ll give you I’ll give you an example. Uh, for example, worked with a client who is into cyber security. So then you wouldn’t necessarily think, oh, that’s a luxury brand, but, uh, work with them, help them with the rebrand, help them with their positioning. Uh, realize that their target, they were trying to target high end jewelers. And as you know, with jewelry, very small stones, uh, very immense value. And how? And we’re talking about people who are naturally, um, for lack of a better word, very geeky, very introverted. So how do they meet these very high end luxury jewelry brands? So I work with them. We came up with the strategy that really played to their strengths. And yeah, that’s how they ended up getting, um, quite a number of jewelry brands. So again, there was something there about Niching down. You can’t serve everybody. You’ve got to have your own niche. Um, and their niche was luxury high end jewelry brands and that was our target. So, um, not everyone understands sometimes that what they’re doing right now could easily be become a luxury brand. But there are at least five things that need to happen. I call them the five pillars of luxury branding. Five things need to happen before you can call yourself a luxury brand. And I think this is where people get it wrong.

Lee Kantor: Because a lot of it has. It has to be congruent, right? Like you can’t if you say your luxury, you can’t not look luxury or you can’t behave luxury like you have to be kind of all in on this, right?

Elizabeth Solaru: Oh, absolutely. So I first of all it starts with a person. It starts with your mindset. And then it starts with certain things that need to be in place. So to give you an example. Um, the first thing that people look for in a luxury brand is perception. So how have they perceived, um, that particular company or that person? If you’re a solopreneur and if those things don’t line up, you will not be believed. Uh, the second pillar that I talk about is making sure that your product is good. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be good. And for lack of a better, better word. Sometimes a lot of people present very mediocre, um, products or services, and they honestly believe it’s the best in class. So sometimes half of what I do is trying to say to them, you think you’re, you know, your product is the best in the market. I can show you it’s not. Um, and these are the reasons why. So what can we do to fix either the product or the perception of your product? So there’s that as well. Um, there’s also something around the business model that you choose. So I talk in my book about the five different types of luxury brands, and people think that, you know, luxury brands is just about, um, maybe having a lot of money or whatever.

Elizabeth Solaru: But there are five different types of brands, and you need to determine which one you want to position yourself in. So are you going to be a mass stage or are you going to be ultra ultra, you know, um, ultra high. Um, in in your branding, if you decide to be a mass stage, you probably might get a thousand clients a year. But if you decide to be ultra, ultra high, you might get 1 or 2 clients a year and the lead times might be 9 to 12 months. So people need to understand that. I also talk about the different types of luxury brand founders. There are nine types and you need to know what your type is. So for example, I come out as a visionary and an artisan and that’s actually both good and bad. It’s good to be an artisan. But the problem is I’m so busy creating the perfect product. Time and money. Um, I don’t care about them. I just want to create an amazing product. Um, also, as a visionary, I’m so focused on the future, I am not grounded enough in the present. So you need to know yourself in order to create that type of luxury brand that you desire.

Lee Kantor: So now in this part of a luxury brands or as a part of luxury brands, isn’t there a level of scarcity or difficulty to get at there? It can’t be for everybody, just by definition, right? There has to be limited supply or I only see so many clients. There has to be a way to kind of shut off the spigot. You can’t serve everybody.

Elizabeth Solaru: Oh, absolutely. That. I think a lot of that is true. Um, a lot of brands sometimes rely on scarcity marketing to get their clients. So, um, a brand that sells leather goods that sells handbags, particularly handbags. Um, Hermes, for example, they do that particularly well. So they are especially around, um, their handbags, the Birkin. And that product is protected. Um, they come down hard against anyone who wants to counterfeit, etc., etc.. So you’ve got all that around that particular brand. So if you want to buy a handbag that is five figures, six figures, you go on a waiting list, you might have to wait two years. And um, again, this is all the stories out there. So, you know, allegedly, you may even have to buy certain products of a certain value in order to qualify for the handbag. So it operates like an exclusive club. But a number of luxury brands that are also successful operate at three tiers. So you have level one, which is the lipsticks, the perfumes, the keychains, maybe the wallets, um, little things that if I save up for a maybe a month, I might be able to buy. Then you’ve got the next level where if I save up for a year, um, and we’re talking about off the peg, we’re talking about shoes.

Elizabeth Solaru: We’re talking about baby handbags. If I save up for a year, I might be able to afford that. And then you’ve got the third level up, which is couture. So that’s handmade, you know, um, that’s more sell a kidney or something like that, or, you know, whatever to be able to afford that. So you have that tiered levels. And I often say to um, clients that I coach or that I consult with, you need to structure your business like that. And it goes to what you said earlier on that if you had those three levels, um, where you have the bottom level driving a lot of the income. Um, and that’s how many, um, luxury brands operate. It’s the, the lower levels that drive the income. However, the marketing, the adverts, everything is always immaculate. So it doesn’t matter whether they’re selling a $50 nail polish or a 100,000 pound handbag. Everything. There is a lot of congruency in the advertising, in the marketing, in the promotion, and I think that is something that many smaller brands can learn.

Lee Kantor: So if you were working with, like you mentioned, the cybersecurity brand earlier, if you’re working with kind of a a business to business brand that so far in their life cycle they’ve just been, you know, just another regular company. What’s the first thing you do to help them, you know, reposition themselves as a luxury brand?

Elizabeth Solaru: So the first thing I would need to do is look at their past and look at where they want to go in the future and see their readiness levels. Because to be honest with you, a lot of people say stuff, we want to do this and we want to do that, but they don’t understand the realities of serving in that market. Because if you’re serving at that market, you can’t give this standard, um, you know, fill out our form or um, or, uh, contact us at blah, blah. You know, you can’t do any of that. Um, you know, yes, you can use tools, but these people will expect, uh, they might expect 24 over seven service. They expect a level of service and a level of detail and dedication that you might not be prepared for. So for me, that readiness level is very, very important. So that’s number one. So that’s the first thing I test. The second thing I will do is to look at what they have to offer. So if what you have to offer is not on par with what the best out there is doing, then you need to raise your game.

Elizabeth Solaru: So there is something around that as well. And then the third thing I will do is say to them, okay, you know, dream clients, let’s go. Who do you want to target? And then we have a list of who we want to target. And we go about targeting these people. Because the way you you don’t you can’t sell. Um, how do I put this? You can’t sell like a retail shop. Um, you’ve got to sell slightly differently, and you’ve got to get your clients slightly differently. And you’ve got to understand that the lead times might be different because you have to build that level of trust. So there are certain activities you need to do. They need to know who you are. And you need to leave what I call breadcrumbs so they can follow those breadcrumbs. Um, this is not a matter of you doing the hard sell or you doing these pitches that are people that are putting people off. You need to have very well crafted, very well thought out ways of attracting these sorts of clients. So that’s what I would do.

Lee Kantor: Now, what do you do when times are tough? Like if there’s an economic downturn, is there a way to do. Is there a way to kind of stay luxury without kind of having a 50% off sale?

Elizabeth Solaru: Oh, absolutely. Um, when times are tough, no matter how tough times get, uh, the luxury sector, although that’s been hit right now, the luxury sector is still thriving. Certain parts of the sector still thriving, and the luxury sector has weathered so much over the last hundred years or so, and it will weather a lot more. So the first thing I would say is obviously don’t give discounts, but you can give more. So rather than um, let me give you an example. So right now, um, certain hotels have realized that, okay, people might not be booking rooms, but they will book to eat, or they might book an afternoon tea, or they might book a spa. So what what they’re trying to do is to at least get people in to eat, to have a treat. Um, they give them more. Um, there’s a lot of, um, hotels turning dead space into, uh, little pop ups. You know, they do, um, collaborations with other brands. Uh, just a pop up one day or two. So they have that element of scarcity. They still have the quality, and then they also have people coming in because it’s different, because it’s new, because that’s one of the things around luxury. People want new things, but they still want the feel of luxury and heritage. So those are some of the things that I would suggest that people do when times are hard. Do not discount, but what you can do is find things that you can add that will attract people. And people think, yep, we’re getting real good value here.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, that’s a great point. I was just recently in Los Angeles at a luxury hotel, and they had a pop up with a Food Network pastry chef, and so then that’s helping both of their brands.

Elizabeth Solaru: Correct? Yeah. So and, you know, you will notice a lot of hotels. We’ll be doing that a lot of brands. Um, so for example, there was a brand, um, very luxury brand in the UK, Selfridges. Um, I think I believe it was um, um, it was actually a company of hundreds of years old set up by an American, I believe, Mr. Selfridge. And they did, um, a car park, boot sale, obviously very high end brands. And they literally had cars with, um, excess stock spilling out of it, and they invited a bunch of people. And people went and they had an amazing time just buying Deadstock again, raising money. Um, it speaks to sustainability. It speaks to diversity. And more importantly, they’re getting people in the door. So those are some of the things that people need to be doing, not necessarily just doing 60% off or 50% off, which dilutes your brand.

Lee Kantor: Now, this is one of the the reasons people hire you and people like yourself, right, where you can combine this high level of creativity with kind of the these, these kind of business disciplines that are needed if you want to do this the right way.

Elizabeth Solaru: Oh, absolutely. Um, because, you know, I don’t want to sound like a cliche, but this is where you have the thinking outside the box. Um, because sometimes when you’re running your company on a day to day basis, there’s more than enough on your plate. Um, you’re trying to juggle so many things. The last thing you want to do is start thinking. So sometimes you just get somebody out from outside who has the objectivity, who has the experience of working with a bunch of other brands across different sectors who might be able to give you at least 1 or 2 good suggestions. Not all suggestions are going to pan out, but at least out of maybe five suggestions, there’ll be one that will hit the jackpot and will feel right for your company. And then you’ll be able to do that. So again, um, when times are hard, creativity and innovation is actually born because people need to survive and people need to eat. So it’s a matter of, okay, I need my clients. How do I go about this? And, um, you know, this is part of the reason I wrote the book The Luxury, because I tell my clients, if you can’t afford me, at least go buy my book and begin to understand the very basics of luxury and luxury clients. And how the modern luxury client actually thinks. As opposed to what we were told in the past where it was a luxury brand dictating luxury. But now with a certain generation, the Gen Zs and the alphas, they are the ones dictating how they want to enjoy their luxury. And they should be listened to.

Lee Kantor: Now, um, who was your ideal client?

Elizabeth Solaru: Oh, that’s a great one. Um, my ideal client would be somebody with a great product. Um, somebody who doesn’t know where to start from. Um, maybe they’ve had a level of success, but they want to go to the next level. Um, that person would be my ideal client because they know what successful is like. They are ready, and they are willing to understand what it would take to level up. So that would be my ideal client.

Lee Kantor: Now, are they kind of retail? Are they, like you mentioned, food? Are they B2B like or is it industry agnostic? It doesn’t matter if they have a good business, you’ll find kind of the luxury angle for them.

Elizabeth Solaru: Yeah, I think there’s an element of that. But I tend to work with a number of coaches. So coaches I tend to work with people in the, um, event space, in the hospitality space, and also, um, to my surprise, cyber security. Who knew that even technology, you know, who knew that even technology, you can find the luxury angle for that. So I would suggest anyone who is ready and willing to take that step into luxury, um, there would be an ideal client.

Lee Kantor: Are there any trends you’re seeing when it comes to luxury that other businesses just aren’t seeing yet?

Elizabeth Solaru: Um, I would say with trends, I mean, I would say, oh, that’s a, that’s a, that’s a tricky one because I honestly don’t believe in trends. Because I believe good, good business survives all trends. But what we’re seeing in luxury right now is we’re seeing a lot of upheaval. So a lot of brands, since the beginning of the year, they’ve had a change in CEO, a changing creative director, a change in, um, um, uh, people running the business, etc.. So and with that change, what I’m seeing is that, um, recruiting the same people with the, you know, with the same background into those jobs is not, um, is no longer, uh, what’s the word I’m looking for is no longer needed because what even luxury brands, the big luxury brands. To give you an example, um, a brand recruited, um, the the former CEO of Renault. The car, the car, the car people. Um, so this guy had been running. Renault was responsible for turning it around, and the caring group recruited him to be CEO of Gucci. Now, that almost never happens in luxury.

Elizabeth Solaru: So that because they want, I suspect it’s because, well, Gucci has been going down for a bit now. So they need somebody with fresh eyes to have a look. So we’re seeing trends where it’s okay to have this cross, um, cross sector um, experience. Uh, we also see trends in the luxury market looking at other markets. So a lot of luxury brands we’re looking to China. And they were doing great with China. But other countries are emerging. So Japan’s doing very very well with luxury Korea doing really really well. Parts of Africa are doing well. India is also growing when it comes to luxury. So what we’re seeing is lots of brands going out of their comfort zone, countries to go into different countries and they’re now, um, um, looking for cultural intelligence. And by that, I mean, for example, the way luxury behaves in the north part of the United States is different to what happens in the southern states of the United States. So that kind of cross-cultural intelligence is becoming more important when it comes to luxury.

Lee Kantor: And in luxury. Is there one part of the world that is usually first? Is it the Asian market or European? Where where does luxury kind of. Who are the first movers in luxury usually.

Elizabeth Solaru: Oh that’s a very that’s a very good question. I think if it’s technology, um, if it’s technology backed or based, definitely the East for sure. Um, because they are, you know, way ahead when it comes to technology. They’re doing things with, um, AI and tech, and the innovation out there is incredible. Um, I think when it comes to certain fashion brands, definitely the West. Um, and that’s because not necessarily because those fashion brands are doing it better, but that’s because those fashion brands have had a hundred year head start over certain brands in other parts of the world. So certain elements of creativity, I would say in the West or, um, parts of Europe, parts of America, for example. So it really depends on the industry. And if you’re looking at things like maybe watches, for example. Definitely. Um, you know, the Swiss, um, you know, Europe, um, because they’ve got some amazing, amazing, um, hydrologists out there. So again, it really depends on the sector.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more about your practice and maybe get on your calendar or get Ahold of your book. Is there a website? What’s the best way to connect?

Elizabeth Solaru: Yes. The best way to connect with me is on LinkedIn as Elizabeth Solari. I’m on LinkedIn. I write about luxury every day. My book you can get from Amazon.com. It’s called The Lock Spinner. How to Start and Build a Successful Luxury Brand. And my website is called The Luxury Business emporium.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Elizabeth, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Elizabeth Solaru: Thank you very much for your time. I truly appreciate our conversation.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on High Velocity Radio.