The Art of Selling to the Affluent: How to Attract, Service, and Retain Wealthy Customers and Clients for Life, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3

Wowing Today’s Affluent

Ninety-five percent of today’s affluent cite previous good service as the number one factor in making a repeat purchase.

—Factoid, 2013 APD Research

Imagine an abandoned Exxon station on the edge of a wealthy neighborhood, fronting a busy four-lane road. Now imagine this same gas station bustling with predominately affluent clients. One mile from my office in Greensboro, North Carolina, this is the reality. Less than three months after the station was purchased by Gaurav Patel, it was transformed from eyesore to wow store. In fact, Patel created such a buzz in the neighborhood that he generated a front-page story in our daily newspaper: “Station pumps gas, cleans windows—free!”

If purchasing gasoline can be turned into an affluent wow experience, you have no excuse for failing to wow your affluent clients. I interviewed Patel to see how he worked his miracle:

After buying the vacant station, Patel implemented a simple idea he’d been formulating for a while: providing extraordinary service. The “package” includes complimentary pump service (something that largely disappeared from gas stations in the late 1970s) and windshield cleaning for every client from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M., Monday through Friday. The air pressure in your tires is checked and filled as needed. Dogs get biscuits, kids get lollipops, and names are remembered. Visiting the station is like entering a scene in the movie American Graffiti. And it was all made possible by a young man earning ...