Luxury Consumers Tighten Their Gucci Belts

Survey: Luxury Consumers Growing Cautious
Luxury consumers are getting nervous about their financial status, causing their spending to plummet in recent months, according to Unity Marketing’s Luxury Consumption Index (LCI), which measures affluent consumer confidence. The survey reported that luxury consumer spending dropped by 26.9% from April to June 2012, compared to the same period last year. “Looking back over the past three years, we find that luxury consumers, particularly the ultra-affluents, unleashed pent-up luxury demand for luxury indulgences during 2010, but since then affluent confidence, and their willingness to spend on luxury, has been constrained,” said Pamela Danzinger, president of Unity Marketing.

Burris Takes a Stand
“It’s important to create the right office environment. We were not built to sit all day. This is why I recently got a stand-up desk. It was weird at first, but eventually you feel more energized.” – Nolan Burris, Visionistics

Seven LinkedIn Mistakes to Avoid
Social media expert Alexandra Gibson from OttoPilot Media, a marketing consultancy, says she sees too many professionals making mistakes when using LinkedIn. Here are the seven mistakes she sees most often.

1. You only use LinkedIn when you need a job. You’ll be much better served by keeping your profile and connections current, rather than just reaching out to people when you need something.

2. You have an incomplete profile. A bare-bones profile does not do you (or your agency) any favors. Include a description of the results you achieved in the past. Creating a keyword-rich profile will help people find you.

3. You don’t belong to the right groups. There are more groups out there than there are seconds in a day, so it can be difficult to decide which are most important. If you join no other groups, join your alumni groups. Industry groups are a clear next step.

4. You’re not sharing valuable content. When you publish a great blog post, share it on your LinkedIn feed. Also, share content in your feed from other sources besides your own.

5. You’re not building out your connections. You should be constantly adding and accepting connections from people you know professionally or personally. Gibson does not recommend trying to connect with people whom you don’t actually know. You want this to be your real professional network.

6. You’re not utilizing LinkedIn Answers. The under-utilized LinkedIn Answers section is another valuable place to show your expertise and provide value, according to Gibson. People ask questions; if you know anything about the topic, you can answer in a forum. Unlike other social media sites, the section gets visited by people with similar questions over time, so it can generate leads even a year later.

7. You haven’t brought your team/staff along. Since LinkedIn is a professional network that focuses on individual, professional connections, you should emphasize its importance to your entire team.

Communicating With Gen Y: Text Is Best
“Differences in communication styles can be a huge challenge in the workplace. Our bosses keep calling us to set up a meeting, and we keep texting them to say, ‘k thx c u @430!!!1!!’  Fundamental differences in how generations were raised as well as technological advances have forever altered how each of us chooses to communicate. Generation Y’s preferences are 1) texting, 2) email, 3) social media, 4) face-to-face and 5) phone calls. You know this is true if you’ve ever tried to get a Gen Y’er to answer their mobile phone.” – Jason Ryan Dorsey, The Gen Y Report

Matching Suppliers and Home-Based Agents
“A lot of Independent travel agents are coming in new to the industry, so they don’t have contacts or relationships with the suppliers. Suppliers don’t typically call on the home-based or independent agent. But there are hidden revenue opportunities for suppliers who do reach out to them.  We facilitate this through our national conference, where independents can meet with suppliers. We’re also reaching out to host agencies to get a list of their top independent contractors, so we can match them up with our preferred suppliers.” – Joe Jiffo, vice president of development, Ensemble

Attn. Agents: You Have Value
“You’ve got to start upselling, and you’ve got to charge service fees for everything you do, because you have a value.” – Tony Fragapane, Voyages Concierge Deluxe Travel, Montreal