A key concept that Jean-Michel had from the very early days of his business is that there is nothing like going to a foreign country and seeing a friend who is a 'connected local'.
A connected local will show you a lot of things that you would normally never see.
So for 12 years Jean-Michel and his team have made sure that every client gets to meet some very special 'connected locals' as part of their luxury NZ holiday experience.
A great example of this was the very first client that Jean-Michel put together a luxury NZ holiday for. This particular client had a real passion for wind surfing.
So as part of their luxury holiday Jean-Michel arranged for this client to spend time windsurfing with Bruce Kendall the NZ Olympic Gold Medal windsurfing champion.
Jean-Michel's client will remember that experience forever.
After all, how often does anyone get to enjoy their favourite sport, hobby or interest with someone who is world class in that field?
(It was actually even better than this. When Bruce Kendall told his sister what he was doing for this tourist client she decided she wanted to go out at the same time. Barbara Kendall is another Olympic windsurfing champion so the client actually got two Olympic medalists for the price of one as it were!)
Jean- said that we have some amazing people right here in New Zealand. These people are passionate about what they do and are real high achievers in their field.
So Jean-Michel arranges for amazing people like this to a key part of every luxury holiday itinerary that he prepares for a client.
And these people then share what they do with Jean-Michel's clients.
Jean-Michel told what he arranged for one of his clients who was a French lady who'd had a child with a New Zealander.
When her child was 18 this lady wanted to visit NZ so she got in touch with Jean-Michel.
Jean-Michel looked at what she was after and thought 'we can do something very special here.'
So they got her and her daughter onto a private float plane in Rotorua and that private float plane landed at Solitaire Lodge.
The lodge was closed at the time but was opened up especially for Jean-Michel and his two clients. The clients had a fantastic lunch and dinner at Solitaire Lodge.
The next day they were picked up by a delightful Maori guide, who is actually a chef and an outdoorsman.
He took them to a sacred forest and walked through it with them and explained to them the Maori connection with nature and so on.
Then when they came to a stream he pulled out a couple of pounamu, (pieces of greenstone) and blessed them and washed them in the stream and gave them to the two ladies.
By this stage, already with the walk, they felt really connected and then the two pounamu coming out just reduced them to floods of tears.
They had an absolutely fantastic time in NZ and they were gushing when they left.
As Jean-Michel said 'they are probably still telling other people about their wonderful NZ experience even though it was all over in 3 days.'
Jean-Michel explained that's an example of going a bit further to try and understand what someone's aim is. And then to really hit that aim as best as you possibly can, given budget and timing and so on.
A key lesson I got from chatting with Jean-Michel is looking for how you can create a world class memorable experience for every client that you deal with.
This is a great way to differentiate your business from many of your competitors.
"Luxury is attention to detail, originality, exclusivity and above all quality." - Angelo Bonati
Action Exercise:
How can you create a world class memorable experience for your clients?
Graham McGregor is a consultant specialising in memorable marketing.
You can download his 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage' Ebook at
no charge from www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com
