“Fitzgerald had said, ‘The rich are different from us.’ Hemingway had replied, ‘Yes, they have more money.’”
As it turns out, that famous exchange never took place. It did turn up in an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story (“Rich Boy,” 1926), but it was based on another conversation. No matter the context, from my experience of dealing with ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, I can assure that their behavior is different in many ways beyond having money.
My business as the founder/president of a global art gallery devoted entirely to rugs woven during the “Golden Age of Persian Weaving” (ca. 1800 to ca. 1910) has allowed me to work with some of the world’s wealthiest people (more than 75 of my clients are Forbes List billionaires). What have I observed?
By and large, because of their financial position, status in society, lifestyle and their exposure to rare objects, they expect a standard of service and a “product” unknown to everyone else. I have experienced, correspondingly, that by approaching my interactions with them as both an information exchange and an educational process that I am developing many lifelong clients.
This has created for me a very specific approach to and understanding of how to manage the “sales” process that we employ, which I believe is applicable to any endeavor whose clients are among the ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals and families. My business presents antique Oriental rugs that are both rare art and precious tangible assets, valued in the $20,000 to more than $500,000 per piece range. Yet many of my clients who are the leaders of large, multi-national corporations and old-wealth families have remarked to me how our understanding of client behavior in our market segment is one of the central things that make them extremely comfortable in working with us.
First, there is the recognition that for the extremely wealthy, time is their most valuable commodity. Second, we believe ultra-high-net-worth clients place a premium value on having access to products and services that are both valuable and “under the radar.” In other words, they want to acquire items that have intrinsic and unique importance, as opposed to being expensive but already “discovered” and widely available. Third, UHNW clients value a trusting relationship as paramount in the process. And fourth, while price or value is always a consideration in any transaction, I find that ultimately the price is secondary to the object of their desire.
To have reached the pinnacle of success that my gallery, Claremont Rug Company, has achieved is based on these principles and understanding that my clients are used to obtaining what they desire. I’ve found that success in working with clients at this level of wealth is dependent upon building a trusting relationship, having intimate product knowledge and recognizing that the relationships are not really about selling something. Rather, we work extremely closely with clients to uncover what they desire and help them understand what they are acquiring. We act as intimate consultants to help and guide them to explore their passions.
Client loyalty is extremely important to our business. I have clients who have worked with us for nearly the full 37 years of my gallery’s existence. Sometimes I work with a single person, other times it is an entire family over that three-and-a-half-decade period. With others, the contact may be only once a decade. But in all cases, they are extremely loyal because I have worked closely with them to build important private art collections of rare rugs that are extremely valuable and considered significant precious tangible assets.
Our approach is entirely educational and completely deferential. Even if that Fitzgerald conversation never took place, we recognize that our clients are extremely different than others, but in more ways than simply having great wealth. They wish to have access to our knowledge in a palatable and pleasurable manner. They wish to have relationships in which they achieve a level of comfort where they can let go and enjoy themselves, knowing that they are being taken care of in every aspect.
Our business model from day one has been predicated upon the notion that the best Persian and tribal rugs from the Second Golden Age of Weaving are objects of art on the same level with other fine arts and antiques, but have been undervalued. We have been proven correct. We also established early on a level of client satisfaction and an approach that continues to value our clients’ most precious commodity: time. We understand how much they value the knowledge and reputation of their art dealer, their desire to have access to a one-in-the-world inventory and their desire to understand what they are acquiring.
In a very real sense, we recognize that client service starts not after a purchase but at the initial interaction. This continues not only through the sales process but for years to come through our ongoing service and long-term rug exchange programs. With this as our operating premise, we have built a broad base of knowledgeable, highly motivated clients who value working with us. They are provided with access to exceptional pieces of art, through our program of private sales that satisfy them on an emotional level while assuring them that they are acquiring precious tangible assets, which have increased in rarity and value for decades.
As a privately-owned gallery whose niche for more than three decades has been working with extremely wealthy clients, we have built a knowledge base on a very specific business model that is applicable across a broad spectrum of industries. While our product is art-level antique Oriental rugs, our success is based on fundamental principles that are all too often misapplied or disregarded by those who work with the ultra-wealthy. As a result, we have active clients on five continents and annually sell more art-level Second Golden Age rugs than all the world’s leading auction houses combined.
Jan David Winitz is the founder and president of Claremont Rug Company.
