The evolution of buying behaviors and decision-making in HNW and UHNW markets.

Last week, the CFO of a multi-billion-dollar luxury brand dropped by a session I was teaching. He liked it so much, he cancelled all of his afternoon meetings to stay to the end.

The topic? The evolution of buying behaviors and decision-making in HNW and UHNW markets.

Over six weeks of almost continuous work travel, I have delivered versions of this briefing to sales organizations across luxury retail, private aviation, wealth management and luxury automotive.

And I keep coming back to the same problem.

Brands invest enormously in teaching sales teams what they sell. Product. Stories. Process. CRM. Far less in giving them a sophisticated understanding of who they are selling to and how that person is changing.

Instead, brands often rely heavily on experience.

But experience is a terrible substitute for market intelligence when the market itself is changing.

A 20-year veteran may know their clients exceptionally well while having a surprisingly narrow view of the HNW/UHNW market outside their book of business. And ironically, tenure can reinforce assumptions precisely when buying behavior is shifting.

This is why our briefings take a completely different approach.

We combine a tremendous amount of our proprietary research with what we've learned across hundreds of global engagements to get into what actually changes the sale: understanding there are 12 archetypes of HNW & UHNW buyers; how extraordinary access and optionality alter purchase psychology; why traditional demonstrations of expertise can now diminish credibility; how decision criteria form before a client ever engages with you; and why knowing someone's preferences is not the same as knowing what will move them.

Then we put that intelligence up against the way the organization actually sells.

For a company with hundreds or thousands of people in front of HNW and UHNW clients, being slightly wrong about the consumer gets multiplied across every client conversation, opportunity and market.

As the day went on last week, word spread. More and more leaders from across the business appeared and stood along the back of the room.

I loved that.

Because HNW and UHNW are not monolithic markets. Knowing someone's purchase history or net worth tells you remarkably little about how that person will actually make a decision.

Sales teams need this intelligence. So does anyone designing the experiences, products, services and propositions those clients will encounter.

You can't design intelligently for a consumer you only understand through your CRM. And a generic wealth report won't tell you nearly enough.

A newly minted crypto centi-millionaire doesn't operate like a biotech CEO with three exits under his belt.

Knowing they're both worth $100 million is the least interesting thing about them.