HIM Alumna living the luxe life

Originally from Hungary, Liza studied at an international French school before working at the world-renowned luxury hotel enterprises Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons. This work experience drove her to pursue her higher studies at HIM, where she graduated in 2021 with a specialization in Luxury Brand Management. She is currently living her best life in Gstaad, Switzerland, working as a Client Advisor for Louis Vuitton.
 

How did studying at HIM and in Switzerland affect your life and career?

During my last year of high school, my plan was to move to England to study English Literature and Creative Writing. However, after graduation, I took a gap year and decided to get some work experience. I wanted to try an industry that would offer me experience and knowledge that I could use anywhere in the world; hospitality was an obvious choice. I started working at a 5-star hotel, and a couple of months later, I said goodbye to my UK plans. I recalibrated my ideas about my future, and a short year later, I was looking forward to starting my higher education journey in Switzerland!

HIM and the city of Montreux were love at first sight. During the open days, we toured the other schools in SEG, which were all great, but none felt like the perfect fit. When we arrived in Montreux and I entered the HIM lobby, I just knew I was at home. Apart from the amazing location, I liked that the degree had more of a business focus, which later on was complemented by a luxury brand management specialization.

My experience at HIM made me realize that I wanted to continue my career in Switzerland and work in the luxury industry. As a result, I am now a client advisor at Louis Vuitton in Gstaad. 

Can you describe the typical day-to-day responsibilities of a client advisor at Louis Vuitton?

In the morning, before opening the store, we take care of the deliveries we receive and do other general back-office tasks. The team has a morning brief during which important information is shared, and we plan the day. Once we open, we take care of clients, process orders, reply to emails, and do as much clienteling as possible.

What qualities and skills do you consider most important for success in this role? 

The key is being a people person. You have to be curious about your clients and want to get to know them and what they want from their experience in the store. Your general curiosity is backed up by your skills in story-telling, as it is one of the best tools you can use to close a sale. Story-telling demonstrates your product knowledge as well as your creativity. It is much more exciting for a client to invest in a product once they know about its history, material, and other interesting particulars. 

Could you describe the process of building and maintaining strong relationships with clients? What strategies are encouraged?

Clienteling is best described as getting to know your client and establishing a meaningful relationship with them. You want to learn as much as possible about them, about their personality, background, likes, and dislikes. You have to think about it as a professional friendship. You can then deepen the relationship by keeping in touch with them, sending them the latest collections tailored to what they like, and inviting them to events or just to the store for a cup of coffee or glass of champagne just to chat and catch up.

What tools and resources are available to client advisors to help them provide personalized and exceptional service to clients?

We have a few digital tools within the organization that help us better our day-to-day clienteling. We know each client's preferences via an app that lets us see their purchase history. One of our most used apps is our online catalog. The app allows you to see all products in the store and information about them, such as material, sizes available, and other stores where the item can be found. You can also search for products that aren't necessarily in your inventory, but they are still something you can show your client as inspiration or an article to order. Sending product images to clients who don't have a lot of time for in-store visits also enhances the client relationship experience, and we can often make sales like that as well.

What career advancement and growth opportunities exist within the Louis Vuitton organization, particularly for client advisors?

There are three main career advancement opportunities that client advisors within Louis Vuitton can pursue. First would be the growth within the store itself, which happens over several years: you can become a senior client advisor and, later on, even a store manager. In this case, the client advisor can follow this path at their initial store, or they can change location. Another career track would be to become an 'expert' in a specific area (high jewelry, high watches, hard-sided, etc.), this option is mainly available at the larger, global stores. The third option would be leaving the store life behind and going into the corporate side of the business. This can be anything from a position in PR to marketing or retail management.

Being part of one of the biggest companies in the luxury sector has another great advantage: client advisors can also try themselves out in other brands within the company (Bulgari, Loro Piana, Dior…, etc.).

How does Louis Vuitton cultivate a team-oriented and collaborative environment among client advisors?

Being a strong and efficient team is critical to the store's smooth and successful daily operation. Upon a new colleague's arrival, they learn not only from the manager but from other members of the team as well. It is essential to have a balance and mutual understanding between colleagues. When facing any challenges, being able to brainstorm with your team is necessary so that we can come up with different solutions and approaches. As we are from various backgrounds and have different past experiences, we all complement each other and can offer insights the other might have yet to think of. We also just have so much fun working together.