With her unmistakable bob and ubiquitous sunglasses—which make her inscrutable to the eyes of those present during fashion shows—she is universally recognized as “the most influential figure in fashion.”
This is Anna Wintour, the iron lady of fashion for over 30 years now.
In fact, after becoming director of Vogue America in 1988, Anna managed to transform the magazine into the definitive authority on women’s fashion.
At the end of the 1980s, the magazine suffered competition from Elle America and Wintour was chosen as a key figure to rejuvenate and revolutionize the aesthetics (and sales) of Vogue.
And in line with its mission, the first issue created under her artistic direction represented a break from everything that had been achieved up to that point in the sector.
Instead of publishing the classic cover with the face of a model in the foreground, Anna actually chose a full-length photo of a blonde girl walking the streets of New York, as she smiled while wearing a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
The publication of that cover was an unprecedented event, so much so that the editors of the magazine themselves thought it was a joke. It distanced itself so much from what was considered the industry norm that it was a real shock for the standards of that time.
This, as well as the significant use of celebrities for photo shoots, gave Vogue new momentum—which soon led to it becoming the reference magazine for women’s fashion.
Anna had the courage to break the rules of the sector and to differentiate herself in a significant way from the competition that surrounded her at the time, and… lo and behold, she reaped the benefits from an entrepreneurial point of view.
Today, Anna is the lifetime director of Vogue, as well as being the artistic director of the entire Condé Nast group, with a salary of 2 million dollars a year and a net worth of about 35 million dollars.
Her authoritarian, charismatic and implacable persona that is relentless in criticisms has been so important in the industry that she was also the inspiration for the character played by Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”.
Today, a word from her can literally hand success to a designer or destroy them and their brand.
In short, people do, follow and buy whatever Wintour says.
End of story.
Anna is a prime example of how important it is to become an authority for any person wanting to grow their business. As the leader of an industry, community or market, you can actually position yourself (and your company) as the indisputable expert, like the “celebrity” with which everyone wants to work at any cost.
In this regard, in an interview Anna stated that “print media is still the most important and profitable part for Vogue,” but to be a true beacon in the industry, Vogue must not simply publish a monthly magazine. What Vogue has developed is “a clear and authoritative point of view” and all its brand operations are exclusively geared towards “feeding the power and authority of Vogue”.
The power of authority therefore allows you to abandon the lowest stage of the pyramid—the one that forces you to suffer customer pressure and discount requests—to reach a position in which selling and building a relationship of trust with customers becomes incredibly easier and faster.
The 2019 edition of Winning Salesman will focus on all the real tools, most concrete strategies and necessary procedures that you need to implement in your company now in order to acquire the power of authority.
In a nutshell, everything you need to:
- be able to sell a greater amount of products or services per transaction, without resistance from customers and without having to cut prices to do so;
- be welcomed by even the most prestigious or important clients who wouldn’t even look your way in the past;
- give a sense of urgency to all customers, who will suddenly stop postponing and want to get started immediately, with deposits and substantial advance payments ready.
And this is only an infinitesimal part of what I will help you achieve during the next Winning Salesman, to be held in Barcelona from November 28th to December 1st, 2019.
If you are dying to find out what other promises I’m committed to making you, click on the button below.
Rock ’n’ Roll!
Frank