A lot of gold standards of shopping that I have come to adopt hails from a wife who is most scrutinizing when she goes out for shopping. I would say she is a very demanding consumer. At times I would even be so embarrassed the way she makes the sales people upbeat on their toes just to get her exacting demands. Why not? I mean, that Christian Louboutin or Louis Vuitton shops are not just boutiques of bargain shoe candies. These are pairs of shoes that can be worth expensive gold jewelry in many instances. And she is convinced of paying heftily because it includes services that go beyond the merchandise itself – the customer service, the sense of the one stop shop and the exclusivity.

The recent car purchase we both did was another lesson I picked up from her. She had a choice of several models, but chose the one with which to her was a one stop shop luxury service. Several insurance providers’ kiosks were there. All you have to do is to pick a car, go for the test drive, settle the payment terms, and hook up with the insurance provider. It was total convenience.

When it was my turn to close that sale of a brand new Lagoon 42, I made sure that the supplier had boat insurance companies too. They only referred us to one, Wallace Welch & Willingham, which I am much aware of. Our boss has the same choice amongst boat insurance companies and I was convinced it is the same exclusive standard that my own boat needs to live up to.