Selling Perfume In An Absolutely Impossible Market

(It's NOT impossible!)

The starting point in approaching a difficult market (think "a difficult time to be trying to sell a new perfume") is to understand that there ARE NO simple answers or guides. NOBODY really has the answers. But there are some "tricks" that can greatly improve your chances of success. Here are some thoughts to help you.

First and most important of all, you have to understand this great truth. Yes, it is a TRUTH. It is NOT impossible to make profitable sales, even when it appears that all the odds are against you.

Always keep this truth in mind. Forget it and you are doomed.

Next -- and this is a truth too -- it is better to do SOMETHING than to do nothing. If you wait for "times to get better", you and your wonderful perfume will be forgotten, forever. In other words, don't just sit on your duff. Get up and get to work, even if you think you're just going down a dead end. ACTIVITY on your part stimulates activity on the part of the consumer. Lack of activity on your part will doom you.

RETHINKING your perfume and your business is essential. IF things are slow, rather than sitting around complaining and getting yourself all depressed, use some of this "spare time" (quality time?) to think about your business -- where you've come from, where you are now, and how you can use an analysis of your business to better prepare for the future.

Yes, it's hard to think "forward" when things are getting really slow but it's essential for your future success AND for your current survival, both physical and mental!

Cycles reverse. Two points are certain. First, that the BUSINESS cycle will get better and second that, when it does, your position in the market will be different than it is today. If you keep your head and don't panic, if you keep pressing forward with activity and new ideas (ideas don't always cost money ... some can save money!), if you can clean up the garbage in your business so that it LOOKS better and better to consumers (whether, right now, they are buying or not!), when this cycle reverses you will be AHEAD of those who sat around and did nothing -- those who thought that spending a few dollars to develop their new perfumes and new ideas was "too risky" -- you will find yourself AHEAD of these (now former) competitors.

Yes, this is your chance to overtake your competitors and build your following, even while sales may be painfully slow. If you can maintain a higher level of activity -- greater, more exciting communications with your market -- you can be the one to emerge in a strong position.

Finally REMEMBER that SOME people have money to spend and MOST people can still afford to buy the things they really want. IF, somehow, you can make YOUR perfume the one thing that a handful of special people MUST HAVE, you will make profitable sales.

So really, what it all comes down to is finding ways to make the PURCHASE of YOUR perfume irresistible to your customers. That's a goal that will keep your body busy and your mind active. Find out what they REALLY want from your fragrance ... and your business ... and offer it to them! Your cash register will, once again, begin to sing.

Money Back Guarantee?

One of the most powerful selling tools in the mail order business has always been the money back guarantee. Retail stores -- the best -- have also long employed this policy Don't like what you just bought? Bring it back to the store, show your receipt, and your money will be refunded. My wife does it all the time, and she shops a lot!

Of course for some categories of goods, stores have long since halted this policy except where the original merchandise was defective. I can't imagine any store that would be happy about taking back a bottle of perfume that had been opened and used. But times have changed. Or have they? Can we take a classic idea from the past and mold it into an effective and profitable selling strategy for today? Can we use the money back guarantee to sell perfume on the internet?

Back in the 1890's, Richard Hudnut made this offer: Send me 50 cents and I will send you "12 large [scent] tablets" and, if you are not entirely satisfied, tell me and I will "at once and without question refund your money." Hudnut's business flourished and he may well have been the first American to become very, very wealthy selling cosmetics and perfume.

Hudnut didn't make his money by being a fool so let's think a bit about what he was doing -- and let me speculate a bit on what he was doing based on my own experience in the mail order business.

In the first place, Hudnut was not sending out heavy, expensive, breakable bottles. He was sending out pellets -- tablets -- intended to be dissolved in water, and of course, the water -- and its weight -- were not included.

This makes shipping simple, safe and inexpensive. Based on my own experiences I would guess that not only did the 50 cents cover the full cost of shipping (probably less than five cents!), it also covered the cost of the product and part or all of Hudnut's advertising expense. It also, quite likely, covered the small expense of refund requests Hudnut might have received.

In short, the offer was self liquidating.

Now look what else is going on. Hudnut, no doubt, is enclosing a catalog (1-page flier) with the outgoing orders. He is also capturing their names and addresses for his mailing list which he will use to send out larger catalogs periodically. Customers who are pleased with his perfumed pellets are also pleased that Hudnut trusted them -- that he considered them to be honest citizens who would not enjoy his perfume and then demand a refund. So good will is created and, I would expect, about 20 percent or so of customers who took the 50 cent offer probably went on to buy his more costly products.

This is good business. It is also a great way for Hudnut to sell nationally from his office in New York. This in turn paves the way for retailers -- nationwide -- to want to stock the Hudnut line. (Think Billy Mays's original TV ads for Kaboom, at the time sold only by mail order but now found in major supermarket chains.)

Now what about the handful of people who might make multiple requests for Hudnut's no-risk offer and each time request a refund? I can tell you how I've handled this problem and I suspect Hudnut did the same.

We simply kept a list of "problem customers" and, when any order came in, we checked that customer against the "problem customer" list and, if the customer appeared on that list, we told them, "sorry, we can't extend our guarantee TO YOU." This system can be quite effective and in no way harms your relationship with good customers.

Would this strategy would today?

The key to making this strategy work is setting it up properly. This will usually mean developing special products that meet the requirements of the system -- low (very low!) product cost, low shipping preparation cost, low shipping cost, and a seemingly low selling price but one that will cover your expenses and possibly yield a small profit. If your advertising media is your own website, your advertising cost comes close to zero.

Also, to make the strategy work, you absolutely must deliver a good value for the money requested. The "no risk" product must please customers and draw repeat business. If it does not, even if your "no risk" offer makes a small profit up front, ultimately it will burn out and fail.

Ideas to avoid

Forced return of the "impossible to return" product -- One diabolic strategy that has been used by a handful of mail marketers is the money back guarantee which requires the return of the product on the product which is close to impossible to return. In this scenario, to receive a refund the customer must return the merchandise in good condition -- but the merchandise is packed in such a way that it is almost impossible (deliberately!) to rebox and return it to the vendor. It's a "ha ha, I fooled you" deal for the vendor -- whose laughter dies when word gets around.

"Refund your purchase price" -- less shipping charges. This is an accountant's misguided hedge that deflates the power of the guarantee by suggesting that the seller is less than fully confident that the customer will be satisfied. In fact, there are no savings from this hedge because it deflates sales proportionately to the "non-shipping charge" refund savings.

Fine print that voids a guarantee -- We had a local restaurant that distributed money saving coupons. But every time you tried to use one they found some excuse to dishonor it. Their food was good but they are no longer is business. Is it any wonder?

Are you ready to give it your own trial?

I'm working on a promotion using this concept. I don't know how long it will take me to assemble the details and put it into action and I'm not sure which of my perfumes I'll use for the offer (probably my best). I want to see what will happen if I do it right. I'll report the results in time.

If you give this "money back guarantee" concept a trial before I do, let me know how it works for you.

The wrong way to think about launching a perfume business

No successful marketer of perfume has ever started at the top.

I regularly receive emails and phone calls from people who have some money and want to launch a perfume AND get instant distribution with major retailers. So the question I ask them is, "Do you have a following? Will your name and fame bring customers to the retailer, customers who will buy enough of your new perfume from the retailer to make him want to stock it?"

That's the rub. The retailer would be happy to offer your perfume, even if he has never heard of it or of you, IF he can be assured profitable sales.

Can you make that guarantee to a large retailer?

Aside from lack of name and fame, one problem that faces the aspiring-to-national-distribution newbie perfume marketer is lack of money. When people tell me that they have $20,000 or $200,000 to invest in their new perfume, I have to explain (and I don't think they believe me!) that these sums of money can be more than enough to launch a new perfume (business) ONLY if you are planning to introduce your perfume into a limited, targeted market where your name and fame already have some credibility.

Selling to your followers, fan club, extended circle of friends and acquaintances, social network, etc. is very different than trying to sell to strangers.

I sometimes want to cry when I'm approached by someone who really does have enough money to start a profitable business marketing their own perfume but, instead of targeting obvious and profitable markets, they are blinded by dreams of instant riches and can't be bothered with "small (profitable!) potatoes" because it will only distract them from their higher calling.

If you want to succeed in selling your own perfume you have to target a market, build a relationship with that market, and tailor your product to the tastes of that market.

Then you have to keep strengthening your relationship with that market and encouraging that market to expand, either in the amount of money individuals are spending with you or in the number of people who are drawn in to your social group -- or both.

None of this is to suggest that you should not aspire to vast sales and great personal fortune. What I would warn is that those who have achieved vast sales in the perfume business ALL started form a small -- sometimes very small -- customer base.

But it was from their success in selling to this small base and the lessons they learned by working on a small scale that allowed them to expand over time and develop grand international enterprises.

If you can name me one exception to this rule I would be happy to check it out. But, in the entire history of perfume, I doubt that you would find a single exception.

SIZE SAMPLES SELLING & SIZZLE

Perfume is SUPPOSED to be expensive. So what do you do when money is tight and people who WANT your perfume (really!!!) can't afford it? This isn't the first time in history that marketers have struggled with this issue.

One TRUTH is eternal in marketing. If you want to have ANY profitable sales in the future, you DO NOT slash prices. But you might consider "slashing" SIZE.

When I was a kid, candy bars were selling for a nickel -- five cents. Then one year they went up a penny, to SIX cents. A 20% jump! Then they stayed at six cents for a number of years. But the SIZE of a candy bar shrank! (Kids notice these things.) But our six cents WOULD STILL BUY A CANDY BAR!

I've heard that in the garment trade there's a practice called "shrinking the marker." The manufacturer, to save money (and cheat the marketer) cuts the pattern just a bit SMALLER than the "marker" (pattern) so the garment is, in effect, "downsized." Now you know why sizes in women's clothing haven't always been consistent!

Francois Coty, the great perfumer, innovator, and founder of the company that still bears his name, made a fortune by offering his perfumes in A WIDE VARIETY OF SIZES, in effect making them AFFORDABLE to lots of women who would not otherwise have been able to afford his very nice perfumes. Coty sold A LOT of perfume!

Now suppose you're selling an ABSOLUTELY NEW fragrance, you don't have a reputation (i.e., your company is unknown), and not all that many people will ever FIND OUT that you HAVE a perfume? What you really want to do in this situation is EXCITE those who DO come to your "store" and make sure that they DO NOT go away empty handed. You want to make sure that they take away A SAMPLE. So you want to make your SAMPLE OFFER as enticing as possible.

I was thinking about my own samples the other day. Times are hard. Money is tight. So why not give people MORE then they might expect with your samples? Why not UPSIZE your samples rather than DOWNSIZING your bottles?

I'm experimenting with this concept for two of my men's fragrances, Toxic (the name says is all!) and Blackberry. I want MORE people to walk out of my store WITH A SAMPLE BOTTLE ... so the sample bottle got BIGGER! I want to make visitors to my store HAPPY ... to feel that they've found a way to shed a little bit of gloom and brighten up their day with an exciting fragrance.

So the sampling deal is extraordinary, but I haven't cut my price.

Of course, to do this you have to BELIEVE in the fragrances you are selling. And you have to run the numbers very carefully because you are BUILDING a business for the future and you can't succeed at it unless you know what you're doing, numbers wise.

But now is the time to WORK at making sales!

Blogging to sell perfume

The other day I started a new blog that has but one purpose: to generate sales for the PerfumersWorld Foundation Course which I sell at my PerfumeProjects website.

I started the Learning To Make Perfume blog out of my frustration in trying to explain the Foundation Course to people. This was the course that got me started in perfumery, creating fragrances of my own, as opposed to selling fragrances I had made using perfume compounds created by others, which, of course, is what all the major fragrance marketers do. The companies that actually create fragrance are absolutely unknown to the consuming public.

My background is in advertising – writing advertising – and in days of yore, it would simply be a matter of preparing some magazine ads, catalogs, and mailing pieces and sending them out. All would carry the same basic (tested) sales pitch. Only the formatting and copy cuts would distinguish on ad from another in various media.

Selling via the internet alone calls more for building a relationship with the customer, letting the customer get to know you better by revealing something about who you are, what your intentions are, and where you find common ground with others. So I've turned to blogging to explain – and sell – the Foundation Course. Instead of relying on a well structured ad that must keep a tight focus or risk losing readers, I've begun blogging the Foundation Course so I can write about lots of thoughts I've had about it and describe some of my failures and successes and add the little touches, the pleasures and frustrations involved in working with aroma materials as a creative medium.

My new blog was NOT created by sell my perfumes. Then I thought about it. In order to sell the Foundation Course successfully, I have to – and I want to – talk about what I've done with both the knowledge and the materials, which has been to create perfumes (call them “colognes” when selling to men!) ... and sell these perfumes, which is what I do on my FrankBush website.

As I worked to develop blog messages for the Foundation Course, it became clear to me that this same blog might also help me sell my own perfume. I'm writing this post to share that thought with you.

We both know that a good review for your fragrance in a major magazine will help sales. But, if you're only bottling a few hundred bottles of perfume a year and are unable to afford fancy, custom bottles and gorgeously expensive, decorative boxes, the odds of your getting an important review are close to zero. (The exception might be if you have lots of wealthy or famous friends who like your perfume, but most of us don't qualify there.) So you can't expect others to give you those great, sales spinning reviews.

But by blogging, you can do it yourself.

Look at this blog – my first. I set it up in about five minutes. It's hosted by Google's Blogger, which is currently free. So cost isn't an obstacle to blogging. (Someday this may change but I want to make hay while the sun is shining!)

A blog needs content. But for years I've earned my living as a writer. Give me a pen and paper and I write. So content isn't a problem. But – here's my real problem – I'm not very good about writing about my own creations!

In fact, I'm not very good at writing about perfume at all. I love it. With a bit of training and practice my nose can distinguish between two closely similar notes. I believe in perfume – the way aromatherapy people believe – with the exception that I love ALL the aroma materials that can be used in perfumery, natural or otherwise. I love the beautiful, kaleidoscopic aroma of ylang ylang. But I am also fascinated by (now artificial, for the sake of the animals,) civet and castoreum, which are not generally considered “pleasant” aromas. And I love the amazing out-and-out synthetics such as Undecavertol, Hedione and Iso E Super. But I'm not very good about putting my thoughts about perfume into words. This is a problem for a lot of artistic people. They can create but are not so hot about explaining – and selling – their creations.

So, in my Learning To Make Perfume blog, I don't really try to sell my perfume. I just talk about it in relation to my own work in creative perfumery which started with -- drum roll please! -- the PerfumersWorld Foundation Course. And I realized that all this chit chat on the blog is going to bring people to my FrankBush website where my fragrances are offered for sale.

Will this new blog boost my perfume sales? Well, the starting point is always getting the customer “in the door,” so if I get more interested visitors to my sales pages, my chances of making more sales are greatly improved.

Then, of course, the moment of truth – the customer looks at “the deal” and either buys my perfume or passes on it. But the blog gets people to give my perfume consideration that it would not otherwise receive.

The point is, with the blog I'm not trying to “sell” my perfume. I'm just talking about it in a straightforward manner, talking about something I can comfortably talk about – the creative process – and why I've made some of the decisions I've made. My feeling is that some people will find this interesting and it will pique their curiosity about various of my perfumes. And, when they go to my selling pages, they just might buy a bottle!

So I think that blogging a bit about your own perfume can be a very cost effective selling tool.

Give a gift ... make a fortune!

Recently I was reviewing the story of Jean Patou's Joy perfume -- how it was his little gift of joy for clients who, because of the Great Depression, could no longer afford to buy his frocks. Joy was hailed as "the world's most expensive perfume" (it was incredibly expensive to make) yet Patou distributed it free in 1931. The following year it went on sale. After Patou's death, Joy became a very important part of the business. Today it is in the hands of Proctor & Gamble.

More famous than Joy is Chanel's No.5. Without the money generated by the sale of No.5, the Chanel business would not exist today -- that's how successful and profitable this perfume has been. Even now when No.5 is considered "dated", it is THE product featured in perfume ads to draw buyers to the Chanel fragrance counter.

And, like Joy, No.5 was first distributed (in 1921) as a free gift. (In 1921, Europe was still recovering from five years of a horrendously destructive war plus the Russian Revolution.)

What does all this mean for you -- or for me? Once again I am working on a new fragrance, one for which I have a great deal of enthusiasm. It was compounded to be a man's fragrace -- an opposite to my Toxic -- but I now look at is as unisex. The name has not yet been finalized although I have a strong idea of what I want it to be. The "image" is still spinning around in my head (but I have a hazy vision of what I want) but I'm thinking ahead to marketing. Bottles (sprinkler neck) and caps are in stock and ready to go. The formula is finished but has to be rechecked for accuracy. So I'm almost ready to go ... but how do I sell it? Or should I give it away?

Now this is an expensive fragrance to make. It calls for the use of a number of costly materials, both natural and synthetic. (Yes, synthetic perfumery materials can be expensive too!) So for me, this is going to be my most expensive formula ever. Yet my inclination is to start the marketing process by giving it away ... and not just teensy-weensy sample bottles but rather nice, 1-ounce, flint glass bottles from a major Italian glass house. This is going to be an expensive free gift!

But who am I going to give it to? Not just anyone who asks! These bottles will be reserved for my best customers ... to give them a little more than they bargained for in this tight economy.

What will this do for the sales of this new fragrance? I can't be sure. But, if the fragrance is as good and as unique as I think it will be, I would hope that there will be some positive feedback ... and ultimately a market, however small and selective, will be created.

Give me about 18 months to work this one out! The plan is already going forward!

How To Succeed By Working Backward

You may not want to follow the suggestions in this article. I don't always follow them myself. But whether you follow them or not, they are important and worth keeping in mind when you sit down to work on a new fragrance.

If you follow these suggestions your chances of commercial success will be greatly improved.

As creative types we like to think of our great creations as just popping out of our heads. Thus the straight forward way for us to create a new fragrance is first to have a brilliant idea – a mental vision of our new scent – then to develop the physical product that matches our mental vision, then to develop packaging for it, and finally to present it to the end user – a customer, relative, or friend.

This is what I call “working forward” and it is probably the most common creative path followed by perfumers who do not have to earn a living by selling what they create.

But it helps before you get started on a new fragrance to take a backward look at your project. One great advantage of doing this is that ultimately you will be less likely to experience the frustration of finding that nobody shows any genuine appreciation for what you have created. Even independent creative types are encouraged by the receipt of honest appreciation from others.


Working Backward – Step # 1 – The End User (Buyer, Relative, or Friend)

Unless you are making a fragrance strictly for yourself, at some point you will have to introduce it to another person. It may be a spouse, or lover, or friend, or relative, or shop owner, or purchasing agent. That's up to you. But, working backward, your first step is to identify the person to whom you might first present your finished perfume.

This person should be very real to you – ideally someone you know personally. If you cannot think of a person you know who can fulfil this role, stop and find one, even if it takes you weeks or searching. Without being able to identify this person – this real person to whom you really want to present your perfume – you are not yet ready to start creating.

Work at finding this person and then, when you have found him or her, work at knowing this person inside out. Find out about their income and spending habits, their lifestyle, their culture, their tastes. Be able to form an emotional bond with this person so that, when you begin developing your fragrance, you will be able to keep in mind exactly what will delight them the most. This now becomes your creative goal.


Working Backward – Step # 2 – The Presentation

There is a belief in the graphic arts and fashion world that presentation is everything. Those of us who are not great visual artists or fashion trendsetters sometimes cringe at this truth – but it is a truth. Presentation – the way your fragrance is bottled and packaged and presented to the customer – is very important.

So now you have to think about how to present your fragrance to this individual with whom you have bonded. What kind of presentation of your fragrance will be pleasing to him or her?

Your financial resources and graphic arts ability can appear to be a great obstacle. You have to work to overcome this, even if it takes weeks of research into bottles and packaging possibilities. Your selection of the “best” solution will, of course, be based on what you believe will be most appealing, among all affordable, possible solutions, to the target customer with whom you have formed that emotional bond.


Working Backward – Step # 3 – Developing Your Fragrance

Now you are ready to develop your fragrance itself. And, because you know the person to whom it will be presented, you have a lot of ideas on what this fragrance can be and what it cannot be. So your range of ideas is now limited, but limited in a positive way. And within these limitations (of what your soul partner would enjoy!) your possibilities are limitless.


Following this “backward” procedure when developing your next fragrance can be very, very satisfying!