Why you MUST develop the ability to sell

Two days ago I was talking to a customer who was working on the packaging for a new perfume, having learned to sell perfume successfully. He asked me about my own sales and I told him candidly that, at present, I am more interested in learning to make perfume than to sell it, although I have several fragrances for sale at one of my websites, and I "give away" a growing amount of perfume with the books I sell, as examples of what can be done with a very limited budget.

But getting back to selling. SALES are the difference between a hobby and a business. To be in business -- any business -- you have to develop the ability to make sales.

SELLING is a skill that can be LEARNED. That is why giant corporations run training sessions for their sales STAFF. If they relied on the ability of a handful of "naturals," they could not do business on the scale they do.

Once acquired, the skill of selling works equally well in good times and in bad. In a down economy, it is interesting to see who is doing the most advertising and selling. You can't be in business if you stop putting substantial attention on sales!

Today there are more opportunities than ever to make money with perfume. But SELLING is involved. And selling -- successful selling -- involves creative thinking about products and markets and the ART of perfumery.

Today the raw materials of perfumery, the raw materials of packaging, and the "raw materials" of sales promotion are available to ANYONE who can put together a few thousand dollars in capital. Five thousand dollars can be a GIANT budget for the independent perfumer, more than enough to get the product and the message out there.

So what do you REALLY need to make sales in your own perfume business? Start with perfume -- a perfume that grabs you ... and others -- add PACKAGING -- packaging which is APPROPRIATE for the people to whom you want to make sales (and cost-effective for you!) -- and finally you need PEOPLE -- people who will buy your fragrance, because you have sold it to them.

That is a business and it can be very profitable. If you understand the importance of developing YOUR OWN ability to make sales!

5 Day Perfumery Course In New York City, May 5-9, 2008

Greetings --

This may be considered a "commercial" announcement but I believe that it is important to independent perfumers who are looking for new ideas, informations and contacts. Hence, I have reproduced our recent press for a 5-day perfumery course in New York City that we are co-sponsoring:

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For Immediate Release:

Maybrook, NY, May 10th, 2008 -- How often do fragrance, fashion, beauty biz professionals, and business owners have the chance to roll up their sleeves, reach for bottles of aroma chemicals, and work "hands on" at creating a perfume of their own?

This May 5th through May 9th a select group of industry insiders will have the opportunity to become students again when iconoclastic British perfumer, Stephen V. Dowthwaite, brings his 5-day "The Art and Technology of Perfumery" immersion course to New York City. Students will observe and take notes as Dowthwaite creates an original perfume and answers all questions concerning the process. Then, in afternoon sessions, they will create their own individual fragrances which will be completed by day four of the course.

If this sounds impossible, look to the results achieved by 42 youngsters, age 10-18, who recently took Dowthwaite's course at Harrow International School. After just six hours of training in smelling techniques, odor classification and basic fragrance creation, each had created their own personal fragrance, working from their own personal perfume brief.

Far from being a weapon to destroy the perfume industry, Dowthwaite's perfumery training courses give students a greater appreciation of both perfume and the work of perfumers. Dowthwaite believes that perfumery -- like art and music -- is a creative form that can and should be enjoyed by a far wider range of men and women than those selected for salaried positions in industry.

And -- good news for the fragrance industry -- Dowthwaite's students are far more likely to build vast personal libraries of new fragrances than the average man or woman.

Besides "hands on" creation, the course will cover a range of technical and aesthetic issues including aromatherapy and spa theory, perfume applications including cosmetics and toiletries, cosmetics ingredients, perfuming for functional products, dealing with perfume inquiries, marketing the language of smell, product trouble shooting, quality control, safety, standardization and packaging.

On May 7th, Hugues Thibaud, head of of O.Berk's luxury packaging group, will be explain the technology of semi-automatic bottle making which is now being used to produce custom and factice bottles in runs of less than 50 bottles. Thibaud's most recent project was a signed, limited edition set of decorative bottles created by legendary package designer, Pierre Dinand.

Dowthwaite, trained at Picot Laboratories in England, claims authorship to over 300 fragrances and flavors currently on the market. Based in Bangkok since 1989, Dowthwaite helped launch Thailand's first perfume compounding facility and currently consults for all three of Thailand's major fragrance houses. He is also a consultant to Thailand's National Science and Technical Development Agency and has been teaching perfumery at the university level and to private students since the early 1990's.

Attendance is limited to fifty. Advance registration is required. The course is sponsored jointly by PerfumersWorld, Ltd. (PerfumersWorld.com) and Lightyears, Inc. (PerfumeProjects.com)

For more course details and registration information, visit www.PerfumeProjects.com.