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Had Fun Today

post #1 of 8
6/13/08 at 12:34pm
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So I go into one of my Fragrance Haunts to check and see how they are marketing Fathers Day with the smellies. I had not seen some of the SA's for a stretch as some are moved around to different locations-so we had some great talk.

The place is packed with Ladies looking for Fathers Day gifts. Two ladies approach me asking what I thought of what they were sampling. I told them I did not like what they had and to follow me. (Please take note that Bermuda has a very limited selection)

Anyway they both purchased the Allure Edition Blanche and I directed them to a SA. They were not feeling the Homme Sport Cologne. I also helped another lady purchase a Guerlain Eau de Cologne Imperiale.

The buyer who I know very well just winked and once again offered me a job there...LOL. It was actually great fun.

Everyone have a great weekend and stay safe.

Best,

Otto
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post #2 of 8
6/13/08 at 1:22pm
Cool Otto!
I wish I could actually have a conversation locally with ANYONE that has some interest or knowledge of fragrances.

I gotta say that after knowing you through your posts over the years, I always imagined you would be an outstanding salesman. :-) Seriously, you seem to have that laid back way and I'd bet you are great with people. Add to that the outstanding fragrance knowledge you've gained over the years and the recipe is right for selling up a storm.
So.....do I smell a new perfumery opening up in Bermuda?!!!
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post #3 of 8
6/13/08 at 1:30pm
The same thing happened to me on Mothers Day at Sephora.

I was looking to smell the new AA Guerlain, and in the womens 'section' of Sephora, it was packed full of people buying scents for their mothers. It was elbow-to-elbow. I couldn't help it, because the SA's were recommending such horrible fragrances to these guys...and of course most of these guys were clueless. I could just see their eyes glazing over with boredom. To them, if it smelled ok and was affordable, they were ready to buy it.

I helped one woman try Lolita Limpecka (she kept circling around the Escada aisle and I was scared for her...) and she loved it. Another SA actually tried the AA Laurier Reglisse by Guerlain which she hadn't smelled before and when I told her it had bay leaf in it, a smile came over her face. 'I cook with bay leaf...I love the way it smells!', she said holding up the bottle for inspection. I laughed to myself.

Fun isn't it?
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post #4 of 8
6/13/08 at 4:18pm
Way to go Otto! I know sometimes I can't resist "helping" others also.

This week there was a young girl in Marshalls looking to buy a cologne for her father (so I overheard her tell a friend she was with). I could see she was bewildered and just picking up any box and trying to sniff it, whether it was open or not. She seemed to be focused on a Benneton fragrance - and something in me just couldn't let her buy that

So I said "Oh are you looking for a cologne for your father, maybe you may want to look at some of these". So I started to point her to some "nicer" fragrances (of the limited stock they had). She finally decided on Escada PH, at my nudging I hope he likes it.....
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post #5 of 8
6/13/08 at 5:01pm
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I stopped in one of our local Marshall's and the smallish (4 sided, three tiered 5' high kiosk-like display of all fragrances was 50% bare (as usual) and what was there was mostly low end production frags. Half the boxes were either empty or with bottle liquid levels tested down considerably and uncapped, and in general disarray. Really disgusting. If I were a district manager of Marshall's and walked in unannounced to see that I would have the managers scalp. What a mess! And it usually looks just like that. I just walked out without looking for anything salvageable.

Sure, it was customers who did it, but employees who are not instructed by management to keep things neat and orderly, and who are not taken to task if they don't perform as directed, are really products of management's failure to manage.
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post #6 of 8
6/14/08 at 5:59am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by evogel View Post

Cool Otto!
I wish I could actually have a conversation locally with ANYONE that has some interest or knowledge of fragrances.

I gotta say that after knowing you through your posts over the years, I always imagined you would be an outstanding salesman. :-) Seriously, you seem to have that laid back way and I'd bet you are great with people. Add to that the outstanding fragrance knowledge you've gained over the years and the recipe is right for selling up a storm.
So.....do I smell a new perfumery opening up in Bermuda?!!!


Man it was so cool....I have worked in retail and I have enjoyed it. I think I am great with people-I received Employee of the Year from 200 colleagues at this company I worked with. I cannot tell you the mass amounts of people that tell me to open up a Smellie Shop. The thing is there is a Perfume Distributor here that seems to want to dominate what everyone brings in. They only target main stream fragrances which gets to be very boring and even than they don't embrace many lines. It gets very frustrating here especially for me with my connection with Basenotes. I will have to look into their politics.

Best,

Otto
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post #7 of 8
6/14/08 at 6:16am
...i was offered a job in Sephora's in midtown manhattan on the spot back in 2004.....i went in with few of my friends and just for fun started "selling fragrances" to random strangers.....i wouldnt descibe notes or even go into what type of scent it is....what i concentrated on is what situations and what type of effect the specific fragrance would have.....after i got like a 5th bottle sold the manager came up to me and asked me if I'm interested in working there.

so from all these stories, i realize that basenotes is full of undercover SA's.

P.S future idea for Grant - Basenotes fragrance stores all around the world.
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post #8 of 8
6/14/08 at 8:10am
Don't know about Sephora (I've heard they don't) but I know Dillard's pays commissions to their SAs for fragrance sales. I'll admit I've given it some thought but I already enjoy my job.
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