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!