1. D A Y I N T H E L I F E
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E S P R I T T R A I N I N G S P E C I A L - J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5
Withherpassionfor
peopledevelopment
andahighlycreative,
holisticapproachto
training,Cosmopolitan
Cosmetics'National
TrainingManagerbrings
afabulouslyfreshnew
approachtofragrance
training.Here,shetalks
exclusivelytoEsprit
aboutherimaginative
interactiveworkshops
i
t’s day two of Cosmopolitan
Cosmetics’ Interactive
Basic Training School, and
National Training Manager,
Debbie Dowling, is
spending the day creating a clever
mix of sensory experiences for
her group of consultants to help
them make a personal connection
with each of the company's New
York brands.
She begins the morning session
with Anna Sui, Sui Dreams. “The
aim” she says, “is for everyone to
connect with the designer. Anna
is quite a spiritual person and she
believes that if you live out your
dreams like she has, that they
will come true.” So today, the
consultants on the course have
to think about their own
dreams...and use that as their
inspiration for designing a t-shirt!
“Just like fashion designers,
they have to create their own
original design to depict whatever
their chosen dream is, so this
helps them to understand what it
means to turn your thoughts into
something tangible. It could be
driving a fabulous convertible car
down sunset strip, swimming with
dolphins, anything that inspires
them,” emphasises Debbie.
Before the colouring pens,
glitter and glue come out, the
group talks about the brand
concept and its personality, then
move on to
discuss the
individual
scents:
Dreams,
Love, Dolly Girl and Ghost The
Fragrance. Suddenly, there is
rock music belting out in the
background, shoes get discarded
and the fun really starts - even
the sweets are employed to make
a fashion statement! “Anna Sui’s
favourite era was the 1960s,”
explains Debbie, “and, as Anna
Sui designs for a lot of the rock
stars such as Iggy Pop and Mick
Jagger this gives them a real feel
for how she works.”
After an hour or so, the
creations are complete and the
group gets a chance to talk
individually about their designs.
“It’s really rewarding to see every-
one sharing his or her dreams.
It’s a very personal thing to reveal
but they are confident within the
group and love doing this - so
much so that they took them all
home!” In fact, this task turns out
DebbieDowling
Adayinthelifeof
National Training
Manager, Debbie
Dowling
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D A Y I N T H E L I F E
E S P R I T T R A I N I N G S P E C I A L - J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5
so amazingly well that Debbie
invites the consultants’ colleagues
from the office to come in and
share the experience.
“They all love it too,” she says
obviously delighted. “it is quite a
special experience. I don’t
really do prizes or pick out one
person as a ‘champion’ - it is all
about sharing, and going through
this together. The feedback that I
got from them was really good to
hear. Some said that they really
felt inspired by their dreams, and
for me that is everything. My only
focus is that they go away having
enjoyed themselves. A lot of them
were quite experienced on the
shop floor - so this was a great
compliment.”
Next, it’s time to create a Ghost
Dinner Date, as the consultants
get to learn about Ghost Deep
Night. “Their brief is that money is
no object, and the scenario is an
anniversary. The man wants to
treat his partner to a sumptuous
evening and they must use key
ingredients from the fragrance as
words within their storytelling.
Again, the results are superb and
highly creative and you can see
from one story fon the opposite
page (the others couldn’t possibly
put into print as they were far too
explicit, but very funny!)
“The purpose of this session
was to enable them to use
about individuals, recognising it
and celebrating it. This is a very
important connection for
consultants to make here, so we
do review their initial perceptions
and then as a group we discuss
each one and I get their thoughts
once they have watched the
‘movies’. It does change
perceptions and you can see this
reflected in sales increases too.”
Finally, after hours of wonderful
sensory exploration - through
words, pictures and images - the
day ends fittingly with a
meditation, while the consultants
discover Ghost Serenity. “I spritz
the scent around the room while
this is going on so that they have
a connection with the fragrance...
it’s all about being a woman who
is in touch with her senses, so
this is very important to their
understanding. It’s just six
minutes, chilling out quietly but
not being too ‘out there’ - but
enough time to relax and reflect,”
she believes.
A lot of people say that they
learn a lot about themselves on
the course too, which Debbie
naturally finds very satisfying. “If
you understand yourself well,
you’ll definitely be able to under-
stand more about your customers.”
She says she has seen this with
individual consultants, where their
figures have gone up substantial-
ly after being on the course. “As
a result, I have evidence that this
method of learning is successful
in making a difference to the
another kind of creative expression
to absorb and then communicate
things about the brand. “As with
the Dreams idea, this facilitates
their interpreting information in
their own way. So rather than me
standing at one end of the room
with a line-up of ingredients
saying, “this is amber, this is
vanilla...” they are thinking about
what each word conjures up, and
matching it to a mood, an
expression, a colour or a feeling.”
From here, the group moves
into the world of Dunhill. “This is
a very different, very masculine
and elegant brand and with many
stories to tell about the men who
wear the various scents,”
explains Debbie as the group
explores the ideas and imagery
of each fragrance. “Desire Blue
man is someone who comes out
of his office, rips off his tie, jumps
into his sports car and drives
down to the beach where he sits
and contemplates by the ocean,”
she reflects. “It’s a very fresh
scent - think of coolness and
calmness - someone is free and
who knows his own mind.
“We have ‘mood movies’ which
are put together by the
international team, so they can
make the connection with the
personality of each brand,” says
Debbie. “So the X’centric man is
about embracing what’s different
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individual, as well as the
company. It has to work, and I do
review everything carefully to
ensure that it is entirely in tune
with the brands and in touch with
consultants’ needs.
“I have learned a lot about
visionary training, and I would
never go back to textbook train-
ing methods. My job is a
storyteller, and I want my groups
to really get under the skin of the
products by hearing those stories.
Take Escada, for example. I tell
them that this is a modern day
story of Romeo and Juliet. It’s
about an entrepreneur and a
model that met and married
within six months. On their
honeymoon, they had a bet on a
horse called Escada - and that’s
how the brand name came into
existence. It’s about captivating
people, and this is irresistible...
then they want to know
everything. Are they still married,
is he still alive, what happened
next?”
Debbie’s philosophy on training
is that it’s the consultants’ training
school for three days, it’s not
hers. “I think that is an important
part of training, to learn to
facilitate and not to try to teach
too much - more to explore
thoughts and ideas, and let them
make their discoveries as a result
of that process. It definitely
works, and they do learn a lot
more in this way.”
There are no quizzes and no
tests, insists Debbie! “They are
learning without necessarily
being aware of it, they do some
role-playing too and get up to
present which helps to give them
greater confidence. Actually, I find
there's no stopping them and by
the time we get to day three, they
presented the Rochas brand to
all of us, so they all had a piece
to do. I deliberately gave no
presentation myself, they did
the whole lot - and it was
fantastic!
“In these three days there are
60 items for them to discover,
learn about - so you can imagine
that if they had textbooks with
lists of every ingredient, their
heads would explode! Seriously
though, with that intensity I
believe that this is the very best
way of helping them to not only
retain but to utilise the
information and knowledge to
customers in a meaningful way.”
Debbie’s goal at Cosmopolitan
Cosmetics is to grow the
Company’s future leaders by
identifying and creating
succession and development plans
for managers, trainers, and
business account managers. And
with such a passion for people
development, you just know that
she will succeed - every sense,
and at every level.
E S P R I T T R A I N I N G S P E C I A L - J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5
D A Y I N T H E L I F E
Amber enters her penthouse
flat on Belle de Nuit Avenue...
As she enters the room, she
smells an intoxicating and
mysterious fragrance. She
notices a huge vase of red
roses, and wonders 'how did
they get there?' She sinks into
her vanilla cream sofa and
allows the scent to seduce her.
As her thoughts wander, night
deepens and a magical carpet
carries her to a mountain top in
India, and lays her safely down.
Suddenly she is wrapped in
strong arms like white wood
against peach skin...Passion
turns to euphoria, and her
senses mingle with space and
time. When she awakens, she
is entwined in her silken sheets
and the room is heavy with
head musk - just like the
lingering scent of a man. What
a wonderful dream, she thinks,
or was it...?
Excerpts from a story created
by consultants Jack Cassidy
(Selfridges) and Samantha
Jones (Debenhams, Romford)
from the day, designed to
reflect the mood of Ghost Deep
Night fragrance and, at the
same time, embrace all the key
ingredients of the scent
A night of deep romance and passion
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