When conducting business, and making a first impression, at least four of the five senses are getting stimulated. Even five if you categorize “taste” with having fresh breath. Anyway, we will be talking about the olfactory sense today. And specifically about fragrance.
Quick review of the other three senses:
- Sight: That’s the way you look, dress and portray yourself to the person in front of you.
- Hearing: That’s how you express yourself, the way you place your voice, your speech rate.
- Touch: When you are going to shake that person’s hand. This matters!!!
Now, let’s talk about fragrances in business, and specifically Mens fragrance, as much as I can recognize some of the women best selling fragrances. Males can sometimes overlook the importance of using fragrance at their advantage.
The “Axe”
Yes, we all know one or more men that still have that teenage scent on them, like they haven’t switched it since they were 15. Yes, it smells better than sweat, but please if it says “body spray” on the bottle, leave it on the shelf. That gives immediately a very “cheap” perception of you to the person facing you.
The “Organic”
Your Whole Foods shopper that only uses high end environmentally friendly products, we definitely accept his approach. Now when he approaches, we can smell him from a far.
The “I only own one”
There are people who wear the same scent for all occasions, and most of the time it’s quite an intense scent that could work at night, for dinner or a night out on the town… But definitely not for a business meeting.
The “I bought the whole men’s section at Sephora”
That’s the guy who cares about it, but by lack of knowing better purchases what smells good at the store, and realizes it doesn’t work for him when he comes home, so a few weeks later he buys another one.
The Connoisseur
We will focus on this gentleman… Like with anything else people are interested in things and don’t care about others. This person likes to smell good, and gets compliments on how good he smells in social settings. Being knowledgeable about this, he will be able to adapt which fragrance to wear during which occasion.
So if you are part of the three categories, we will try to craft you in the fourth category.
Fragrance Experts
I have had the chance to collaborate with Maison Duquesne – Co founders Francois and Celeste Duquesne are working and developing some of the up and coming boutique brands of the fragrance industry. Their years of experience within the industry working with the biggest names in the game is so enriching for someone like me who developed interest in what they do.
I saw that the market is very segmented when it comes to mainstream and boutique. The big names and mainstream brand using mass production techniques, and sometimes selling them for premium prices are usually using lesser quality ingredients than smaller companies, smaller labs that are making small batches. When it comes to general business practices – all this seems common, now when you look at it from a pricing point of view, it doesn’t make sense while looking at the tags.
I definitely recommend checking out their offerings and the brands they distribute. I personally have been wearing their Chris Collins New York line- sold in such stores as Bergdorf Goodman in New York City and Jovoy in Paris, London and Dubai. They come in three fragrances that adapt well during different times of the day and different occasions.