Las Vegas, NV – Walgreens Las Vegas store locations have been home to many in store events implemented by National Marketing firm, Cosmetic Promotions. Four stores in the Vegas market including the ones located at MGM Grand and Venetian played host to a special beauty event that ran four days at each store. Each day featured beauty brands including Revlon, Coppertone and Bain de Soleil.
Professional makeup artists applied and demonstrated the new Revlon Photo Ready foundation and powder along with Colorburst lip products to almost 200 women during the 4 day event, resulting in 140 immediate sales. In addition, the makeup artists trained the 28 beauty advisors on the products to help them sell more products in future events.

With the high heat index, it was no surprise that the sun care products featured by Coppertone and Bain de Soleil were a hit with the customers – almost 250 pieces were sold between the two brands. The 30 SPF sprays were a huge success with men. The nostalgic Bain de Soleil line (exclusive to Walgreens in all states excluding Florida) demonstrated their iconic Orange Gelee to a new generation. Over 900 coupons were distributed during the event. Exuberant demonstrators ventured outside the stores to help customers protect their skin from damaging sunrays. To add even more excitement, Vegas gamblers had a chance to win a beauty basket at each location filled with Revlon or sun care products.

“The theory is that people on vacation have more time to enjoy a makeover event and will go back home and purchase the products as well,” says Joann Tyson, president of Cosmetic Promotions. “Women are pleasantly surprised to find a professional makeup artist and beauty consultants at a drug chain – and to discover that the drug store brands are just as good as the department store ones they might have been using – 91% of the women surveyed during this even said they looked forward to more such events in their local Walgreens.

Cincinnati, OH – Ten CVS stores in the Cincinnati market were hand chosen by P&G to host hair care consultations on the NEW Pantene Formulas. Customers were greeted by a hair care consultant to assist them in choosing the correct Pantene regime for their hair needs. Informational brochures were handed out to over 400 customers and over 150 demonstrations were performed during the 4-hour event. 73 purchases were made that day and 362 coupons were distributed which should result in additional future sales. To encourage customers to visit the consultation table, they could enter to win a basket of products – one basket per store. Invitation postcards were sent out to consumers announcing the event and offering them a coupon.

Cosmetic Promotions, a national marketing and promotion firm executed the event for P&G and reported the results as follows:

• For every two demonstrations completed one piece of product sold.
• The consultants trained a total of 19 associates on the products so they can continue selling Pantene after the event.
• 50% of the customers said they would purchase at a later date and took a coupon.
• 75% said they would like to see more demo events.

A customer survey performed during the event concluded that the majority of the consumers were not only familiar with the Pantene brand but considered it a leader in the hair care category and were eager to learn about and try the new formulas.

Celebrating 20 years of business in 2010, Cosmetic Promotions regularly supplies professional makeup artists; skincare and hair care consultants to companies including RITE AID, Walgreens, Cover Girl, Maybelline and Neutrogena. They are the only promotional company dedicated to improving the sale of beauty products at mass retail. There services include all types of printed materials, sweepstakes execution and associate training programs. Their new website includes video’s on some the events and programs they have completed.

COLD CALLING. Brrrrr. Yes, it is a dreaded task that only the certifiably insane enjoy, but there are ways to make the process smoother, reduce your chance of sticking your foot in your mouth and increase your chances of actually acquiring a new customer. Read on for 10 simple, easy to use tips for talking to strangers:

1. Be Prepared. Simple, right? While most of us insist that we know this Boyscout motto, not many actually do it properly. Now, don’t get discouraged that this is not some amazing new trick. But it is listed here as tip # 1 as it is THE most important tool you have that will make a difference. There are a wide variety of ways that you can get prepared – research your markets and prospects, prepare an opening statement, loosely script the rest of your call, be prepared with specific requests, KEEP IT BRIEF AND END THE CALL.
2. Re-Re-Research. Take advantage of the wide variety of information available today and find out as much as you possibly can about your cold call contact in advance. It can be a huge advantage to be able to talk about their business and their needs when you call them, making the call personalized and not quite so cold. It also demonstrates your knowledge and commitment about their problems and the opportunities to solve them.
3. Opening Statements. This lets you organize your thoughts before cold calling and helps you avoid common mistakes in the call opening that would give the person you’re calling the chance to terminate the conversation. DON’T read your opening statement into the phone, but use it as a framework to get the conversation off to a good start. The approach can vary depending upon what your research turned up, but your appointment rate should go way up when you show prospects you are interested enough in their business to have done some homework and personalize your introduction/call.
4. Loosely Scripted. Lay out the benefits of your product or service and the reasons your prospect should buy. Write out possible objections and your answer to them. Once again, DO NOT read your script word for word when you call. You do not want to be so focused on your script that you are not paying attention to the customer’s reaction to it. A script’s purpose is to organize your thoughts so that you do not ramble, customize your conversation to your customer and allow you to highlight your main points while keeping the call BRIEF.
5. Converse, Don’t Pitch. In most of our daily interactions, we simply want to get to know and communicate with others. But when we go into sales situations, we have an agenda – to make a sale. And because a pitch can trigger the perception that that’s all we want, many people will sense this immediately and put up their guard, limiting your chance for real, honest communication. If you instead create a conversation around the problems or issues you know they’re facing and have a conversation about how to solve those problems, leaving off the sales pressure – prospects will share their truth with you. They’ll tell you whether solving the issue is a priority, whether they have the resources to commit to it and anything else you need to move forward.
6. Perfectly Purposeful. The cold call is NOT about making the sale, as many sales people tend to think. It’s about getting the chance to make the sale. In plain terms, the purpose of a cold call is to set an appointment to make the pitch. Be specific, “Would Wednesday at 11 a.m. be a good time to meet/call?” instead of saying, “Can I meet with you to discuss this next week?”
7. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Respect their time. Keep your call as brief and precise as possible — generally less than a few minutes. Remember, you are calling them out of the blue and need to realize that you cannot just assume they have free time to listen to your pitch; you need to do your intro, get them interested, then schedule that time with them. If you promised them any additional information during the call, then make sure you send it before your scheduled appointment.
8. About time. Set aside a time each day to make cold calls. By setting a time to make your cold calls, you are creating a new routine for yourself, limiting the chance of procrastination. Generally, the best times to call are either early or late in the day as potential customers are less busy and more likely to answer their own phones.
9. Cut through the clutter. With cold calls, it is all about attitude and how you react to the customer and situation. Don’t be just another drone. Whether using honesty (I realize you probably get 100 of these calls a day. Well, buckle up – here’s one more!), an industry article they may find interesting (Did you see the recent article about xyz?) or humor if the call is not going well (Mr. X, are you about to hang up on me?) – make sure you distinguish yourself and keep it light and energized.
10. Persistence Pays. “Eighty percent of new sales are made after the fifth contact, yet the majority of sales people give up after the second call” (AllBusiness.com). Keep it up! Just remember that people are having to do more and more with less help these days and it may take a while to find some free time. Don’t be annoying, but routinely follow up to show them that you are reliable and willing to go the extra mile in order to help them with their problems.

There are a million sites out there for tips, tricks and even scripts for cold calling. Use them, make the cold call your own and warm up to this area of sales. While cold calling may never be your favorite sales tactic, you can get better at it. The more you practice, the more effective it will be. The people who want to do business with you are out there – but you have to let them know about you first.

“Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Happy New Year everyone! To celebrate the new year, let’s briefly discuss the eternal search to get NEW clients. There are tons of different methods to approach new customers, but we are going to explore just 4 of the most impactful.

Cold Calling – While not the favorite method of reaching new clients, it can still be wildly successful if done correctly. Research your prospects and their industry – first to make sure that you are contacting someone that would benefit from your services and secondly so that you can prep before your call to outline how you can help them. Prep an opening statement customized to that prospect to catch their attention. Loosely script your call to help you keep it brief and to stay on subject. By talking to the right people about problems/issues specific to their industry that you can help with, you increase exponentially your chance of success with a cold call.

Word of Mouth – Everyone knows that a dissatisfied customer will talk to many more people than a satisfied customer, hence the hyper focus on customer service, right? But good customer service can only reduce your chances of negative word of mouth. How do you actually generate positive word of mouth? Believe it or not, there are a couple of different ways. Get active in your community, professional networking groups and professional associations (see below). Develop a referral network – determine what professions work to complement your services and develop relationships with them. Think of wedding services – florist, photographer, caterer, travel agent – each networks and refers each other so that a referral for one is a referral for all. Finally, make it easy to refer you – whether sending an email, business cards, brochures, etc with your invoice – make it easy for people to pass on your contact information.

Networking – Most people have a wide variety of networks already in place that they fail to take advantage of, such as Alumni Associations, Special Interest Groups, Volunteer Organizations, etc; there are a variety of people within these groups that may have need of your products/services. Don’t be afraid to bring up your business in these groups, even if it is just in your introduction to someone new and giving them a business card. People are much more likely to go to someone that they have met before and shares some life aspect with them, than to risk going to a company that they do not know. Most important to remember when networking is to be sincere, relaxed and to follow up – so if you promised to email an article to someone next to you on a plane, do it. Networking is about building your trust and credibility, NOT about smoozing everyone you meet.

Current Customers – The quickest, most cost-effective way to increase sales volume is to sell additional products/services to your existing customer base. Compare your current service/products offers to those of your competitors. Add complementary services/products. Expand the range of your service/product line. Offer volume discounts, special offers or package deals to up-sell orders. Be a 1 stop shop for your customers as much as possible. Your customers will thank you for saving them time and making them look good. When they do, GET REFERRALS!

Doing these 4 things should help you to reach new customers immediately, but again, there are a million different ways to expand your customer base.  If you have a great tip, feel free to sound off below!

The RITE AID Glam Camp program delivers fun and exciting product samples straight into the hands of teens at local community events throughout the nation. The program, in its 3rd year, is completely facilitated by Cosmetic Promotions Inc (CPI) – a national marketing and promotional company that specializes in promoting beauty products for mass retailers and vendors.

On November 28th through the 30th, Cosmetic Promotions handed out Teen bags on behalf of Rite Aid at the Miss Teen PA USA Pageant. The pageant took place at the Hyatt Regency in Pittsburgh, PA with an attendance of 2,000 each evening. Girls ages 14 to 26 from across Pennsylvania participated in the swimsuit, evening gown and interview competition. The girls who win this pageant will go on to compete for Miss Teen USA.

The bags were filled with products and coupons geared towards the teen market. There were 1,000 bags handed out and the girls commented “I love this lip gloss!” , “Do we get to keep the bags?” , “This is great!”, “Oh, I needed that!”. The coordinator also commented, “Once again the bags were a success” and they are looking forward to sampling with us again next year. The Miss PA Teen and Miss USA pageant welcome the Glam Camp Bags and put in a request for them every year.

It is important to a customer that they feel you are knowledgeable about your product, your competition and their problem. Following are a few tips to becoming an expert:

SEEK KNOWLEDGE – To become an expert in your field, you need to seek knowledge at every opportunity. Talk to people in your industry who have experience. Research and read everything you can on your specific field – the internet makes this almost too easy these days. Become an expert on trends in your industry. Learn about technology that is changing business processes.

KNOWLEDGE GAPS – As much as you can become an expert in your field, you cannot know everything. If you do know everything – congrats, you can stop reading here. However if like the rest of us, you run into a question that you do not know the answer to, admit it. Promise to find the answer and get it to them shortly. Do NOT make up an answer or not answer at all. The customer needs to trust that you know what you are talking about and if you fib or prevaricate, then you run the risk of losing that trust.

KNOW YOUR LIMITS – It is always better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way around. Some sales people think that their product/service can fix everything under the sun and then some, which is just not possible. Know your product, know your customer and determine their problem. Figure out if your product/service is a good fit for their issue. This can mean the difference between a repeat customer and years of partnership or one-time only sales and negative word of mouth.

KNOW YOUR DIFFERENCE – How is your product set apart from others on the basis of superior performance in one or more areas? Your ability to differentiate your product or service probably is one of the most important factors in the customer’s decision. Why should they use you instead of their current provider? Know your competition and their benefits as well as their downfalls.

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER – Know your customers most common problems. When are they most likely to happen? What are the causes? What can be done to solve them? Make yourself valuable to them by becoming their problem solver for a specific set of issues and making their job easier.

Helping your customer by being their own personal expert in that field will help you to create repeat business and increased sales. If you are satisfied with where you are or think that you have nothing else to learn…well, you probably wouldn’t be reading this, would you? Instead, seek to be the best, strive for knowledge and try to become an expert in your own little corner of the world.

“Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.”  Denis Waitley

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.

Now that you have brushed up on your Listening Skills, let’s explore how to get your customers talking. Usually the easiest way to do this is to ask an open ended question.

Open ended questions simply refer to questions that can’t be answered with a single word such as yes or no. Open ended questions inspire long answers, rather than just one or two words. In a sales setting, an open-ended question, rather than close-ended questions, can be especially beneficial.

Let’s examine a common sales mistake, you are calling a customer and trying to find out what feature(s) of your product will work best for them. Quite a few out there unfortunately have the bad habit of going through each feature individually and then asking the customer, “Does that sound good to you?” In this instance, they are doing most of the talking (instead of listening to what the customer needs), have wasted time that the customer may not have (resulting in irritation or abruptness) AND have now given the customer the option of saying “NO” (an unforgivable offense).

So what does a smart sales person that knows how to listen and is a problem solver, do instead?

A good start would be to ask the customer an open ended question. “What are you looking for in this product?” This allows you to find out what matters most to them and tailor your presentation to highlight only the features that matter to them. If your product matches or exceeds their every desire or fixes a specific problem they mentioned, then the customer is going to have a much harder time finding a reason to say no and instead has been given every reason to say “Yes!”

Everyone in this current economy is busier than ever and by eliminating the items in your pitch that do not matter at all to the customer and showing that you care about their problems and would like to help them solve them, you will be more successful in your sales attempts and thus, more successful in your business.

Now, the question is, what are you going to go do with this knowledge?

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.

African American Females Targeted at Various Community Events

HARRISBURG, Pa. (May 19) Rite Aid has teamed up with Cosmetic Promotions Inc., a national marketing company that specializes in beauty, to promote its beauty department to African American females by attending a series of 10 community events in five key African American markets. The initiative builds on Rite Aid’s African-American promotional effort, dubbed Beauty the RITE Way.

The program is in its 5th year and involves sending Ethnic models to various conferences and festivals distributing 20,000 beauty sample bags to female attendees.  This year’s bags include products from RITE AID beauty vendors including  Jergens, Just for Me, Softsoap, Blue Star Ointment, Smooth ‘N Shine, Soft Crème, Maybelline Mineral Powder, Mane’n Tail and Fantasia Hair Polisher.  In addition, some of the bags contain a prize of a $100 Rite Aid gift card. 2,000 bags are distributed at each event to female attendees only.

On May 16th the BTRW sampling program traveled to the Pan-African Festival near Bowie, Maryland. This year’s them was “FROM ANTIQUITY to GLOBAL UNITY”; uniting families while raising the awareness of issues that affect people of African ancestry and featured special guest speaker, actress Lynn Whitfield.  The festival featured tasty ethnic and traditional foods, Caribbean and Gospel music and African attire Fashion Show. As families entered the festival they were greeted by the BTRW models at the RITE AID booth distributing the BTRW sample bags and the lucky recipients commented on how they couldn’t wait to try some of the new items. Halfway through the day, with more than four hours left to enjoy the festivities, all 2,000 bags were handed out and RITE AID was invited to come back next year.

On May 23rd, Beauty the RITE Way sampling models will attend the second day of the NY/NJ African American Statewide Parade and Festival which begins in Weequahic Park. There will be a RITE AID booth with banner at the event and announcements will be made throughout the day advertising the free BTRW bag available at the RITE AID booth. Over 500,000 are expected to attend the weekend’s festivities. There is a carnival, retail booths, live music, games and pony rides as well as a Hip Hop Tour. Also, there will be numerous booths featuring mouth watering soul food. The Heritage Festival will end on Memorial Day, May 25th.

The Gospel Jam 2009 at Wayne State University in Michigan will attract 5,000 African Americans. This year’s Gospel Jam will feature an evening of urban poetry, a gospel concert and the main attraction – the gospel dance competition. Proceeds from the event will go to benefit My Sister’s Keeper, nonprofit organization – developed to assist single-parenting mothers in Wayne County. The Rite Aid banner will hang at the main stage and to flyers will be distributed on campus promoting RITE AID and the giveaways in advance.

The entire program is completely coordinated and executed by Cosmetic Promotions Inc who secures the bags, the vendors, and the venues for the program.

These events will be running every weekend through July 2009 from 11am-5pm at the Walgreens located at the southeast corner of Sands Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard inside the resort complex.

L’Oreal & Coppertone

• Loreal: FREE Tru Match Makeovers and FREE Skin Genesis Sample
• Coppertone: FREE Beach Bag with any purchase

May 8th
May 17th
May 22nd
May 30th
June 5th
June 13th
June 19th
June 26th
July 3rd
July 12th
July 17th

Neutrogena, Roc and Aveeno

• Neutrogena – FREE makeovers May 9th on Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Foundation, Neutrogena Nourishing Eye Quad and Neutrogena Nourishing Eye Liner
• RoC and Aveeno – FREE demonstrations on skincare items

May 15th
May 23nd
May 29th
June 7th
June 12th
June 20th
June 28th
July 4th
July 10th
July 18th

Listening may seem like the easiest part of the sales call, however, this is the part where most sales people go wrong. Customers do not have the time or the patience these days to listen to sales pitch monologues blindly listing ALL of the benefits of a product or service. Instead, they are seeking solutions to problems they may have. It is up to you to get a conversation flowing, LISTEN to what they need, THEN to tell them how your product or service fills that need.

It’s been proven that people think faster than they listen. While a customer is talking at an average rate of 125 words a minute, the average salesperson is thinking at a much faster rate. Often we are thinking about what we will say and can miss completely what the customer is actually telling us. A sale can be easily lost if you miss a key point. Listening rather than talking in a sales situation is easier said than done though. Some people are born listeners; unfortunately, most of us are not. However, with some practice and patience, you can improve your listening skills:

•  Listening does not mean that you avoid talking at all in the conversation. Rather, it means that you take the time to absorb and understand what your customer is saying before you respond. This is how you discover the problem(s) so that you can provide a solution.

•  Questions are a vital part of listening. Don’t interrupt unnecessarily, but always ask questions to clarify things that you don’t understand completely. Again, successful sales are based on determining what a customer needs and providing solutions to these needs. Always focus your questions on moving toward a greater understanding of your customer’s needs.

•  Never interrupt the customer, even if you feel you already know what they are going to say. Most people like to talk about themselves or their company, so give customers a chance to fully express themselves. You never know – they might surprise you and say something different than you thought. Also, they should be more likely to listen to what you have to say if let them have their say first.

•  Be ready to take notes when important information comes up. There is too much information on a case by case basis to try and remember it all. Don’t be afraid to refer to these notes as the conversation continues. Accuracy and attention to detail is always appreciated and will give your customer confidence in your fulfilling their order correctly.

•  Pay attention to facial expressions and body language. If on the phone, listen closely to the tone of voice. Many times people say one thing, but are thinking another. Becoming an expert on non-verbal cues can help you to determine where to probe and where to pull back.

•  Be sincere. Just like you can learn to tell what people are saying non-verbally when you really listen, so too can those same attributes come across in your voice or expression. Be sincere when you are listening to customers and trying to help them solve their problems.

•  Periodically, restate the major points communicated by the customer. Rephrasing or summarizing what has been discussed shows that you’re listening and it also helps to make sure that you are interpreting correctly what the customer is saying.

•  Know your responses to common objections beforehand. This will allow you to listen more effectively as you will not be trying to mentally compose your response while the customer is still talking and possibly miss something important.

•  Finally, FOCUS. Do not do email, IM, or internet surfing while on the phone. Do not mentally compile lists of things to do on the way home, other calls to make or think about how behind you are while in a meeting. Many of us have more to do with less people to do it, but while with a customer – give them your full attention and they will return the courtesy.

Today’s successful salesperson is ultimately an effective problem solver. Practice your listening skills and you will quickly realize that as you strive to help your customers, you will be helping yourself and your sales as well.

This article was written by Tracie Gilbert, VP of Business Development at Cosmetic Promotions. For more information on Cosmetic Promotions, please check out their website www.cosproagency.com or contact Tracie direct at Tracie@cosmeticpromotions.com.