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With her passion for people development and a highly creative,holistic approach to

training, CosmopolitanCosmetics' National

Training Manager brings a fabulously fresh newapproach to fragrance

training. Here, she talksexclusively to Esprit

about her imaginativeinteractive workshops

it’s day two of CosmopolitanCosmetics’ InteractiveBasic Training School, andNational Training Manager,Debbie Dowling, is

spending the day creating a clevermix of sensory experiences forher group of consultants to helpthem make a personal connectionwith each of the company's NewYork brands.

She begins the morning sessionwith Anna Sui, Sui Dreams. “Theaim” she says, “is for everyone toconnect with the designer. Annais quite a spiritual person and shebelieves that if you live out yourdreams like she has, that they will come true.” So today, theconsultants on the course have to think about their owndreams...and use that as theirinspiration for designing a t-shirt!

“Just like fashion designers,they have to create their ownoriginal design to depict whatevertheir chosen dream is, so thishelps them to understand what itmeans to turn your thoughts intosomething tangible. It could bedriving a fabulous convertible cardown sunset strip, swimming withdolphins, anything that inspiresthem,” emphasises Debbie.

Before the colouring pens,

glitter and glue come out, thegroup talks about the brand concept and its personality, then

move on todiscuss theindividualscents:Dreams,

Love, Dolly Girl and Ghost TheFragrance. Suddenly, there isrock music belting out in thebackground, shoes get discardedand the fun really starts - eventhe sweets are employed to makea fashion statement! “Anna Sui’sfavourite era was the 1960s,”explains Debbie, “and, as AnnaSui designs for a lot of the rockstars such as Iggy Pop and MickJagger this gives them a real feelfor how she works.”

After an hour or so, the creations are complete and thegroup 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 revealbut they are confident within thegroup and love doing this - somuch so that they took them allhome!” In fact, this task turns out

Debbie DowlingA day in the life of

National TrainingManager, DebbieDowling

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so amazingly well that Debbieinvites the consultants’ colleaguesfrom the office to come in andshare the experience.

“They all love it too,” she saysobviously delighted. “it is quite a

special experience. I don’t really do prizes or pick out oneperson as a ‘champion’ - it is allabout sharing, and going throughthis together. The feedback that Igot from them was really good tohear. Some said that they reallyfelt inspired by their dreams, andfor me that is everything. My onlyfocus is that they go away havingenjoyed themselves. A lot of themwere quite experienced on theshop floor - so this was a greatcompliment.”

Next, it’s time to create a GhostDinner Date, as the consultantsget to learn about Ghost DeepNight. “Their brief is that money isno object, and the scenario is ananniversary. The man wants totreat his partner to a sumptuousevening and they must use keyingredients from the fragrance aswords within their storytelling.Again, the results are superb andhighly creative and you can seefrom one story fon the oppositepage (the others couldn’t possiblyput into print as they were far tooexplicit, but very funny!)

“The purpose of this sessionwas to enable them to use

about individuals, recognising itand celebrating it. This is a veryimportant connection for consultants to make here, so wedo review their initial perceptionsand then as a group we discuss

each one and I get their thoughtsonce they have watched the‘movies’. It does change perceptions and you can see thisreflected in sales increases too.”

Finally, after hours of wonderfulsensory exploration - throughwords, pictures and images - theday ends fittingly with a meditation, while the consultantsdiscover Ghost Serenity. “I spritzthe scent around the room whilethis is going on so that they havea connection with the fragrance...it’s all about being a woman whois in touch with her senses, sothis is very important to theirunderstanding. It’s just six minutes, chilling out quietly butnot being too ‘out there’ - butenough time to relax and reflect,”she believes.

A lot of people say that theylearn a lot about themselves onthe course too, which Debbie naturally finds very satisfying. “Ifyou understand yourself well,you’ll definitely be able to under-stand more about your customers.”She says she has seen this withindividual consultants, where theirfigures have gone up substantial-ly after being on the course. “Asa result, I have evidence that thismethod of learning is successfulin making a difference to the

another kind of creative expressionto absorb and then communicatethings about the brand. “As withthe Dreams idea, this facilitatestheir interpreting information intheir own way. So rather than mestanding at one end of the roomwith a line-up of ingredients saying, “this is amber, this isvanilla...” they are thinking aboutwhat each word conjures up, andmatching it to a mood, an expression, a colour or a feeling.”

From here, the group movesinto the world of Dunhill. “This isa very different, very masculineand elegant brand and with manystories to tell about the men whowear the various scents,”explains Debbie as the groupexplores the ideas and imageryof each fragrance. “Desire Blueman is someone who comes outof his office, rips off his tie, jumpsinto his sports car and drives

down to the beach where he sitsand contemplates by the ocean,”she reflects. “It’s a very freshscent - think of coolness andcalmness - someone is free andwho knows his own mind.

“We have ‘mood movies’ whichare put together by the international team, so they canmake the connection with thepersonality of each brand,” saysDebbie. “So the X’centric man isabout embracing what’s different

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individual, as well as the company. It has to work, and I doreview everything carefully toensure that it is entirely in tunewith the brands and in touch withconsultants’ needs.

“I have learned a lot aboutvisionary training, and I would

never go back to textbook train-ing methods. My job is a storyteller, and I want my groupsto really get under the skin of theproducts by hearing those stories.Take Escada, for example. I tellthem that this is a modern day

story of Romeo and Juliet. It’sabout an entrepreneur and amodel that met and married within six months. On their honeymoon, they had a bet on ahorse called Escada - and that’show the brand name came intoexistence. It’s about captivatingpeople, and this is irresistible...then they want to know everything. Are they still married,

is he still alive, what happenednext?”

Debbie’s philosophy on trainingis that it’s the consultants’ trainingschool for three days, it’s nothers. “I think that is an importantpart of training, to learn to facilitate and not to try to teachtoo much - more to explorethoughts and ideas, and let themmake their discoveries as a resultof that process. It definitelyworks, and they do learn a lotmore in this way.”

There are no quizzes and notests, insists Debbie! “They arelearning without necessarily being aware of it, they do somerole-playing too and get up to present which helps to give themgreater confidence. Actually, I findthere's no stopping them and bythe time we get to day three, theypresented the Rochas brand toall of us, so they all had a pieceto do. I deliberately gave no presentation myself, they did the whole lot - and it was fantastic!

“In these three days there are60 items for them to discover,learn about - so you can imagine

that if they had textbooks withlists of every ingredient, theirheads would explode! Seriouslythough, with that intensity Ibelieve that this is the very bestway of helping them to not onlyretain but to utilise the information and knowledge tocustomers in a meaningful way.”

Debbie’s goal at CosmopolitanCosmetics is to grow theCompany’s future leaders byidentifying and creating succession and development plansfor managers, trainers, and business account managers. Andwith such a passion for peopledevelopment, you just know thatshe will succeed - every sense,and at every level.

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Amber enters her penthouseflat on Belle de Nuit Avenue...As she enters the room, shesmells an intoxicating and mysterious fragrance. Shenotices a huge vase of redroses, and wonders 'how didthey get there?' She sinks intoher vanilla cream sofa andallows the scent to seduce her.As her thoughts wander, nightdeepens and a magical carpetcarries her to a mountain top inIndia, and lays her safely down.Suddenly she is wrapped instrong arms like white woodagainst peach skin...Passionturns to euphoria, and her

senses mingle with space andtime. When she awakens, sheis entwined in her silken sheetsand the room is heavy withhead musk - just like the lingering scent of a man. Whata wonderful dream, she thinks,or was it...?

Excerpts from a story createdby consultants Jack Cassidy(Selfridges) and SamanthaJones (Debenhams, Romford)from the day, designed toreflect the mood of Ghost DeepNight fragrance and, at thesame time, embrace all the keyingredients of the scent

A night of deep romance and passion

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