SunRose Aromatics: pure essential oils (many organic), carrier oils and other aromatherapy products, each carefully selected for quality. Check out their new Perfumer's Emporium.

The Scent Shack: fragrance oils and soap supplies. Fragrance oils are pre-tested in cold process, melt & pour soap, and candles, and test results are listed at the Web site. Scents tested by soapers for soapers!

From Nature With Love: over 1,600 ingredients and supplies, including cosmetic ingredients, spa supplies, bath accessories and packaging supplies!

Last Week's Question: I am an essential oil with stimulant properties. I am used to help a variety of ailments, but in skincare, I work well for oily skin and to help treat acne. I am also used as a base note in perfumery. I do not come from a flower, nor from a leaf. I am steam distilled and have a light yellow color. I have a strong aroma that is quite distinctive. Some say I smell like mothballs.

This Week's Question: I am a sentimental bouquet; a gift usually indicative of great affection. I date from Victorian days and am composed chiefly of herbs and flowers with specific and very special meanings, supported by greenery, pretty feminine lace or a doily and perhaps a note of charm and grace to convey strong feelings. Giving me a spritz of essential oils can freshen me after a few days of exposure to the air. I waft my scent and my message of affection to everyone within "nose-shot." What am I?

Be the first to correctly state what I am and win a bar of Oatmeal Vitamin E Soap made by HBN member SunFeather Natural Soap Company!

Please read the contest rules here before submitting your entry. Put "TRIVIA CONTEST ANSWER" in the subject line or your answer will not be considered.

Several days ago, I received a call in my office from Heather, a representative of a popular online search engine. Someone had forwarded her a copy of the newsletter and she was calling me to provide some options for increasing HBN's website traffic. While I usually have little time for such impromptu phone calls, I'm always interested in finding new ways to get people to come to visit our site and see all of the wonderful products, raw materials and equipment offered by our members. So, I figured I'd take a minute to listen to what Heather had to offer. In short, I was in a receptive buying mode. But Heather blew it!

Up until the point where she could have made a sale, she did a really good job! She introduced herself politely, asked me if it was a good time to talk, clarified who she was and explained how she found out about the newsletter and the website. Unlike so many sales people on the phone, she was pleasant and unhurried. She asked me if we used any search engine optimization programs and discovered a little bit about how our marketing is done. I fully expected that after hearing details in that regard, Heather would recommend two or three programs that could increase our website traffic. But it became clear as I asked her for such a recommendation that she had done very little background research into how HBN's website actually does. For example, it doesn't take very long to discover that HBN does not sell beauty products itself, but instead represents companies that do.

After such a strong start, I was a bit disappointed when Heather asked me, "so how do you sell your cosmetics online?" I explained that we did not sell cosmetics, but represented companies that do. I further explained that, as a trade organization, we serve manufacturers and suppliers directly, and we serve consumers wishing to buy handmade beauty products and raw materials indirectly. Heather seemed lost. And I was so disappointed because just when I thought there was an Internet search engine sales person I thought I'd like to do business with, I was disappointed and my confidence in her ability to recommend a product that would serve HBN and its members well as dashed. With all of this background in mind, here are some things you can do before cold calling a potential customer.

1. Script A Polite Introduction. This is the one thing Heather did well. She greeted me politely and seemed, at least initially, to know a bit about me. She complemented HBN's website. Her pleasant, unhurried demeanor made me feel like I had been sought out rather than just one in about a billion people she had to call that morning to meet some quota. I was made to feel comfortable and relaxed, and as our conversation progressed (at least at the beginning), I was really looking forward to doing business with her. Heather's nice introduction got her past one of the biggest hurdles to a successful cold call - getting the listener to pay any attention to you at all. If you start politely, the worse that can happen is you'll get a polite decline, which can open the door to asking if there's a more convenient time to talk, or in the alternative, if you can email the person a short message since they are busy at the moment.

2. Research Your Prospective Customer's Business. One of the worse and least professional things you can do to ruin your chances of success at a cold call is to fail to spend a little bit of time getting to know your prospective customer's business. Everyone who does business online is used to getting cold calls (or spam email) from people who make it obvious that they don't know the first thing about their particular business. What a turn off! I hate few things worse than someone calling me and asking if I would like to put HBN's products on the air on their television show! Even the shortest time at HBN's website makes it clear that HBN itself is not a good target for such a call. (It also doesn't help that they want from $20,000 to $50,000 to get the products up there in the first place -- but I digress.) Look at what your prospective customer sells and see if you have a product or service that can assist them in some way. Those are the customers to call on! 

3. Be Prepared With Suggestions. Once you have scripted a polite introduction and know a bit about your prospective customer's business, you're ready to call them and tell them who you are and what you have to offer. But before dialing their number, be sure to have some suggestions ready in case they say, "That sounds like it might work for me. What exactly to you recommend?" Don't get stuck like Heather did at this point or you'll lose the sale for sure as you stumble around for the right answer. Have 2-3 recommendations ready ahead of time and be prepared to tell the person how they fit their business in as many ways as possible. Everyone wants to know "what's in it for me?" so be sure to consider the type of product or service you offer and be prepared to tell the person -- in simple terms -- how they can benefit from it. Consider the price you charge and how they can price it for resale (if they are a retailer). Consider whatever service you provide and be prepared to tell the person how it can help them become more efficient, save money and have more time for other things. Finally, be prepared to do as much as possible to close the sale, making things seem easy and effortless for your new customer. This means using email, fax machines and other technologically advanced systems to close the sale quickly and efficiently. If you have put an appropriate sales infrastructure in place, all your customer needs to do is pay a fair price -- you deliver the goods. Voila!

Cold calling is always a gamble and it intimidates many, but you can significantly increase your chances of success by implementing these tips -- be polite, know your customer and offer suggestions for how you can help them. Practice on some friends and colleagues first to ease the transition -- and Don't Blow That Sale!! Good luck!!

Skin Rejuvenating Complex is a wonderful rich new face cream that I recently had a chance to try. Dense and moisture-rich, this cream is going to be set aside specifically for when the weather turns.

Visit our suite of Web sites serving the handmade toiletries industry:

HandmadeBeauty.com: the leading industry trade organization
MangoButter.com: 450+ suppliers of raw materials and packaging, updated weekly!
MakeYourCosmetics.com: ingredient encyclopedia & original cosmetics recipes
DonnaMaria.com: sound advice for your small business, Create The Life You Love™
AromaGirls .com: Coming Soon: "defining beauty for ourselves"