The Invisible Mentor

Estee Lauder, A Legend & Invisible Mentor

December 9th, 2009 |

Estee Lauder was ahead of her time! She makes a great invisible mentor, a unique leader who we can learn things from. In my blog post If Estee Lauder Was a Blogger, What Would She Say? I identified 12 success tips that I gleaned while conducting research on her. This is my best 2009 post because we can learn so much from her. Back then, her Tell a Woman Campaign was simply brilliant, and is what we now call viral marketing. Customer service was very important to her, so she carefully recruited and trained her sales associates. Her persistence and determination helped her to achieve professional success.

Estee Lauder’s Success Tips

Pay close attention to the quality of your products
Offer a gift with purchase
Send samples by direct mail
Think creatively instead of thinking competition. Which non traditional market could benefit from your product or service (How about tapping hotels to purchase business books for their executive guests as a welcome)
Carefully recruit and train all sales representatives on how to give excellent customer service (Have product demos)
After you achieve success with your product, expand the product line and brand
Have raving fans: Give your friends who have influence samples of your products to carry around
Use viral marketing (Similar to “Tell a Woman” Campaign)
Trust yourself and your instincts
Focus, be aware of the world around
Know your customer, know your niche
Persist and have ambition

Looking at the success tips with today’s lens may not seem impressive, but over 40 years ago, now that’s a different story.

Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed. This is an entry for The Essential Lines from 2009 Group Writing Project.