Expand mobile version menu

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution

You make the changes the company wants.

This is the real-life decision made by perfumer Claudette Belnavis.

If a customer insists on making the fragrance stronger, "then you have to give them a stronger fragrance," Belnavis says. "We come across that a lot, because it's never strong enough."

As a perfumer, your fine-tuned sense of smell and your judgment are not always appreciated. To win contracts -- and thereby earn money -- you have to do what the customer wants.

Often, several fragrance companies will compete to earn a contract. The customer will choose the fragrance company with the scent they like best. You can't win the contract by arguing.

"You could put years of resources, and hundreds of thousands of dollars sometimes, behind a product," Belnavis says. "And [sometimes] at the end you're not selected. You just don't get paid for all that work."