Beauty Town’ s Mr. Steve Hong
Mr. Hong gets called “young” amongst his friend group because almost all his friends are married. He’s over thirty years old but the nickname deems appropriate due to his youthful appearance. I met with Mr. Hong who is a sales and marketing representative for the Western US, Canada, Europe and South America at Beauty Town. This company is headquartered in New Jersey and was founded in 1999 with President Don Park. At first glance, Mr. Hong still looks like a student but after getting to know him, we found out he has been in the beauty industry for 8 years finding ways to maintain a healthy work and life balance.
Leading Relationships to Success
“I’ve thought about wanting to do other jobs while working as a freelancer. I started at Beauty Town because I wanted to be more productive during the day as I was an audio engineer at night. I love working and meeting new people so each day was exciting for me.” This is how Mr.Hong started out his journey. Currently, his main job is his work at Beauty Town but he still deals with various entertainment such as movie scores, documentary vocals, film music, editing and recording two to three times a week in the evenings. Mr. Hong is young man who creates the perfect balance between work, hobbies and fitness! He can play a number of different instruments such as the drums and piano and followed his parents to the United States at the age of eight where he currently resides in New Jersey.
There is something unique and special about Beauty Town.
“There are a lot of competitive companies but we focus specifically on sales with the president being involved in everything related to purchasing the products. 6 months out of the year are spent in China to identify the market trends and build an understanding of the flow of the factory. This allows for the absence of an agent as well as making sure we know first-hand the quality and production of our products.” Mr. Hong explains the unique characteristics of his company. In particular, there has been an issue where household products have risen so high in prices that it is different to keep up with market prices entering the United States. Therefore, the company’ s policy is to make standard products that are high quality that customers can rely on. He also emphasized that the goal is to help customers get the feel of a “one-stop shop” by increasing the assortment of products by 500-700 products per year. Nowadays, although there are a lot of customers from the nearby areas, New Jersey and New York, business is expanding to other areas such as Canada, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. When dealing with customers, Mr. Hong explains that he is always full of passion and energy. He enjoys visiting retail stores and likes to think that he is spreading the happy virus wherever he goes.
There is a reason that brings in more business.
“We have everything!” This is a phrase many hear from owners who are greedy over the many similar products available in retail stores. Nonetheless, customers who listen with interest while employees explain their in-depth catalog of products or try on samples are much appreciated. I feel an extra sense of satisfaction when I see customers who re-order products that I helped introduce them to.”
Beauty Town’s Boasting Points
■ The people are very kind.
‘It’s not that I can’t do it, it’ s that I choose not to do it.” The words of Confucius hang proudly and loudly in our office which gives everyone the positive sense of “I can do it no matter what” .
The President of our company wanted to build a town related to beauty which is how our company name came into fruition. All employees work together in a tight-knit environment and take care of one another. Even though most people on the sales side are older, they always make sure to always look out for one another.
Furthermore, as a company, we share tips on the best ways to approach customers and are not afraid to experiment with new ideas. The ideas shared by the staff are well received by the higher-ups which gives them more motivation to always come up with new suggestions. There are a lot of times when end users have a direct impact on product development which is beneficial for the company.
■ The job itself is fantastic.
Mr. Hong does a lot of comparative analysis that directly relates to sales. The company opened a database that can compare the sales of each account of last year or last month. This allows the employees to directly help the customers with their order. Not only does it increase the volume of orders, but it lets the employees see their own progressive growth over time.
■ Products are compelling and engaging.
Each company has their own flagship product but Beauty Town’s launch of the new “wood brush” has been receiving lots of praise for the product’s high quality compared to its price. This product is also reducing the use of plastic, being good for the environment. We all know that it is hard to have 10 or 20 cent products on the market but combs, brushes and rubber bands are made with good products.
Coin Payment Lesson
One thousand and eight hundred dollars. Multiple blue buckets from Lowe’s were filled with pennies to equal out that large amount of money. A retailer decided this was the best way to repay an 8-month’ s debt after months of being pestered. “I’m sure that retailer was offended. It’s one of the few experiences I have had since joining this company that I felt a relation-ship failed.” Mr. Hong remembers that day and works hard to not make the same mistakes. He added that the buckets were “really heavy and at first, he was angry and flabbergasted but had to receive the payment to be civil.” He also adds that there were no
instances such as this ever again. Mr.Hong looks back on that day and laughs while retelling us the story saying that incident changed his life.
Unwrapping the Rubber Band and Handing Me a “Red Bull”
“There was a couple who owned a beauty supply retail on the central side that I worked with regularly. Whenever we talked on the phone, they were always serious and straight to the point. However, one day I went into their store and were immediately questioned as to whether I had eaten dinner. They were making dinner and kindly invited me to eat with them. I believe that my face looked really tired on that hot day. They also sell drinks in the store so they unwrapped a pair of red bulls to give me one. Because one red bull is easy to grab and steal, they had the bright idea to wrap two which is more obvious when grabbed. The owners giving me a red bull that day is still vivid in my memory.
Let’s Enjoy the Work and Life Balance
Mr. Hong spends most of his weekends or holidays with his family. He enjoys hiking, and takes advantage of the diverse restau-rants in New Jersey and New York by going on a “food tour around the world.” Brazilian, Thai, Chinese and Indian food are some of his favorites. When the weather is nice, he even goes inline skating around Central Park. Mr. Hong sure knows how to balance out his work while enjoying his life!
Knowing what products are coming out at what times, seeing the customers receive the information and order the products, experiencing the customers enjoying the products and re-ordering them is the most rewarding prize for Mr. Hong. The positive attitude Mr.Hong has to make his company the number one company that customers will look to is the reason his hard work has unwavered from the beginning. This is an idea that makes it different from other companies and there is no doubt that this is special. Similar to his audio engineering, he creates harmonious creations between the company and customers to continuously assemble great products and increase sales for the company.
A Salesman’s Vision 글 Sunny Kim
BNB Magazine August 2019 ©bnbmag.com
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