In a major customer service initiative, Clinique Global President Lynne Greene today announced a new three-tier set of standards to provide the opportunity for career advancement for its skincare/beauty consultants, including those working in the

global travel retail sector.
The first level of certification will teach basic skin physiology and product recommendations based on skin type and concerns. All consultants will be required to reach a Level One certification and must pass a written test to demonstrate that they are comfortable in their daily consultations.
Level Two will require consultants to be able to focus on assisting dermatology patients with cosmetic complements to treatments. Key areas of education that have been identified for this level include acne, sun, chronic conditions, post-procedural camouflage and advanced skin physiology. The company says that the same level of consultation will be provided by Clinique representatives to patients at the Clinique Skin Wellness Center at Weill Cornell, which was formally unveiled to the world's press in New York today.
Last but not least, a Level Three qualification will result in a skin diagnostic consultant who will be able to deliver a much deeper understanding of key skin concerns. Upon graduating from Level Three, consultants will be eligible for specially designed education sessions at the Clinique Skin Wellness Center in New York, with the Orentreich Medical Group.
The company confirmed today that local market educator managers would be working with travel retailers. Responding to a direct question from TREND, the company said it had just completed a worldwide education meeting in October in Thailand where it had ‘educated all educators’, including those from travel retailing about how to deliver this level of consultation and education to all channels of distribution. But it also honestly admitted that in some instances in travel retail where it will be dealing with generic staff this may prove to be a slower process.
Lynne Greene, Global President of Clinique said it was important to realise that the company is announcing this initiative today: ‘I cannot emphasize enough to you that we are announcing this today. I don't want you to think you can walk out and see this manifest and represented at this moment. We are starting that programme. I need to emphasize that…’
TREND then asked a more general question: ‘If you are offering what is in effect an improved qualification, do you think you will be able to increasingly hold onto those people as a result, because the consultant sector is a notoriously mobile labour market?
Greene responded: ‘I think that is such a good question and yes we do think that because we value these people so much. We want to reiterate to them that they are in a career. They are not (just) in a job. They are not (just) in a sales position. We really want them to understand that we at Clinique think of it as a career and because we think of it that way we will build their education that takes them to a new level within our world.’
She subsequently added that consultants that improve their levels of skin consultation will be appropriately financially rewarded.