"If we don't make them feel special, someone else will."Oh, and the steamy hot tip for summer scent? Try Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfiger "It's fantastic... phenomenal," according to perfume guru Dr Luca Turin, author of Parfum: le Guide. Warm, but not too talkative, they need to inspire customers to feel they're buying into the designer dream and that it's worth paying a premium price at a department store, rather than going to a consultant-free zone at cut-price stores such as Superdrug."In its barest form, what we're doing is selling products," admits Robinson. But - and this is the crucial difference between how male and female customers are treated - there's no touching because men may feel uncomfortable.They're treading a tightrope, these purveyors of taste. The customer is invited to hold out the back of his wrist for a spray. "Ten years ago, women made 70 per cent of the purchases but men are much more confident now," says Richard Hawkins of Yves St Laurent.Young men, from their early 20s on, tend to come in on their own wanting the trendiest, newest fragrance They're heavily influenced by the consultants.

Subconsciously, the customer is saying to us, `Meet my need, then I'm happy to listen to your suggestions'."So powerful is the doctrine of accessibility that consultants now practically jump over the counter so that they are on the same side as the customer.Male customers flock in droves, too, buying presents for women and, nowadays, skincare and fragrance for themselves. "Before she goes, however, we would ask if she had seen the new summer look which has other lip colours. "We might think, `Oh, God' - but if that's what she wants, that's what she gets," continues Robinson. Eye contact is vital, for instance, and, if you have a couple shopping together, always acknowledge her first."Madam is always right, therefore, even if that magenta lipstick seems a tragic error of judgement. But in today's competitive climate, the value of sales can be directly linked to the perceived value of the service. Consultants must be approachable as well as informative."Let's face it, the product is the product is the product," says Deborah Robinson, American-born national training manager of Parfums Christian Dior "The difference is how the customer is treated. Time was when these style oracles would, if they deigned to acknowledge your existence at all, glare down camel-like noses, curl a lip and wait for customers to stammer out a request.

Maybe Madam is planning a seductive soiree - in which case, what about something more sensuous? Do you know what lipstick, scent, eyeshadow, skincare range will really suit you? Every year, 2.7 million people seek the answer in Selfridges' Cosmetic and Fragrance Halls. The halls, scheduled for a face-lift next year by Christian Liaigre, the man behind Paris's superchic Hotel Montalambert, are vital to Selfridges' balance sheet: they account for 11 per cent of the store's sales. Key to the success of this altar to aesthetics are The Women Who Know - the 350 beauty and fragrance consultants who spend up to 20 minutes with each customer. So how does Madam see her life and lipstick today? Is it Woodland Rose Perfect Lipcolor (the classic pinky beige, "perfect for all ages"), or could it be Luscious Magenta Melting Lippy? (a daring little number, "inspired by Schiaparelli's Shocking, for every woman who is wild at heart".) Or a fresh floral, perhaps - so suitable for after sport or at the office. But the really neat touch is the campaign's lightness of tone.It is a lesson already learned by the likes of Allied Dunbar, who's all singing and dancing "There might be trouble ahead" campaign continues to engage and entertain.But sit up at the back, Equitable Life and Scottish Widows.

The former continues to rely on the agonising father and son combo in the "It's an equitable life, Henry" ads And the latter? You've guessed it.. Scottish women dressed in black.. Humour is an effective way of breaking through this - even if used in moderation (NU was looking to raise a smile rather than a "belly laugh", he explains).That the end result retained even the merest hint of humour is little short of a miracle, given the army of advisors and censors who vetted the process. "The campaign had to meet the approval of not only the agency creative director and client but, more specifically, NU's financial director, its merchant banker, lawyers, stock brokers, city PR firm and all the interested regulatory authorities," Ms Baxter says.Read the reams of literature associated with NU's imminent demutualisation and you too will probably will find yourself failing to catch your partner on the trapeze, missing your rocket home from outer space or boiling your lobster live - as happens in each of the ads. "Much financial services advertising is dull as dishwater," Mr Cowper-Johnson believes. The demutualisation of NU, however, is slightly different, says Thomas Cowper-Johnson, Norwich Union's head of brand and international communications."Not only is NU offering shares but it also hopes to raise new money from members offered the chance to buy more shares at a discount," he explains.To work within the spirit of the Financial Services Act advertising and broadcast legislation, the campaign had to focus on creating awareness of the opportunity to buy. It also requires ads to carry unwieldy disclaimers, including the now familiar health warning: "The value of shares/investments can go up as well as down".The campaign, targeting NU's two million UK members, had to be a call to action - but stick within the letter of the law.

And it had to stand out from the glut of recent building society demutualisations.Building society floatations tend to involve free shares being offered to shareholders. The Financial Services Act prevents anyone from urging consumers to buy shares because they are a good investment. It's all very well saying "cheaper", "faster" or "washes whiter" for other products, but the true value of a pension won't become evident for many years. Then there's the nature of the beast - the more complex the product, the tougher it is to explain.The challenge was to advertise something financial, but broadcast regulations dictate that cannot be directly advertised, she adds.