I'm Sydney Eddy and I'm one of the newer employees here at Lavish Boutique and Tuxedo Rental in the Morgantown Mall. What do you like about sales? What attracted you to this job? Well, one of the things I always loved about when I was in high school and middle school was getting dressed up like every girl does. So, I was really excited and this was my favorite dress shop to come to. I would always come here and buy all my dresses. My sister was always obsessed with it, my little sister. So, I approached Helen at the end of my senior year about a summer job, and she was super excited, which made me super excited. I think the best thing about sales is just like, I mean, we're really proud of what we have here. We really take care of all of our stuff and we just get super. The best thing is just seeing someone else's face when they get what they want and how they feel in the dress. I think it's exciting because you're the person who showed it to them and you're the person who got to be a part of their experience. Because I remember the experience and it's my favorite part about high school. I mean, it was like getting to put on that dress for the first time and you're like, "This is the dress." Of course, Helen would laugh and my parents would laugh because it was always one dress. So, it's like the first dress I tried on was always my favorite dress. I think it's always been Helen who helped me put the dress on and she's always been the one to help me find it and it's just the best part about it. It's finally being part of that experience and knowing from Helen side as well as the girl's side of how exciting it really is. So, Helen has been training you. I'm interested in hearing, what does she do to motivate you? Oh, my. It's just her attitude in general. She's this always so positive, she's so exciting. I mean, I don't think I have ever met someone who loves their job so much. I think that in itself is motivation, like inspiration that she's really doing what she loves. I feel like sometimes you go somewhere and you can tell they're just not into it, and here, you just like there's zero of any of that anywhere. She's just so excited. She doesn't care how many dresses you put on. She never gets frustrated with girls who try on 18. She gets more excited. The fact she loves it, and she truly enjoys what she does. I think that's the biggest motivation of all because, I mean, you just want to be in that same mindset as Helen all the time because she's just so much fun. Now that's very true. That's what we're hearing right now. Yes, she is so much fun. I was saying in and I was like, there it is all the time and it's nonstop. It's not a facade, she just truly loves it. So, what's your favorite part about selling and being here? Oh, definitely getting to know the customers. I mean, actually, I've had a couple of customers add me on Instagram actually after I've helped them with picking out dresses and stuff. It's just so much fun. I feel like you can tell a type of person by what kind of dresses they like. It's just so cool to be able to connect with the buyer as a seller and be able to really get a connection with them, because when a girl comes in at first, and she's like, "I really don't know" and you get three dresses in, I can go to the rack where she's trying something else on and be like, "This is more your style" and that might be something she walks out with. I think that's the coolest part is just being able to connect with your buyers. I think that's really awesome. Now, what type of I guess the motivation other than being positive? Helen spoke to taking some of our salespeople to pageant shows or fashion shows things like that. Do you think you'd like that kind of opportunity as a salesperson? I think I'd love that opportunity. I mean, one of my coworkers, Jessica, actually, she would tell me about how Helen's been such like a motivator for her because she actually went to nationals on a pageant and how Helen went with her. I just think that's so cool, but definitely, to go somewhere with Helen would be really awesome, really amazing. That's awesome. So, it sounds like she uses her energy a lot and it's contagious? Yeah, it really is. I mean, I think if I were having a completely awful day, and coming to work is honestly a highlight of my day. I don't think many people get to say that, and I think that's really awesome. It's definitely like if I was having a terrible day, it could be storming outside, and it was an awful day, and I walk in, and it's like the sun shining, nothing bad in the world, is just so awesome here, definitely. So, I find it really interesting as you mentioned before. You're going to go to WVU. So, you'll be a freshman this year? Yes. Okay. So, how about we save the question a little bit and let me know what you will be taking and that sort of thing? Oh, yeah. So, I'm going to be incoming freshmen at WVU. I'm actually in their Honors Program so I have a lot of honors courses that come with that. But my endgame major is going to be Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. So, that's pretty awesome, but I'm not really worried about working in school just because she worked so well with us and with our schedules and everything and she really makes it possible. How do you think sales could help you in the future with your future career? Oh, definitely like people skills. I've learned with just a couple of months here that how to read people. I've learned how to help them find what they're looking for if they're unsure and problem-solving, definitely like, "It's not in your size. We'll order it." You definitely working through some potholes has really helped a lot. I think as far as sales goes, I mean, I feel like we all try to sell ourselves anyway. First impressions, interviews, stuff like that, I mean, if I go into a job interview, I'm selling the interviewer myself for that position. When I go to class in a couple of weeks, my professors keep reminding me with friendly emails, the countdown. When I go to class, I'm going to shake that person's hand and I'm going to sell myself to them to be their friend. I think this whole interacting with people thing is such an important thing to learn, especially when you're going through this big change from high school. Then, even from college to career, just this backbone is going to be so much help in the future. What advice would you give to someone who, I mean, they might not be thinking of sales as a career but, or they might be or they're somebody who's moving up to a sales operation manager or something. What advice would you give to someone who's looking to go on the sales or even looking to move up into sales? What do you think? Moving up into sales, I think just some advice is always, always, always look at the brighter side because it can be stressful. I mean, it could be really stressful because I felt the stress of looking for something and I can't find what I'm looking for because I know in my mind what it is. So, it can be stressful not knowing, but always keeping it positive and working with other people helps a lot. If I can't find something, I can always go to Helen and I know she can help me. Or just being able to look at the situation as a whole, and then definitely, communication skills is very important I think. Do you have anything you want to add? I think that maybe just staying positive in general it's a good way to live your life, definitely. It takes all the stress away I think, definitely. That's very true. Enjoy what you do, enjoy what you do, no doubt about that.
