Why Does Smell Matter In Business?

A fragrance may vanish, but its effects stay long — even in business.

Recent research has shown that smell impacts business and life more than we think.

Our nose is a strange thing.

It helps us breathe, but we often forget that it has another equally important function: it tells us how the world around us smells.

And the scent of our surroundings carries a meaning. It can be alarming, alluring or threatening. It is a primaeval tool to protect, warn and guide us. We should trust our noses more.

Do you smell things consciously or ignore the aromas and the stinks surrounding you?

Is your sense of smell to you just an atavistic and vexatious nuisance or something you use for a purpose?

We sometimes ask, ‘do you smell the rat?’ without realising that the saying is more accurate than we think. We should use our noses more.

The ancient Romans knew that money does not smell (but still has a pleasant bouquet of profit)

‘Pecunia non olet — money does not stink’, said Roman emperor Vespasian, and put a tax on the urine. He was not the first emperor to do so.

The first one was Nero (sic!). However, the saying ‘Money does not stink’ was put in the mouth of Vespasian.

It has been spreading the odours of capitalism throughout the centuries.

Those Romans!

After all, Vespasian capitalised on poor people’s pee almost industrially. They sold the urine from public urinals to make all kinds of handy products that required tanning and even laundering.

Roman reality TV

There was also a family conflict in the making in the Vespasian family.

The son of Vespasian, Titus, was not happy with the tax. He thought it was disgusting.

The emperor asked Titus to smell a gold coin with his super sensitive nose.

The son did not find it disgusting at all, and in return, the father created the famous phrase: Pecunia non olet — money does not smell. And the successful urine business flourished ever after.

Social Media smells money

Somebody might even say that currently, social media is a happy descendant of Roman practice.

Golden showers of Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram are profitable businesses. The emperors of the social media giants close their noses and collect the money.

We have forgotten that even in business, our senses matter. We have just failed to use them properly or ignored them altogether.

Young scientists playing with the smell

As a teenager, we experimented with my friends on the tram in Helsinki. The full tram was merrily clunking to its destination, and, like Finnish people always do, nobody spoke to the stranger sitting next to them.

Then, the young scientists let out a silent but very smelly fart.

After waiting a few seconds, we stared disgusted at one person who was, to our liking, a bit too posh. And voila, after just a couple of stops, that poor sample of our research escaped the tram.

It was a bit rude, and I would not do it again. Not at least at my sage age of 66, but I remember the occasion fondly.

Those were the days when science was young.

Your nose is a time machine

My mother put all kinds of things under my nose, saying, ‘smell this, Jussi’. I have developed a habit of doing that ever since.

I still can remember the sweet and tender fragrance of her soft hands. Now, decades later, I can feel her touch just by smelling the same type of hand cream. It brings back those moments otherwise long forgotten.

Our sense of smell is more powerful than we think. It can take us by surprise, or we don’t even realise that a particular scent returned a memory or a feeling.

What are the smells that work as your time machine?

The research confirms that smell means business

Recently I got interesting research into my hands: A question of scent: lavender aroma promotes interpersonal trust.

The Leiden University researchers have put their noses into a smelly business of trust. The outcome of the research is clear: smell matters.

“Prosocial behaviour was significantly greater in the presence of “sweet” fragrances (e.g., baking cookies, roasting coffee); smelling the aroma of lavender may help a seller to establish more easily a trusting negotiation to sell a car, or in a grocery store, it may induce consumers to spend more money buying products. The smell of lavender may also be helpful in sport psychology to enhance trust and build team spirit, for example, in the case of team games such as soccer and volleyball.” — A question of scent: lavender aroma promotes interpersonal trust.

Lavender aroma promotes trust

The result of the research sits well with recent neuroscience, too.

It is telling us to look at human interactions more holistically.

We have to get away from thinking that people decide and act based on a very narrow written and documented base, and in business, these sensory things don’t matter.

However, our noses could become a productivity gauge like those canary birds in the mines. Let’s smell the gas of bad business before it explodes, and we all die.

Let’s use all our senses and be sensible with integrity to acknowledge that people, nature and businesses are all interconnected.

Let’s build a better-smelling world and businesses

Open your nostrils to exciting new business opportunities.

Trust is a sensitive thing. Like your nose. Use them purposefully and often.

Building trust also means ensuring that the odours or fragrances we emit are more lavender-like, as the research from the country of tulips suggests.

What is your favourite smell in business: pee or lavender?

The conclusion

We are how we smell. And our business has its smell, too. Which one do you choose: a dead rat or lavender?

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