Back in the Summer of 1993 - I was desperate to get a summer job, but didn't know how. The normal form you fill out to get a job making minimum wage didn't pan out (forget the reason). But right when summer began... there were signs every where in San Francisco saying you can earn $14.95 an hour... selling knives. And that became my first official job.
$14.95, of course, was bait. The knives selling, was a scam. The start kit, which all sales rep had to buy, was $150. And I made a total of 3 sale... a carving fork to mom. A fishing knife (or Rambo knife) to dad. And a knife set to 師傅. I attended the orientation... went to a bunch of training... and I truly thought that I can let "the product sell itself." But in the end... I was not the sales person the marketing company had me thinking I would be. My network simply was made up of people too poor to afford such luxury items -- including those rich snobs at church. Till this day.. I still remember most of my sales script. A few years back, I saw Costco having a sales display -- and I was still able to recognize most of those knives. So whenever I go to someone's house, or to out for dinner that has a steak knife, I would naturally pick it up and examine/admire the knife.
Case in point, Thursday night, we had a leadership offsite dinner with a bunch of VP's at one of Emeril's restaurant. I was given a knife... and as any mingling session would have it... you start to talk about things you normally don't talk about in every day conversation. It turns out... two of the VP's that sat on the same table were also failed Cutco sales reps. We spent a while going through our own stories... and examining whether or not we can make it these days... with our current network and our speaking skills.
At the end... I told my VP, at our next Quarterly Review or All-hands... I can demo how to use the shears to cut a penny. To which the other VP's said... "We'll join you."
Mood: nostalgic
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