Whats the catch with this job??

[bubbas1]

My son,(18 ..sr in HS) has come to the conclusion that he wants to sell Rainbow vacuum cleaners

He says he will make $620 a week by just showing 10 a week even if he dosent sell one. He asked what I thought and I told him there had to be a catch somewhere but if he wanted to do it he should give it a try. The worst that happens is he wastes a little bit of time and it will be something funny to look back on later in life. (because I will remind him of this time)

The only catch I can see is he dosent get 10 showings. He had to practice on 6 houses this weekend. He set up all the appts (including with the wife and I) and did all his showings. At each house he gets refferals to other houses and the people being shown the machine actually call up there friends and family while he is there to ok the referral. So I can see how he could make the 10 a week easy. Almost like a pyramid scheme.

Other than that I cant see the catch to doing this.
I know there has to be someone on this board that has given it a try so let me know where the catch is so my son dosent waste to much of his time.

For being an overpriced machine the damn thing works really good though. The scary part is he was actually good at the high pressure sales. I hope to God that this isnt his calling in life.

 

[The Boys]

How many people do you know that would pay $1500 for a vacuum cleaner???

 

[mcgruder]

And I thought the Orecks were expensive. Agree with The Boys, not to many people that carry a lunchbox for a living can afford a vac like that. Of course there is alot of money out there so let the kid give it a try. Good worth ethic if nothing else.

 

[THE KOD]

As long as they dont require him to pay upfront fees to get involved it should be ok.

Wouldnt it be funny if he turned out to be their top salesman and was soon selling used cars with beantownjim.

 

[dawgball]

I had a co-worker a long time ago do this. He made pretty good money doing it. I think you would be surprised how many housewives would pay crazy amounts of money for a good vacuum.

I will give this opinion on this: If he wants to get in sales (probably the highest paying profession that doesn't take a ton of school), then this will be awesome training! Going door to door is about the only thing worse than making cold calls on the phone. His next step would be to sell educational books door to door for the International Company (I think that's the name). If you are successful at these two ventures, I would almost guarantee that you will make $200K+ when you get out of college and get a high-end sales job.

Sales managers salivate over kids with this kind of training because you can not get it through a book.

I will leave it up to you to keep his morals in check, so he doesn't spend his life making sales for the sake of selling instead of slaes that actaully help his clients.

 

[layinwood]

Dawgball, I sold Rainbows a longgggggg time ago. What's funny is they really haven't gone up in price that much after all these years.

I did it because I was a sophmore in college and i knew that I wanted to go into sales someday. I figured if I could sell one of those then I could sell anything. It's hard work, can be long hours, but there is nothign bad that can come from him wanting to sell them.

To be honest, I made descent money selling them. I just couldn't keep it up because you have to do a lot of work in the evenings when people are at home and that got in the way of my fun time! LOL

More than likely it will break him quick. I wasn't made out for it. Sales in general is hard, as eveyrone knows, but this type of sales is extremely tough. Looking someone in the eye and telling them to give you 1500 for a vacuum takes a lot of balls. But hey if they don't have the money you can always finance one.

 

[amhlilhaus]

sales is the highest paid profession you can do without a college education.

 

[Blazer]

Good for him.

When I was a Marketing Manager and reviewing resumes, the fact that a kid did D2D work was a plus. It showed he is willing to work.

 

[dawgball]

Even if you plan on going into sales, I suggest to get a college degree. I don't care if it is in Unerwater Basket Weaving. Some companies with great opportunities for sales professionals do not open their dors without one. I don't necessarily agree with this policy, but that's just the way it is.

 

[kosar]

Dawgball, I sold Rainbows a longgggggg time ago. What's funny is they really haven't gone up in price that much after all these years.

I did it because I was a sophmore in college and i knew that I wanted to go into sales someday. I figured if I could sell one of those then I could sell anything. It's hard work, can be long hours, but there is nothign bad that can come from him wanting to sell them.

To be honest, I made descent money selling them. I just couldn't keep it up because you have to do a lot of work in the evenings when people are at home and that got in the way of my fun time! LOL

More than likely it will break him quick. I wasn't made out for it. Sales in general is hard, as eveyrone knows, but this type of sales is extremely tough. Looking someone in the eye and telling them to give you 1500 for a vacuum takes a lot of balls. But hey if they don't have the money you can always finance one.

That about sums it up. I tried it about 17 or 18 years ago when I was in high school. I lasted two weeks.

First of all you were supposed to memorize this long ass script that had responses to every possible reply to any possible question.

Before I started they told me that there were appointment setters who would have my sales calls lined up each night I was to work. Nope, no such thing. I had to cold call from their stale list. They had names of 5 year olds on there, people that were dead. That was fun.

Probably peddled it to 15 or so people in those two weeks. 0 sales, 0 dollars and certainly no 600/week draw or whatever they appear to be offering these days. I think they were going for about $950 back then.

My sister just got one about a month ago with all the bells, whistles and various attachments for like $1900. She referred my mom to the sales guy. My mom said whatever, but there's no way she was gonna buy one. No way. $1900 later she had her very own Rainbow. She said the guy was 'persuasive and very polite.' She wouldn't buy from from her own son all those years ago so I guess I wasn't 'persuasive' enough.

 

[bsucards]

we had someone come through offering these, they get in the door by offering a free gift like a candle or something. They basically stay in your house until you kick them out or you buy one. They had payment plans etc. If you didn't buy they called in the high man on the pole and he tried to break it down even more. They had to get so many little samples and she had to count them all up, before she could leave.

They basically came into our housing edition with a van and dropped these kids off.

I passed on it, and just wnated the person out of my house, just to show my dis interest, I broke out my laptop and started reading articles about the company and other various stuff.

The girl didn't care, but the big sales dude was a little pissed.

 

[Mjolnir]

Even if you plan on going into sales, I suggest to get a college degree. I don't care if it is in Unerwater Basket Weaving. Some companies with great opportunities for sales professionals do not open their dors without one. I don't necessarily agree with this policy, but that's just the way it is.

couldn't agree more. get a degree.

 

[lawtchan]

couldn't agree more. get a degree.

I work in pharmaceutical sales and 100% correct.

I do'nt care if you sell 1000 of these vaccum cleaners, w/o a Bachelor's degree,

YOU AIN"T GETTIN NO INTERVIEW!!!! :com: :com: :scared

 

[acehistr8]

$1500?? I thought the Dyson we bought was expensive at around 3 bills, and thats the best damn vacuum I've ever seen. Cant imagine the Rainbow being 5x better?

 

[bubbas1]

Dawgball...the moral thing is what I was most worried about but last night he put my mind at ease somewhat. When we reffered 4 people to him he was told that under no circumstances was he to sell to 2 of them. They have a hard time saying no and we know what there financial situation is so there was no way they could afford it. So i get a text message from my son last night and he wants to know what to do because 1 of the people is really interested in the machine and he knows he can sell one to her with little effort. I call him up and we talked about it and he decided that when he got to the price part he would walk out the door at the first sign of balking. He told her the price..she said thats to much..he thanked her and left. He didnt even tell her about the payment plans. So when he got home later I told him I was proud that he did the right thing even though it cost him a sale. I told him that when he goes to peoples houses that we dont know to just pay close attention to what they say and how they are living and he should be able to figure out how much to push for the sale.

So far he likes the job and has decided that he is going to drop out of his last semester of H.S. (he has more that enough credits to graduate and he was only scheduled for gym and choir. He will still be in the graduation ceremony in June) to give this job a full time shot. I let him make that decision even though I want him to enjoy being a kid and not grow up to fast. (There is plenty of time for that later)

I will talk to him about college again because right now he has no interest in it whatsoever. Even though he gets great grades now he didnt want to go to college. It may change his mind now knowing that he will need a degree to open a few doors.

 

[davidjg47]

It's very hard work, BUT I personally know people who sell Rainbow, earning 6 figures....Way over priced but in home demo makes homeowner want it bad......

 

[kneifl]

I have to agree you should get a degree and go for a good sales job, it makes a big difference of getting your foot in the door.

However, my wife works for a timeshare company not as a salesperson though. You won't believe this, I didn't until it was confirmed by a few people, some of the salespeople there only have HS Diplomas while others have MBA's. Some of the good ones make more money than Doctors....

kneifl

 

[JimmytheWeasel]

It's a draw. If you read the Dealer Agreement that your son will have to sign during training it states that if he completes all of the required demonstrations in the month, doing every minor detail in every presentation, from a completing a full 2 hour demo, to calling the sales manager after every presentation and put alot of pressure on the customer, no matter how much money they do or don't make, then at the end of the month, he will get the difference of what he didn't make on commission. Generally all of the employees are spoonfed information bit by bit and by the time you realize the truth they are too far into it to just quit, b/c they think that they are going to get the check at the end of the month for the difference, which if your son checks with the employees that have been there awhile, they will inform him not to worry about the "guaranteed money" and to concentrate on selling the vacuums. Which if he does sell alot then he will make some good money. However, no one ever completes every single detail in the agreement, which was written by an attorney, and no one gets the "guaranteed" money. So tell your son, to get busy selling!

 

[Blazer]

I work in pharmaceutical sales and 100% correct.

I do'nt care if you sell 1000 of these vacuum cleaners, w/o a Bachelor's degree,

YOU AIN"T GETTIN NO INTERVIEW!!!! :com: :com: :scared

After rereading the thread, I think my message was blurry.

GET A PIECE OF PAPER.

I went back and finished at the age of 27. I know that is no where near a record, but it was something I had to do.

After that, experience in D2D sales shows heart and is a plus.

 

[Sportsaholic]

sales is the highest paid profession you can do without a college education.

Not according to Saphire down on the corner of Park and Main...........