As an ex-Kirby crew leader (manager) for Trebor Distributing in Toledo, Ohio, I can say that Kirby is a great vacuum cleaning system, however I do not believe in the company's strategy of selling its product to the consumer.
First of all, the machine is well over priced. $1500-$2200 for a vacuum cleaner is steep for a cleaning system. Consumer reports stated that vacuum cleaners in the price range of 200-300 dollars work quite as well. There is a huge mark up on the machine. Distributors buy the machine company direct at 250 -300 dollars. So that leaves them with about 1200 to cover overhead expenses such as payroll and rent and supplies.
Kirby sales reps would make between 50-400 dollars on commision per sale. Thus leaving the distributor about 400-800 dollars in profit. AS you can see there is a huge markup. The machine can easily be sold in stores for 600 dollars. But the company chooses not to.
Because kirby are only sold door to door, their sales tactics are quite misleading, in more words very decieving. Offering free shampoo cleaning, with no sale pitch, was one way of entering a persons house. A demo would last from 1hr-2hrs, depending on customers buying temperature.
Dealers were trained to ignore the customers "no's" So in the long run the deaker look like a money hungry salesperson. Trust me I know I was good at it. I was one of our top salesman before I was promoted to manager. The more i did the business the more guilty I felt. I finally quit the job. Kirby can take advantage of old people, and the low income families. This is a dog eat dog busniess and I am glad to share it with the rest of you who are reading this.
Not only do kirby distributors take advantage of the consumer, they take advantage of young, guilible employees. Their way of recruiting is misleading the recruit that it is not a doot to door sales position. They will tell you that all prospects have been noticed before hand. These are all lies. They make the job seem like its the best thing since slice bread. I admit you can make a lot in the Kirby business but the hours you sacrifice for your distributor isn't worth it. Dealers would knock on doors til 9 o'clock in the evening. I don't know about you but thats rude. Going to sales meetings getting bashed at for lack of sales is not for the weak.
Kirby's sells tactics are so bad that Dateline news had a special about the kirby business and how far a kirby salesman would go to get a sell. Go to Dateline to find the article.
People be careful, If you want one you can talk the dealer and the manager to a thousand even, it's called a lowball in kirby terminology. I want to hear your input on this topic. Thanks for reading it.
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