This is not necessarily a bad place to work, I just want prospective employees to see what they're really getting into. Also, the Kirby vacuum itself is pretty fantastic. I know several people who've had theirs for decades with only minor servicing.
I found the job on craigslist under customer service. I called, they had me come in for an interview two hours later, were happy with my utter lack of sales experience, and told me to come back later that day for orientation and training. The job as explained to me then was:
1. Somone sets appointments, via telephone, door to door, fliers, etc
2. I follow up on these appointments, demonstrate the latest and greatest Kirby vacuum
3. A sales person gives a pitch
4. I make $1800/mo by giving sixty demonstrations, plus a small commission
During orientation it became clearer that we were expected to sell the vacuums, pitch and all. I'm thinking it'll be fine, because I'll still have a guaranteed salary. Two days of training and paperwork later, I find I'm not to be an employee, just an independent contractor. I find the $1800 is a one-month only new-guy incentive. After that, pay is entirely commission. Plus, you forfeit the entire $1800 if you don't give at least sixty demos. On a side note, the trainer, Steve Fraser, regularly told my training group to meet at a certain time, then showed up half an hour later AFTER we called him, asking where he was.
Anyway. I decide to go out on the job, figuring it's better to work for a month and quit than not work at all. We drive out to Hanford in a van, and get dropped off in a low-income area. Most people are renting, a few houses have obviously been foreclosed for a while, many people have severely reduced rent through govt assistance. This apparently is where we are supposed to sell $2400 vacuums.
Now I find out that while we do have appointment setters whose only job is to go door to door finding interested folks, we customer service guys do the same until enough appointments have been made. And appointments are slim. Several people per block ask us why Kirby salesmen come by so often. It looked like you'd be doing really well to give two demos a day.
I also learn that we "customer service" reps are responsible for the sale. There is a sales manager, who is in charge of financing and negotiating a final price, but we're responsible for everything else. Which would be okay if there was a guaranteed salary.
I should mention here that a regular day starts at nine or ten in the morning, and ends twelve to thirteen hours later. This for two appointments which might help make the sixty needed to get the first-month-only $1800 incentive, which works out to $5/hr and prevents you from getting a different job.
Contrast with above:
1. Everyone but sales managers go door to door setting same-day appointments for Kirby vacuum demonstrations
2. Customer service reps demo the machine, convinces the customer to buy
3. Sales manager sets the price and financing options
4. I, the customer service rep, make only a small commission
Now, if you're a charismatic motivated individual who loves pounding the pavement in hundred degree weather, you'd probably do really well. But for everyone else, don't waste your time.
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