Thread Number: 23428
Kirby salesperson worst nightmare |
[Down to Last] |
Post# 262335   1/7/2014 at 22:11 (3,759 days old) by vacuumssuck213 ()   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
So imagine your a Kirby sales Rep you go into a demo and there vacuum is just killing the Kirby what vacuum is that ?? |
Post# 262339 , Reply# 1   1/7/2014 at 23:31 (3,759 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
|
Post# 262340 , Reply# 2   1/7/2014 at 23:38 (3,759 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
5    
I was a training manager for Kirby for over 15 years, and I never encountered that problem.
To start with, the office staff booked our appointments, and found out what type of machine we were up against, be that tank, canister, or upright, we also knew the brand, and finally, most important, the age of the machine. Part of my job was training the sales reps on how to 'pull' a machine, by using the features the customers machine didn't have. And, yes, this also applied to older model Kirby's. A Classic 111 could easily pull a D-80, D-50, or older. (Wider nozzle, and so on).
The demo was set up with husband and wife watching, and it began with the Handi-Butler. There was a reason for this. To whet the husbands interest with power tools. We got him to drill a block of wood, then sand it, and showed how he could use the buffing pad on the flexible shaft to polish his car, before going into the sprayer, telling him it could be used to kill the bugs attacking his rose bushes.
By the time we got to using their vacuum cleaner, they were so dazzled that the Electrolux, Hoover, or late model Kirby didn't matter, they wanted, and needed that new Kirby.
As I said at the start of this, the key was training, and that began by watching a training demo, learning the machine, and finally a section I called "knowing your competitor," where they were taught about other brands. This was followed with several practice demos, then I went out with each trainee and they got 'on the job training.' So another brand 'killing' the Kirby, didn't happen, at least not in the various branch offices I worked for.
I hope this sheds some light on how the demo was conducted, and the mind set of the sales staff.
Alex Taber.
|
Post# 262374 , Reply# 4   1/8/2014 at 04:11 (3,758 days old) by Turbo500 (West Yorkshire, UK)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
5    
|
Post# 262393 , Reply# 6   1/8/2014 at 08:12 (3,758 days old) by Blackheart (North Dakota)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 262425 , Reply# 8   1/8/2014 at 12:39 (3,758 days old) by rainbowvacfane2 (tracy ca)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 262427 , Reply# 10   1/8/2014 at 13:02 (3,758 days old) by kirbymodel2c (Nottingham, England)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
2    
Hi, I've never had a problem or worried about another vacuum out performing the Kirby when I did the demo. No matter if it was up against a Dyson, Filter Queen, Tristar, Sebo or another direct air machine like a Senior or Sanitaire. I'd just keep pulling the pads till there was nothing left to see. It was also the high quality and versatility as well as the high performance that helped differentiate between the Kirby and the vacuum you was up against.
James
|
Post# 262445 , Reply# 13   1/8/2014 at 15:36 (3,758 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
Some Kirby branch offices did 'bury' the customers old machine, none of the offices I worked for did it, but they did hold a 'smash a vacuum' day every few months. The sales staff and so on would meet in the parking lot, and take a sledge hammer to the Electrolux, Eureka, Hoover, or other machine on the 'execution block.' Being a man who loves ALL vacuum cleaners, I couldn't condone this, and because it was held on a Saturday afternoon, I never attended. I also made it clear to my manager that I didn't want to know the details at the Monday morning sales meetings, so it was never brought up.
As for the side by side test of their Electrolux (or and other brand) and our Kirby, was to do 50 strokes (25 front, 25 back) then make 2 passes with the Kirby. The idea was to show that we could pull more dirt. What the customer didn't know was that it also works in reverse. That's right, if the Kirby did the 50 strokes first, that old Electrolux would pull more dirt. So that's one thing we didn't tell our trainees. Bottom line, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with b.s.!
But by far, the best trick was the mattress test. That's too disgusting to go into here, but it worked, and I closed more sales right then and there, then with any other part of my demo.
Demoing Kirby's was a magic act, a bit of theater, with show and tell added for good measure. If you like your product, tell them the truth (okay we'd bend it a little) and offer them a great deal, you usually made a sale. |
Post# 262449 , Reply# 15   1/8/2014 at 15:53 (3,758 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
I enjoy my canister cleaners, getting around tight places,tools, ect. However if I am going to deep clean, like before a shampooing out comes the dirty air upright. That much air flow and deep agitation NONE of the powerhead canisters I have tried can match.Just my own experience of course. I have some dark blue commercial carpet in the garage, near the kitty litter box, wow can you tell what beats the carpet and what doesn't.
|
Post# 262487 , Reply# 18   1/8/2014 at 20:30 (3,758 days old) by sptyks (Skowhegan, Maine)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 262516 , Reply# 19   1/8/2014 at 23:42 (3,758 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 262541 , Reply# 22   1/9/2014 at 06:07 (3,757 days old) by man114 (Buffalo NY)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Additionally the Kirby was in excellent condition and it did not sound like it was bogging down. If anything it sounded like the brush was too aggressive like it was really pounding the carpet. |
Post# 262608 , Reply# 26   1/9/2014 at 18:18 (3,757 days old) by kirbymodel2c (Nottingham, England)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
4    
Hi, I Strongly disagree the the Kirby is "smoke and mirrors" It's more than capable of deep cleaning a carpet better and quicker than most vacs out there and with out damaging the carpets. If you look at the CRI (Carpet and Rug institute) to which Kirby got a Gold level approval. We would also keep pulling the pads till nothing appeared which depending how dirty the carpet was in the first place would depend on how may pads this took.
At least Kirby deep cleans. It's not a "miracle machine" it's just a well engineered machine the deep cleans quicker and better than most and doing this efficiently a possible. "Who goes last wins" is true but it doesn't mean a Kirby won't deep clean better than most.
James |
Post# 262615 , Reply# 28   1/9/2014 at 20:01 (3,757 days old) by super-sweeper (KSSRC Refurbishment Center)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 262630 , Reply# 30   1/9/2014 at 23:04 (3,757 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
The demo you speak of sounds like the fault of the office staff that booked the appointment, and you should never have gone to that house/apartment.
Each branch office is different and each A. D. (area distributor) can make his own rules, but even so, he has to follow certain rules set in the 1920's by James B. Kirby, who was not only a great inventor, but a genius when it came to designing the demo of his products. While the demo changed to accommodate each new model, and attachment, the basic demo is still the same as that of the Vac-U-ette.
To start with, the person booking the appointment asks if one or both people are working, and gets the basic income. Next it is made clear that both need to be present, and are sized up by the Kirby person booking that appointment. In the conversation, the age, brand and type of vacuum cleaner they own is discussed, and are finally told. "While you are under no obligation to buy, the Kirby representative is going to try to sell you the new Kirby model---."
If you were on a demo with deadbeats, showing them the machine could easily have lead to future demo's (with sales) by 'word of mouth,' and leads. If however, those leads were people in the same financial situation, then the fault was clearly in the person booking the demo, who didn't size up the prospects correctly. |
Post# 262658 , Reply# 32   1/10/2014 at 10:08 (3,756 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 262674 , Reply# 35   1/10/2014 at 11:53 (3,756 days old) by ultralux88 (Denver, Colorado)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
|
Post# 262680 , Reply# 37   1/10/2014 at 12:23 (3,756 days old) by sptyks (Skowhegan, Maine)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
Ralph123:
It's obvious you have never used the Kirby Dirtmeter. Otherwise,you would know that the test pads are made of similar material as the bags and they most certainly do restrict the airflow! You can tell this by attaching the dirtmeter with NO pad installed. Then turn on the Kirby and place your hand underneath the dirtmeter and feel the powerful blast of air against your hand. Then turn off the machine and install a test pad into the dirtmeter and turn on the machine again and then feel the obvious reduction of airflow against your hand. So it is not so that the performance of the Kirby with a dirtmeter will be better than with a clean newly installed bag. This post was last edited 01/10/2014 at 12:41 |
Post# 262694 , Reply# 38   1/10/2014 at 14:03 (3,756 days old) by Blackheart (North Dakota)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
2    
When it comes to carpet cleaning i don't believe the NSS could beat the kirby because it lacks agitation as a straight suction machine. Now if it were paired with a good power nozzle i'd give it a maybe.
As for the dirt meter yes it definitely does cause restriction i have two types of pads ones which came with the meter that are lower filtration and some that came with my Riccar/Simplicity meters which are very similar to the material used in hepa bags. to give an idea of how restrictive they are i used my G6 with it's hose and the baird meter. With a new (or close to) new bag it's pulling a 6.5 With the meter in place and the lower filtration pads it's pulling between 4.5 and 5 With the higher filtration pads it pulls about a 4.5 With the lower surface area the air cannot flow as easily and it also becomes clogged up much quicker so you do have lower performance with the demo tools in place. |
Post# 262712 , Reply# 39   1/10/2014 at 17:58 (3,756 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
I was one of the lucky people who rarely worked in the field. My area distributor was Will Hart of Oak Park Kirby. Oak Park was a suburb of Chicago, and my job was to assist in hiring the new recruits and training them on the demo process. After I took them on two weeks of demo's where I did one, and the trainee assigned to me for that day did the next, I fine tuned them, then turned them over to another Kirby trainer who did the 'field' training. However, while some of my trainees knocked doors, that was not the bulk of our demos. Ours were from home shows, grocery give away's, free carpet shampoos, and so on. In addition, I trained our phone crew to set-up demo's following the procedure I stated earlier.
In addition to working for Will Hart, I was also asked to go to San Diego, California in September 1979 to January 1980 to fill in for the trainer at Pacific Coast Kirby when the trainer suffered a slight stroke. My last Kirby office was for distributor John Adams of Lombard, Illinois, my job there was to help him build his sales crew. However, in each case, I worked mostly in the office, or one on one with the new trainees. |
Post# 262727 , Reply# 41   1/11/2014 at 00:05 (3,756 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
     
I was born on September 2, 1950, in Wallingford, Connecticut, about 40 miles away from the Electrolux factory which was in Old Greenwich. In September of 1972, when I was 22, I got a job offer to work for the Indiana Dunes National Park in Chesterton, Indiana, which was only 50 miles from Chicago. Fate stepped in and I wound up in Dubuque, Iowa, where I started as a salesman for Kirby. In 1977, I ended up in Oak Park, Illinois as a training manager for Kirby, and stayed in that area living in nearby Naperville, turning my home into the headquarters for the V.C.C.C. producing the newsletters till May of 95 when I relocated to San Diego, California, and got out of the vacuum cleaner business and into nursing, dealing with hospice care. In January of 2011, I ended up here in Northern Pennsylvania. I'm now retired, and starting to get back into vacuum cleaner history and restoration. |
Post# 262812 , Reply# 43   1/11/2014 at 13:45 (3,755 days old) by caligula (Wallingford, Connecticut)   |   | |
Checkrate/Likes
 
1    
While I have always loved the demo process, I'm not fond of door knocking, and hate closing a sale.
The door knocking problem goes back to 1968 when I was working for Electrolux, and promoting the new 1205. I'd just been trained, and loved the demo. I was also a seventeen year old kid obsessed with vacuum cleaners, so I was eager to hit the street and tell people of the 1205. The first door I knocked on was that of an older woman, and as I started to go into my pitch, she closed the door in my face! I was crushed, that killed it for me, like popping a balloon. That feeling of rejection never left me, and while I've had a lot of good sales with both Electrolux and later Kirby, the fear was always there. Fortunately, I became a trainer for Kirby. As my manager knew this phobia, I never knocked doors, and only went on preset appointments.
As for closing, people who know me say that I'm too kind to be a salesman. I loved to demo, and did in a way that mixed showmanship, theater, and excitement of showing a great product to people. Then, after setting up a great display, with test cloths everywhere, I went for the close. I was gripped with fear as I wrote down "549.00 complete," and handed it to the husband. Reaction was mixed. I wanted to hug the guy who reached for his checkbook, and secretly cursed the guy who said "we can't afford that!" This meant fighting to get the sale, which I did, and usually got the sale. But the worst, the very worst was when I had a trainee with me, and had to swallow my fear. I've used every sales technic in the book, and worked my butt off landing sales, while not letting my trainee know how scared I was. |