<p>For the last few weeks, I have received phone calls from college kids soliciting to sell a product called Cutco. They only asked to come making a pitch and get paid for this but since I have fallen for the magazine sales in the past, I politely declined. Curious how they claim to be referred by my friend whom I know will never give away my name. Another one mentions my daughter’s high school and mention a friend’s mom, whom I also haven’t talked to in years.</p>
<p>May just be a coincidence, but did they get a list of families with incoming college kids? They seem to play up the working college kids pity card big time…</p>
<p>Yep. And boy, are they good salespeople! Declining a visit is the best thing to do, unless you want to spend a lot of money on knives. They’re good knives, at least.</p>
<p>There is another long CC thread that ran recently about Cutco.</p>
<p>In college, I was involved with a similar program. We got names by school yearbooks at the library or from previous customers, or by knocking on doors in middle to low income neighborhoods, where we sold most of our wares.</p>
<p>I never solicited anybody I knew personally.</p>
<p>D1 is moving into a new place next weekend with a beautiful new kitchen (albeit small) and one of the roommates is not going along. The roommate who is not going with them,is the one who owns most of the kitchen knives. So D1 has asked for Cutco for her birthday next month. I ordered it online.</p>
<p>There are just some things I could never do and paying > $100 for a knife is on that list! Even if I won the lotto I would think that was crazy.</p>
<p>I didn’t pay $100 for any knives I recently bought. They were having a sale, and by buying a small set, they averaged about $50/knife.</p>
<p>D has only known Cutco growing up in our household. It’s basically all we’ve ever had. She does cook a lot and has her preference for knives. My Cutco collection is mostly complete due to my mom gifting us knives over the years after we got married. So, with no prospective husband in the wings, I have started her collection now.</p>
<p>“If that was how sales were made, then the program was not similar to Cutco.”</p>
<p>Actually, it was, based on the comments I read in the long CC thread. It was 30+ years ago, so not exactly the same, but similar. I doubt any business model from thirty years ago is the same.</p>
<p>I sold high quality cookware, silverware and china. If I could remember the name of the company I’d mention it, but I don’t. Cookware was the main item sold.</p>
<p>My friend was recently doing cutco and he wasn’t /allowed/ to solicit people unless they had been referred to that person by another customer. You were supposed to ask people you know to buy, then ask them for references, and go through that way.</p>
<p>@ccreader: take it as a compliment. It could mean you’re known in your circles as someone who is a good cook, enjoys cooking and so forth.</p>
<p>Our S-2 sold Cutco knives one summer between college years. Based on watching him work, I might suggest your friends know you enjoy cooking and might be interested; same with the other mother you haven’t seen for awhile. If they enjoyed the product after buying it, they might have thought you would, too. </p>
<p>Cold calls and door-to-door aren’t allowed by Cutco and if they hear of same, they’ll fire the kid. It’s not part of their business model and doesn’t sell knives well, either. </p>
<p>Our son did many demonstrations where all that happened was someone sat through his presentation, and he earned a small stipend for that time with you.</p>
<p>If he sold a knife, it was a good knife indeed. I gave away my friends’ names who I knew liked to cook well. I bought a set for myself, an engagement gift for S-1’s fiance. S-2 bought them FOR his octogenarian grandma so she’d finally have a good set. </p>
<p>With his Cutco earnings, at summer’s end he contributed heavily towards purchase of his first used car. Then we drove across country togehter, like Thelma and Louise but without the bad ending.</p>
<p>One of my son’s high school classmates (only an acquaintance) asked if he could come over and “practice” a sales call at our house. We declined.</p>
<p>^I just don’t get this. It’s hard for kids to find jobs. Then they finally get a job…why not give them the time of day and let them earn (from Cutco, not from you) their 12 dollars or whatever it is, each time they pitch. They’ll get better at pitching and sell to another customer. </p>
<p>Of course it’s your right to decline. You have privacy and right to your own time, naturally. I’m just trying to give another perspective.</p>
<p>We, too, have Cutco knives. And, we also bought them at sale prices. But Vector is behind many of the student summer efforts and I am not sure they tow the line about not cold calling friends- as we received some of these calls from kids last month.</p>
<p>Cutco’s “business model” is to have kids impose on the time and goodwill of family, friends and relatives who feel guilty or uncomfortable about saying no, in hopes that the guilt and discomfort will be strong enough to lead to a sale. Of course they bar cold calls–you can’t manipulate the feelings of strangers. It’s slimy. I would never allow my children to put people on the spot that way, no matter how desperate they were for a job. </p>
<p>A few years ago a semi-friend who was out of work started selling some herbal remedy (it was a classic multi-level marketing scam–not saying Cutco does this). A bunch of people were invited to her home for refreshments and a sales pitch. It was horribly uncomfortable–everyone quickly realized the product was a joke–and I instantly regretted agreeing to attend. A few invitees felt compelled to buy what she was peddling. I always felt kind of weird around her after that, since I hadn’t purchased anything. My lesson–your friends/colleagues aren’t your or your kids’ customers. Don’t taint your relationships by trying to sell them stuff, even if it’s good stuff.</p>
<p>^^
What happens with any sales program is that you are told one way to get prospects, but if you want to make more money, you branch out. Nobody has enough friends to make any money from selling knives, or you don’t want to bother your friends. There is also the pyramid scheme concept - anybody heard of Maydoff? How about the Groupons, etc that involve bringing groups of friends? I’m sure that it is much easier to use your social network for sales. Soon people will be selling knives online.</p>
<p>paying3tuitions - I am a good cook so I can see the one good friend may have referred me. But the other mom I know only casually through soccer games, so unless she counts the Costco snacks I brought to games as gourmet… </p>
<p>Glad to hear that at least Cutco is a good product. I always feel a twinge of guilt saying no to young adults on their first sales job. My H often told a funny story, with a touch of poignancy, how his hardest job back in his college days is to sell vacuum cleaners door to door. The only set he sold was to his oldest brother who took pity on him! But after buying magazines, various pyramid style products, contributing to cold calls charity fundraising, I start noticing that there will be a deluge of calls afterwards, as if we are put on a perpetual passed-on phone list! So we decline after awhile.</p>
<p>The comment about Groupon reminds me how some of these websites “helpfully” allow you to use your facebook account to log on, instead of having to create another account to buy. I always decline that offer down too, along with never “like” anything on Facebook. I don’t need them to mine my facebook profile and bombard my friends with cyber ads.</p>