Hello Ma’am, I’m With Kirby Vacuum And We’re Doing Free Cleanings Today…
The Kirby Vacuum is a phenomenal piece of equipment. It will definitely clean your house better than most vacuums on the market. But the tactics the company goes about to sell these units can only be described as downright DIRTY!
Kirby deploys an outside sales force that canvasses neighborhoods seeking to ease, manipulate or browbeat their way into homes in order give you a, “Free cleaning. It’s not a “Free cleaning” as they claim. Actually, it’s a full-fledged, high-pressure, carefully orchestrated sales pitch. Here’s three reasons why you should avoid one of their in home demos at all costs.
Reason #1 Why You Should Avoid a Kirby Vacuum In-Home Demo
Kirby vacuum uses deceptive practices to recruit sales reps. I’m not talking about something I read in an article, I’m writing from firsthand experience! They snagged me right out of college. The ad I responded to promised that I’d be making around $1000.00 to $2500 per week. Their ads usually read something like this: 100 People needed immediately! Great benefits. Great base pay. Start today, get paid next week!
Anyone strapped for cash looking for a job and sees that type of ad is most likely going to call if nothing more than just to see what its about. That’s exactly what the folks at Kirby Vacuum are counting on. They don’t dare tell anyone the job is actually a door to door sales position that involves canvassing neighborhoods and pressuring homeowners into sitting through a grueling two and half hour to five hour sales pitch.
The majority of the people who apply for these jobs are told its, “Display work.” By the time they figure out that its selling Kirby vacuums door to door, they are already told they are hired and are huddled into a vehicle and headed out into a community to go door knocking.
When I quizzed the person on the phone about what the product was, he masterfully spun the conversation and gave me the speech… We are a national company traded on the NYSE.” I showed up for the interview and was instantly offered a sales position.
The interviewer never asked my name and the company never asked me to fill out any tax related paperwork. All they said was, “Show up tomorrow for training and wear a tie!” It stands to reason, that if a company will resort to using deceptive practices to lure sales reps, they will definitely resort to the same tactics when it comes to potential customers.
Reason #2 Why You Should Avoid a Kirby Vacuum In-Home Demo
The pressure Kirby vacuum puts on its sales reps is enormous. If you studied physics, you know that pressure has to find a way to escape, be released or be transferred. In this case, the pressure is transferred to the homeowners. Sales reps quickly learn if they want to get paid they MUST meet certain Kirby vacuum quotas.
They must complete fifteen demos per week. In each of those demos they must use a certain number of filter pads and carefully stack them in the potential customers house as part of the presentation. They are ordered to use a different filter every time they vacuum an item or area such as your carpet, a rug, a mattress, a sofa and a chair.
It’s all part of the Kirby vacuum sales strategy to pressure you into thinking your house is filthy! Finally, they must call the sales manager to come in and hammer you some more if you don’t purchase from the sales rep. If that rep fails or refuses to complete any of those steps, they will not get paid! The manager I briefly worked for told me point blank, “It works like this, no pressure, no diamonds, no pressure, no Kirby vacuum sales, no paycheck.” Yep, it’s a real pressure cooker folks!
Reason #3 Why You Should Avoid a Kirby Vacuum In-Home Demo
In psychology, there is a term called “Social engineering” that is used to describe the act of manipulating people into performing actions or divulging confidential information. Social engineering tactics and schemes are used by organizations, advertisers, corporations and even governments. The Kirby vacuum people have mastered the art of social engineering.
They use it on new hirers and without knowing it; the new hires turn right around and use it on potential customers. The system they use on public is called the, “BBB Method” which stands for Belittle, Berate and Bash.
This Kirby vacuum method of social engineering has but one objective; to sell vacuums by any means necessary! If the sales rep must resort to belittling or berating a homeowner about their dirty, filthy home, then so be it. One of their favorite quips is, lining up all those dirty filters on the floor and saying something to the potential buyer along the lines of, “How much longer do you want to live in this filth?”
The Kirby vacuum sales person has been conditioned to resort to bashing when a person becomes adamant about not buying. Remember that call they MUST make to their sales manager prior to leaving a home? The person they call is the “Basher!” They are going to take dishing out criticisms to a new level. Their job is using tactics such as making you feel guilty for receiving a free Kirby vacuum demonstration. The basher asks manipulative questions such as, “What kind of person makes a guy work that hard and doesn’t pay him?”
What’s The Best Way To Avoid The Kirby Vacuum Pressure Cooker Sales Pitch?
The easiest was is to never agree to an in-home demonstration! There are other great avenues to purchase a Kirby vacuum aside from their direct sales force. There’s websites such as: Ebay, Craigslist, Backpage and Kijiji.
You can also check the local vacuum store in your community that services all brands of vacuums; I’ve found them to be an excellent source for slightly used Kirby vacuums at drastically reduced prices. Whatever you do, don’t get suckered into sitting through a strenuous and brutal Kirby vacuum in home demonstration.
