Vector Marketing Canada deceptive training, obliging workers to purchase knives in order to sell them, ripoff. Oakville Ontario

I really hate to see people give their opinion of things and they are not completely informed. Here's what it's all about from someone who knows...

THE JOB
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Sales reps present Cutco products to prospective customers through one-on-one, in-home appointments. Common activities include:

-Setting appointments with potential customers through personal contacts and referrals.
-Presenting Cutco products to prospective customers.

-Attending training sessions and conferences that are offered regularly.

Because reps are independent contractors, they set their own schedules and determine how many appointments they conduct in a given week. There is no minimum number of appointments a sales rep must conduct. Rather than investing in advertising, direct selling companies depend on the rep to market the product. Reps have a flexible schedule in which they can earn an income based on their own performance.

PAY
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Reps earn a base pay rate per appointment, regardless of whether a purchase is made. An appointment is designed to take approximately 35-65 minutes. In order to qualify for the base pay, each appointment must be a one-one-one presentation to an employed individual or couple. The prospective customer must be at least 25 years old.

Commissions from sales are paid weekly. Reps are guaranteed to average at least the base pay for the appointments completed regardless of sales made maintaining a comfortable purchasing environment for our customers and confident reps.

TRAINING & DEPOSIT
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The initial training seminar, consisting of three half-day sessions, is designed to instill confidence in the trainee. While training is unpaid, most participants consider it to be a worthwhile experience and a productive use of their time. After the initial training seminar, reps are also able to attend advanced training workshops.

Upon completion of training, representatives receive a Cutco sample set that has a retail value of $517. In exchange, the company asks for a security deposit of $99 (plus local tax where applicable). The security deposit is TOTALLY REFUNDED IN FULL when the samples are returned. Reps may also choose to keep the samples for their personal use at NO ADDITIONAL COST. The deposit is held and refunded by the corporation, not the local office.

NEGATIVE STORIES
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Vector has worked with thousands of people who have successfully sold Cutco products. Cutco have been on the market since 1949, and to date we have over 12 million satisfied customers. The customers understand the value of the product and that is ultimateley the reason they purchase. I have seen no sales rep, in all my years working for Vector, that has "twisted the customer's arm" in order to make a sale.

While I understand people's concerns about scams and fraud, I can't understand why people would choose to believe evrything they read on the internet. There are many pages that I have personally found that have negative stories and criticisms that have long been resolved. Some haven't. Many I find are just opinion based on old personal grudges against individuals who is or have worked in the company, not Vector as an organization.

TO ALL JOB HUNTERS
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I challenge individuals using search sites such as Google and Yahoo to take the time to find out direct, updated information for YOURSELF. Don't rely on outdated and misguided information from random places.

NOT EVERYTHING YOU READ IS TRUE.

IF THE JOB IS NOT FOR YOU, THEN IT'S JUST NOT FOR YOU!

... but a bad company to work for.

I did the Cutco thing back in University but had problems with the way it worked. I managed to sell and made about $500 over the course of a month but it just wasn't something that worked for me.

Our manager wanted us to call in every morning and tell him how many appointments we had, if we had less than two he'd order us to get cracking and call back when we had two. Well, I was in university during this time and my studies came first. As a result there were days I simply couldn't go out and sell but this wasn't good enough for him. His response was that he never finished high school and was making more than most university grads.

Then there were the weekly meetings we were supposed to attend, but again with night classes or study times it wasn't always possible to get there. Again, he didn't accept this and made us (those that couldn't make it for whatever reason) feel marginalised and in some cases excluded us from the "team get togethers" that were held at a nearby bar.

Eventually I just quit after telling him he was full of it.

In the end I kept the knives. They're not the best, that is reserved for one of those damasced (folded) knives I got here in Tokyo. It's quite possibly the best, not to mention sharpest, knife I've ever had the pleasure of owning.

ha ha...

while i know there are individuals who can be successful with cutco, i also have an interesting perspective.

when they failed to recruit me for knife-selling, they hired me as the receptionist for the employment line. i had a script to read, which basically included trying to get people in for an interview without letting them know it was sales. after a while i knew the script so well i did my math homework while i talked on the phone.

my office was stacked high with used cutting boards with bits of tomato still crusted on them (from the interview demonstrations), not to mention boxes of knives, demo kits, etc. my desk was a plank on top of two filing cabinets! and i was in an office in a major city!

once my boss was running late to run an interview, and he called me and told me to run it, and to pretend i was the manager. he figured i'd heard it so many times i knew it off by heart. i did know it well, but i wouldn't do it.
they had it down to an art. even skeptics were drawn in, for a short while. but really, this is a job for people who can wholeheartedly buy into a product.

and the people they 'let go' after their private interview (usually in a side office, off the group interview)... those are the ones who ask too many questions. the ones who don't buy the hype. because trust me, they hired ANYONE.

it's a bizarre exercise in psychology. but there are natural salespeople out there- and this letter is not to them. i have friends who are natural sales people, and they can stand to make a lot of money- and good for them. there's nothing wrong with that. but the thing about vector marketing, is that they will lure in the folks who aren't, full well knowing they won't be around long, to make the quick buck off their naive little souls. i don't feel like vector is doing anything illegal- but it makes sense that so many people would leave with a bad taste in their mouth, because they'd feel tricked and foolish. well don't feel bad- you're in the majority.

anyways, if you have any questions at all about how it works behind the scenes, post a reply.

That's hilarious Andrea from BC.

It's too bad that most managers, like reps, have no business being managers in Vector. And that's ultimately the overall downfall imo. It's not the product, it's not the system, it's the lack of screening.

1% of the population is wired for sales in general. That's the minority that will do well in Vector's structure (or any sales company really). The other 99% of people have no business being there. And the managers know it.

I was in Vector for 6+ years and was good at what I did. It wasn't until I learned to be selective that my stress decreased and my productivity increased.

May, great breakdown. Too bad the ignorant won't read it. (Btw, the Jays game was fun, we need to do it again... shhhh don't tell!!!)

Marc, you're just ignorant. And that's not a personal attack. It's an attack on your knowledge of Vector, Cutco and the program.