3 Reasons to Avoid an In-Home Kirby Vacuum Demo
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.
Published by Joel Marks
Helping people my primary objective! What am I currently doing? Working on a couple of projects in the finance arena to help debtors get out of debt. In the mean time I'd like to pass the bar exam and get my... View profile
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8 Comments
Post a Commenti personally work for kirby for over 5 months and im proud of it. ive been promoted twice in my time with them. though i will admit that there alot of offices out there that practices some of these "bang face tactics" im proud to say that im not part of one. our people get paid 400 a week to do 15 presentations wether the home owner buys or not. but as soon as we get a good old fashioned yes or no we shake your hand thank you for your time and wish you a wonderful day. and secondly to the retard who wrote this article....how dare you come down on an honest buisness thats been doing work this way for nearly 100 years and its employees. while alot of people dont make it in kirby cause they dont give it a chance,,for those who do stick around find that its very rewarding.and it pays very well. the men and women of the kirby company are no different then a sales person at a car lot or a sales person at best buy. so excuse us for offereing a free service just to see if you would like the world #1 rated cleaning system in the world. and your retarded if you buy a used kirby cause what the stores dont tell you is kirbys donbt break down after 10 years (which is usually the waranty they offer you) so no duh its cheaper cause its gonna break down eventually and then it will cost you an arm and a leg to fix. where as if you buy a new kirby via in home demonstration you get LIFETIME WARRANTY AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. in closing ladies and gentlemen with inquistive minds enough to take a pick at the ill advised article,,,,economy effects us all. with the job market being the way it is these days, alot of people come to us looking for work and we take that seriously...very seriously. my boss took me in when i had nothing ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING! i was 3 months behind in bills and about 2 weeks away from losing my car and apartment and he helped me make enough money to support myself and my current wife and 2 kids. we all have bills to pay and lifes of our own. how you pay your bills is most likely different from my method. but perhaps you should take that into consideration before you label helping one of my people make a honest living as "sneaky sales tactics" i assure you there is nothing sneaky about it. any questions at all anybody who is reading this is free to email me at any time and id be more then happy to give you a real look at what kirby has to offer its employees and homeowners, iwannagohome66@yaho.com thank you for your open mindedness in this very sensitive matter
Omg, I totally will never let a Kirby saleperson through my door again!! I made the mistake of doing so and had to sit through a 5 hour demonstration at 8pm at night when I had 2 little kids!!! The boss that came with the demonstrator was totally indecent and wore a low plunged shirt...when i say low it was LOW! Turns out they weren't allowed in our neighborhood, the cops already banned them 3 other times! So we called the cops on them and the cops came out and started questioning them. The BOSS didn't even have her drivers license on hand and neither did her salesperson and somehow they were driving their car around. Nonetheless they were banned again from the neighborhood. The salesperson got a small fine and the Boss because she repeatedly didn't listen to the cops got arrested. Very next day the salesperson was back going door to door. Never again. I can't believe this. Next time I will be ready and they better watch their back.
Just to Let you know everything you've just read in this article is a load of crock. I've been working for Kirby for two years now and I thoroughly enjoy my job. Yea the job ads can be a bit deceptive but unless you have a serious I.Q. problem it doesn't take much to figure out what the ad is all about.
Being a door to door salesman is not meant for everyone and if you find yourself in this "Oh your hired just get in the van." deals use your head if you don't wanna go you don't have to. They're not holding a gun to your head. Yes you do have to sell vacuums to make money but that's a sales job for you. Most Companies fire unproductive employees besides it's a way to make money I never hear anyone complaining about their paycheck around my team.
Yes there have been some Kirby salesman that have used unethical tactics to sell a vacuum. But you can't judge everyone over a few. My team uses courtesy, manners, and respect in every home we ente
i agreed for a demonstration and ill never do it again the salesboy was very rude and acted like my house was filthy i asked him for a business card and he said they dont use them and didnt need one to sell a system i wanted a card because i was going to buy one but with that attitude it wont happen not in this lifetime
Work for Kirby do we Ashley? I suggest you work an honest job, quit taking money from elderly people living alone on low income and do something worthwhile with your life. I quit that morally bankrupt company 20 years ago, I was good at it too, but I like looking at myself in the mirror and knowing I make an honest dollar.
er to make the Kirby affordable to any budget? If you ask me, high pressured sales is when a company asks a consumer to buy without being able to try it first. As far as the pay structure goes, employees are paid based on performance. In what kind of alternate universe would you expect to get paid without earning money for the business? Kirby is not a job for the mediocre, or for those hoping for a guaranteed paycheck. For those of you really looking for a way to avoid an in-home demonstration, my advice to you is this: don't answer your door to a stranger! It doesn't take an internet blog to figure that one out. Just continue on believing that your current system works and don't waste anybody's time. There are plenty of homeowners that have high standards for protecting the investments in their home, and that is why Kirby has been in business for almost 100 years.
One thing you failed to mention is the fact that 90% of Kirbys which are sold online are stolen or broken. Each and every buyer is registered with the serial number at the time of sale for warranty purposes. The reason these "vacuums" (anyone who has seen one knows that is an understatement) cost so much is because they come with a lifetime
warranty (i.e. A vehicle built to last 50 years would cost more than one built to last 5). An online purchase does not guarantee any sort of warranty because they are only issued from the distributor. When a Kirby is brought in for any sort of service, the serial number is checked and if you aren't the registered owner, you'd better believe that the office will confiscate the stolen property. Say what you'd like about the representatives, but how many companies do you know that will bring the product into your home, show you how it works in YOUR home (not in a computer animated commercial), and work one-on-one with the custom
I agree with you, Joel. A friend of mine was recently sucked into working as a Kirby rep after answering an ad for a catalogue distributor! I only agreed to a demonstration to help her out and then when she couldn't make it, these others from the company stopped by instead. I told them throughout the demonstration I wouldn't be buying and was only agreeing to a free carpet clean and demonstration. In the end, I couldn't wait to get rid of them.
Sophie