Why are some things sold door-to-door?

When I opened my first office (burglar alarms)there was a kid who made a personal visit one day, selling Fuller Brush products.

I could not believe this 18yr old boy. The Sales MOXEY he had...how he "got in the door"...got the prospect involved...got the prospect to BUY.

The kid was a PRO....and was trained well...as were the Vacuum Cleaner sales people in those days.

Those products HAD TO BE sold door-to-door because they were more expensive than similar products in stores.

Also...because I had built my alarm biz on making Direct Sales Calls...I knew how to do it and had confidence in it and one day a buddy of mine called me and told me he had lost his job and was about to lose his house and he wondered if I knew of a way where he could pick up some bux FAST, WITHOUT investing more than a couple hundred bux.

I thought for a minute then remember something I had done as a college student some years prior.

I knew my friend wasn't "mentally set" to sell alarms for me BUT...I thought he could handle what I was about to show him so...

I told him to meet me the next morn at Cook Bros downtown Chicago and bring $200...I was going to show him how to make $800 a day in CASH...INSTANTLY.

He was there bright and early at exactly 8am. We went into the building.

Cook Bros at that time was a HUGE warehouse operation of mostly kitchen stuff. They mostly sold wholesale but would sell to individuals provided they bought the min quantity.

I saw they still had the line of enamel cookware I sold 8yrs earlier for awhile, during summer vac.

This was a colorful 7-piece set of pots and pans, 3 pots with lids and a fry pan.

They cost me $7 a set BUT I had to buy 20 at a time. So...I told my buddy to fork over $140. We each grabbed 10 sets and put them in the back seat of his car.

I told him to drive over to some office complexes I had seen on the way in.

These were 6, 4-story, office bldgs in a park like setting. We pulled into the parking lot of the first bldgand parked.

I told Jim to grab 4 sets and I grabbed 4 and we went to the top floor...got off the elevator an went to the first office door...opened the door and set the sets on the floor. I took one set up the the receptionist and gave her my "spiel";

(The following is a CLASSIC. Some of you SHOULD make a copy of the following in case YOU ever need a way to make some INSTANT CASH)

"Morning Mam...we're coming from a housewares show and the boss said to move these out instead of shipping them back to LA and paying the freight. (As I'm talking, I'm opening the box, right there in front of her and MAKING SURE she sees I'm OPENING the box so she knows the box has NOT been opened before)....these are made to sell for $79 and up in retail stores HOWEVER because the boss said to "move-em-out"...I'll let you have a set for $29...here take a look"!

I set the opened box on her desk...take out a pot and hand it to her. I take out a pot also and get a coin out of my pocket and start banging the coin on the pot and scratching the bottom...as I say, "See how HEAVY they care?...and...you can't scratch them! They're designed to last FOREVER! Sure would make a nice colorful, addition to your kitchen. Just $29 today only!

While I've been opening the box, handing it to her and scratching it with a coin...I notice the secy atthe desk behind her comes up.

I hand her a pot also...so SHE can feel how HEAVY it is....and I start scratching the bottom with my coin.

"See....this will last forever...AND...if you BOTH take a set...I'll let both sets go for $27 each. Just $27 bux for a set of beautiful cookware that will last forever!"

By this time there's usually 2 or 3 MORE girls at the desk...I hand them a pot or fry pan...grab another box and open it up and hand a pot to any other gals and say,

"If 3 or more take a set...I'll let them go for just $25 ea! 25 bux for a QUALITY set of cookware. If you can't use it yourselves, get a set or 2 for GIFTS. They make PERFECT GIFTS!"

With this one of the girls now says;
"Would you take a check?"

I say, "Absolutely! Provided it's a GOOOD one!"

She assures me it's a good check and I say, "Fine! Just make it out to Kitchen Wholesalers"

1 girl bought 3 sets...3 girls bought 2 sets and 2 girls bought 1 set ea...a total of 11 sets at our first stop. $25 x 11 = $275 CASH (Never had anyone's check bounce)

Went to the next office and sold 3 sets...the 3rd office sold the remaining 6 sets.

20 sets for $25 ea = $500 MOSTLY CASH

I told Jimmy to get back to Cook Bros, It was now about 10am and we could sell another bath of 20 before lunch...which we did.

So far...$1,000 in cash and checks...less $280 = $720 PROFIT.

We took a leisure lunch...got another batch of 20 and hit the next office door at 1:30pm....sold out by 2pm...got another batch, sold it...and one more before 5pm.

So...all told we sold 100 sets for $25 each = $2500 minus (5 x $140 = $700) = $1800 for the day!

Jimmy was beside himself BUT...I told him the next day HE would do the selling while I watched.

We only moved 3 batches the next day because I let him stumble around with the "pitch"...Still made $1500 less $420 = $1080 CASH IN FIST.

You could possibly sell this cookware set on ebay BUT...the BEST WAY this product coud be sold was DIRECT.

I think Cook Bros is STILL selling the SAME 7 pc set for about the SAME price ($7)

Jimmy went on to sell cookware for the next few weeks. Got caught up with his bills an landed a great job selling TV Ads for a Chgo TV station. In fact he helped my son get a job at ESPN Sports TV.

Anyway...hope you enjoyed a "money-making story from the past"....which can be duplicated today!

Thanks for reading....Don Alm




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