At Vector Marketing, sales is their forte. Exclusively selling CUTCO cutlery, it's also a hub for students to start their young sales careers. Representing 85 per cent of Vector's workforce, students thrive in the company's environment which offers both flexibility and training'the perfect match for busy student schedules and growing minds.
Prior sales experience isn't required to work at Vector. In fact, the company is simply committed to finding individuals who are eager to learn. We found out long ago that people we make prejudgments about and think are shy are actually some of our best salespeople, says Warren Macdougall, consultant at Vector.
Acting as the starting point for the young careers of students, Vector takes each of its new employees through a training session to learn all things sales.
It goes through the seven steps of the sale, says Warren. Building rapport is one of the biggest things in creating a relationship and what you could possibly sell from, and that's one of the things that they focus on greatly.
Only three days in length, the training session also emphasizes the importance of referrals and networking. It's not door-to-door sales, he explains. They have to get referrals. It's not necessarily cold calling, but it's warm calling from the referral list they get.
An important skill to take away with you in sales is the ability to communicate. For the sales team at Vector, building relationships with current and future clients is crucial.
When someone goes into a home and is giving a presentation, if that person happens to know people who haven't bought the product, networking to get those referrals is crucial for that salesperson to continue with being able to sell, explains Warren.
With Vector, their team members learn to always communicate and network with others, whether at an in-home presentation or out at a trade show. They're also reminded one important note: sales at Vector is not pushy.
People build a rapport in their own way, he says. They learn to talk with people, and then they talk to other people the way they want to be talked to. If they just do the basic things they learned in kindergarten, then they will be rewarded.
Vector prides itself on its ability and commitment to reward within. For a young person, that means launching their sales careers and opening their own business at Vector within a year, while still maintaining their responsibilities as a student.
They build their own teams throughout the summer months and sell until they go back to school, Warren explains. That's fantastic entrepreneurial experience for anyone.
And the avenues each salesperson can take are endless. If you want to be a sales professional and sell to corporate clients, you could do that, he continues. If you want to sell to residential clients, you can do that too. It's a nice situation that affords many different opportunities.
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