What I Learned In Sales: an AMA Post

“What did you learn from selling Cutco Knives?”

I know this was a jokey AMA question from a friend I met while selling knives, but I am happy to talk about this brief, yet impactful moment in my life. I learned a lot in a short amount of time, made pretty good money for a 20 year old college student and had a lot of fun. (You’ll see a picture at the end of this post. We had sales conferences to learn stuff, but also, plenty of shenanagins, like lip synching about knives.)

First of all, yes, I sold kitchen knives years ago. It was not door to door, which is a common misconception. We worked off referrals. I’ve never sold anything door to door, but as a wife of someone who has, and manages and coaches people who also manage and coach people who sell door to door, this sale is the hardest. Hands down. I don’t care if you sell the most expensive item money can buy. Are you knocking on people’s doors you don’t know and asking them to buy it? No? Then move along with your hardest sales job. Door to door salesman will always have that spot. Come at me with your arguments, I’ll be ready. So if you’re a door to door salesman, you have my respect and high five.

A couple of young kids who had no idea they would have 4 kids, a dog and a pretty sweet life together.

This chapter in my life about my time with Cutco Knives is a good one. It involves finding the love of my life, some of the best and most interesting people I still keep in touch with and a reeeeally great story about a smoking car that I’ll never write about here. It’s a strictly in person story.

So even though I feel like I could fill up a volume about my years as a Cutco rep, then manager, I’m going to try and stick to my blog word limit.

What I learned from selling Cutco Knives:

Just ask for the order

I sold twenty-five thousand dollars in kitchen cutlery in 3 months. Lots and lots of customers liked what I was selling and wanted to buy it from me. Do you know why? Because I asked them if they did. I know this sounds simple and naive, but sometimes you just have to open your mouth, be brave, and ask. I’m not just talking about selling the world’s best knives either. (Also come at me with your arguments that you know a better knife, I’m ready.) We seemed hardwired to fear rejection which leads to shame and sometimes it feels so much better to sit in your unknowing, rather than risk that big, ugly word “NO.” I get that. And not everyone I asked to buy knives bought knives. I got told “no thank you” a lot. But I also got a lot of yes’s! What are your wild dreams? Is the fear of hearing “no” holding you back? Ask. Ask the universe, ask your boss, ask your spouse, ask whoever you think has the yes. And if you get a no, try again somewhere else. I heard a friend recently say it perfectly, “The answer is always NO if you don’t ask.” (I immediately tried to recruit her to sell solar door to door.)

People will show you who they are, believe them

You may recognize this sentiment from the great Maya Angelou. I saw this time after time working in the world of sales. I was a rep and a manager and I’m sure there are other industries where you really get to see the bones of who people are. But sales is one of those industries where you really get to see human nature day after day. When you sit in front of enough people and are asking them to spend money on something you are selling, you get real good at reading souls. Then later, when you manage individuals who sell things for you, you REALLY get to see who people are. You get good at sniffing out BS when someone missed an appointment or a meeting or tried to make up some bogus sale to hit a month end goal. You really see people and most of the time, whatever version these people end of being to you, an honest dude who really did get a flat tire, or that guy who promises he never makes exceptions for anyone, but this time he will for you, because, blah blah blah...The point is, with the exception of a few surprises, both good and bad, I can see people and know who they are from day one. I give partial credit of this skill to my years in sales. So if you have a gut feeling about someone, good or bad, be open to giving everyone a chance, but also, just trust yourself. You’re probably right.

Don’t try to sell something you don’t believe in

I love Cutco knives. I still use them today and when I saw a booth set up at Costco a few months ago, I gushed with the woman there about the new products and how sexy the all white handles still look. They work great, stay sharp for a long time and have a forever guarantee the company will honor time and time again. So I never walked out of sale feeling bad or guilty for taking someone’s money. I knew they were going to love their lifetime investment in quality kitchenware. I know I sound like an infomercial, but I could still walk into a house today, with a sample kit, sit down with a potential customer, and walk away with a sale because I believe in the product I’m selling. I made the mistake of taking other sales jobs and thinking that my skills alone would get me by. Nope. I have “sold” things I didn’t actually think was that great and it never lasted long. I would lose my enthusiasm and drive. It didn’t matter the commission, I just couldn’t be sincere about something I wouldn’t even want to use myself. So even now, I try to be as authentic as possible about who I am and what I believe. The more I really lean into my authentic self, the happier I am, the more enthusiastic I am about my life and what I’m doing. When I try to be someone I’m not or cover up any part of my true self, I get down and it just doesn’t feel good. So don’t sell anything you don’t actually believe in, including yourself.

So there are a few of my favorite lessons from slinging blades for a few years. Maybe someday, you’ll hear about the time some friends and I did a sweet remake of The Thong Song that included super clever lyrics about Cutco Knives. Good times, good times.