How Selling Knives in College Inspired My Business Today

This podcast is the back-story (going back to the 90’s) where I first fell in love with sales and marketing. Back in 1995 I was a student at Cal State Long Beach looking for a job to earn some extra money and gain some real-world marketing experience. I answered a tiny newspaper ad that led me on an eight-year journey working with Vector Marketing selling CUTCO Cutlery. Yep, I was selling knives! I worked my way up in the company to become a top sales rep and manager in multiple places (one of them in Honolulu!) This was all before the internet, email and social media. This experience dramatically shaped who I am today and how we run our company.   Lessons learned: Never underestimate the value of building rapport with people (before you try to ‘sell’ them anything!) It’s a numbers game. How many people do you have to email, how many calls do you have to make, how many posts do you have to make on social media –for people to notice and take action. When you lean on the numbers, the ‘no’s’ aren’t so hard to take! The power of one-to-one marketing. There will always be a place for marketing to the masses but there is so much power and intention in reaching out one-to-one to people! Hustle  - work smarter, not just harder. Great things don’t happen by accident Team-building – there is so much value in building a team of great people!. There are lots of places for people to work but people stay at a company because of the people – because they feel like they are a part of something The value of working with great people. Who are YOUR people? Every ‘no’ opens up an opportunity for a ‘yes!’ Do what you love because life is short!     Additional resources: Visit me at KatieLance for more info about my speaking, consulting and our #GetSocialSmart Academy For more info about Vector Marketing or CUTCO Cutlery visit: https://www.vectormarketing.com/ and https://www.cutco.com/ Follow me on Instagram for more behind-the-scenes into my life and business @katielance