{Balance}: Sales

The past year has brought so many changes, opportunities, letdowns, and learning experiences. I won't go into detail about all of them right now, but one of those experiences has brought a lot of contemplation on my part about balance in life.

About 6 weeks ago I heard about a company called Saladmaster.  They are a cookware company that is not sold in stores or online- it must be sold in your home because at the store you "wouldn't know the difference between a $500 vs. a $50 saucepan. Yep, you read that right...$500 for a 1qt saucepan! Anyway, this cookware is top of the line: it is waterless and it doesn't pollute your food with any toxins. However, it was just a lot little too expensive for us. But then they told me about the opportunity to earn a free set of cookware! All you have to do is perform 30 dinner presentations in 90 days, so I decided to go for it. Oh how little I knew!

Once I "joined" the company I got to see what happens behind the scenes. There are no outright lies, but the whole presentation is filled with half truths. As I was learning to do the presentation I would watch one of the top sellers do her shows & sell these sets. It's her full time job & yes she is VERY good at it. However, it got me thinking a lot about the value of money. One time I was on a show with her and she got a sweet old lady to buy about $7,000 worth of cookware. I was appalled while I counted out the money for her-completely shocked at the fact that this sweet elderly woman was shelling out all of this cash on such a whim. Like, we're talkin' life savings here. I was even more shocked to hear the salesgirl when we got out to the car; she made it very clear that money is what drives her and that is what's most important; it's her full time job.

Last night I did a dinner show with some family. Beforehand we discussed that there would be no sale and no pressure whatsoever. The salesgirl was just there to observe me & make sure I can do a dinner on my own. When it came "time" to high pressure sale this family...I didn't do it. I was just about to pack up and leave. That's when the salesgirl stepped in and high pressure sold them worse than I've ever seen. I won't go into details, but it got pretty ugly. And I felt embarrassed to even be sitting there at that kitchen table. Despite the fact that they said no 5 times and also forgetting the fact that they told us right then that they really had NO money...they ended up deciding to buy- all due to this girl & her ability to sell. And afterwards, I can't even begin to describe how guilty & unethical I felt. I realize that this was their choice, but they also made that choice due to some serious pressure from the opposite party. In the end, I felt so bad that I told them how I was feeling about it & I told them about some of the "half truths" that had been told just to get them to buy. They decided to back out and I have never felt better about missing out on $300.

I was up all night thinking about this. And the final decision is that if I don't feel comfortable selling this to my own family, then I really shouldn't feel comfortable selling this to other people's family- their parents, their children, or perhaps, that sweet old lady down the street. It's a great product, but half truths & high pressure really aren't the best way to spend my time or earn my money.

I'm not saying it's a bad business and that money doesn't matter. Money may not buy happiness, but it can definitely alleviate a lot stress- I believe that. It's just that it's all about finding balance.