So I Guess I'm a Knife Nerd

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Like most people in the business, it took me a while to really grasp that my job is selling knives. Friends would ask what I do and I would give a range of answers: I am in marketing, I show high quality kitchen cutlery, or I’m in sales.

I can pinpoint the day I found myself instead responding with I sell knives, followed by “you should sell them too”. I had received my homemaker set and convinced my roommate that it was going to be taco night. We invited five of our closest friends over and held a cutting seminar similar to that used during training where we cut up everything you could possibly put in tacos. At first everyone was like “this is dumb; who knew knives could make somebody so excited. I don’t even think she can cook!” but after a few peppers and tomatoes they seemed to be getting pretty into it too. We had a great time preparing a fun and easy meal. That was seven months ago, and we have had quite a few taco nights since then.

Once I came to terms with how weird my job was, I began to run with it. I have ridiculously cheesy lines that I use during every demo; including a week where I left every presentation saying it’s been a slice. Sadly I had to drop that one after all of the groans and pity laughs. I have had a blast with all of my customers, meeting tonnes of new, crazy, friendly people. I have sharpened Cutco that was sold nineteen years ago and I have had repeat customers buy from me four times in seven months (mostly family but it still counts).

I never anticipated how amped up people could get about my knives. Even the people that just get one or two things rant and rave about the quality and the sharpness. I love hearing people’s horror stories about their paring knife going through their hand or the butcher knife nearly taking off their fingers, not because it is truly funny, but because people are just happy that the blade also went through that apple or the whole chicken as well.

My nerdiness really peaked about two weeks ago when I got my sample can opener. I had been building it up so much to my customers after seeing the one my mom bought from me but as everyone in this job knows, it is hard to back up your product without letting the customer see it. So I got that parcel, showed all of my friends, showed everyone at the office who hadn’t seen it yet, opened cans containing food I hadn’t originally planned to eat, and finally took it on a demonstration. To my dismay, the customer responded with “we don’t really eat canned foods.” Needless to say, I was crushed. I had built up the moment when someone with $59 could finally see my beautiful can opener and they didn’t want it. How could that be? But then I thought back to all of the times I was less excited about a product and my customers would be mind-blown and get more than one or the times when my coworkers would be pumped about a new product that wasn’t my favourite.

My biggest learning experience throughout this year has been that not every piece of Cutco is going to catch everyone’s attention, but everyone’s attention can be caught by any single piece. Whether I sell four potato mashers, because “oh my god, I thought they stopped making them like that!”, or an ultimate and a homemaker on the same demo, because “huh, I might as well get my mom a set too”, I can stand behind our product a hundred percent.

The best part of my job, however, is how much it has helped me grow as a person. I am in a position to be someone’s role model, I am managing my own business, I am motivating my own financial situation, and I am meeting some of the most influential people I have ever met. If Cutco isn’t the only job in my future, I am confident in saying that it will be the reason I have a different position. It will open doors for me that I used to only dream of opening and if nothing else, I will always have my knives.

For the record, I am a terrible cook, but I can definitely cut things up. I can’t wait until the next new product, or the next big meal I need to help prepare, or the next professional avenue I need to explore because I know I will forever have the tools with me to help me succeed. So ya, I guess I’m a knife nerd, and I am completely ok with that.

Taylor Timmermans began working with Vector Marketing Canada on April 28, 2012 as sales representative for the Edmonton office. She is a third year at the University of Alberta majoring in Psychology.