Vector Marketing is still the company that sells Cutco, it's just easier to say Cutco. While I don't doubt the info quoted above, I find it interesting that I only ever see such info cited on anti-Vector websites. Nonetheless, I've heard some of the horror stories, and they've always involved an unscrupulous branch manager not doing what he's supposed to and taking advantage of his position. It's probably a reason why the company revised the branch manager program shortly after I worked there. Wisconsin is also notoriously anti-direct marketing: when I worked with Vector there was only one office in the entire state of Wisconsin (despite having multiple offices in all 49 other states). That said, it was a pilot office where they tested out a lot of new approaches that eventually became the official way of doing things around 2004. Again, as with any company, mistakes are made, and bad people end up being hired, but 1) I don't think the mistakes were malicious on the company's part, 2) from my perspective it seems they've become much better at preventing such mistakes over the past 10 years, and 3) relative to other companies I think Vector has a pretty clean record.
The actual company program - not saying anything for the bad seeds who might occasionally end up as branch managers - is good enough that they work with the business schools of Illinois State University and Purdue University among others.
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Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Vector is a member of the Direct Selling Association and the Better Business Bureau.[6] In 2006, Vector became a National Advisory Board member of DECA.
A strict promote-from-within policy[8] allows successful individuals an opportunity for advancement. Those that are selected can go through Vector's management training program after beginning at the bottom entry level position of a sales representative. Many Vector offices are managed by recent college graduates, and assistant managers are generally college students, although the company does have a Branch manager program that allows current students to open and run an office while on summer break.
Vector Marketing possesses an advisory board currently consisting of seven college professors: Dr. Joseph Hair (Kennesaw State University), Dr. Victoria Crittenden (Boston College), Dr. David Downey (Purdue University), Dr. Robert Peterson (University of Texas), Dr. Mike Williams (Illinois State University), Dr. Derek Hassay (University of Calgary), and Dr. Deborah MacInnis (University of Southern California). These board members "assist in evaluating and enhancing Vector's sales, training, and promotional programs for college students and sales representatives."
The training seminar that Vector representatives attend to start their careers is also offered as a class at univeristies around the country including Illinois State University, which is located in Chicago. [9] Professor Jill Ataway, who teaches the class with help from the Chicago Division Manager Mike Muriel, emphasizes that selling Cutco gives students "the opportunity to find out what it is like to take the theory from the classroom and apply it to a real-world sales environment" [9]
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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
Heh, about Vector.... in the days before everything could be found out about people on the Internet, I had driven over 200km for an "interview/orientation" day for "Vector Marketing." It was for a "career in promotions," or whatever.
I had just graduated from a 3-year college marketing program, and was eager to start a career. I went to them, followed a bunch of college kids around a suburb while they tried to get people to agree to a free home security system to help promote them to the neighbourhood.
At this point, I was thinking, "You've got to be fucking kidding me....  "
After that I took some stupid test, after which they told me how awesome I was and that I had a lot of potential to be very successful.
On the drive home, I kept thinking to myself, "What a fucking joke....  " |
I'm curious when this was. Since the 80s, Vector has only sold Cutco and has been the only company to sell Cutco, but it may have been different before that. I know that early on, Vector was just one of many companies that sold Cutco, and perhaps they sold other products, I don't know. Vector was, by far, the most successful at selling Cutco though, so Cutco bought Vector and it became the official sales branch of the company.