Is Vector Marketing A Scam?

Is Vector Marketing a scam?

For the many college students and recent high school graduates that have received a letter in the mail that says "summer work opportunity" or "important opportunity" with little details on the company and what they do, you probably had that bad gut feeling reading it. 

Vector Marketing is the direct sales division of Cutco, the company that makes high-end cutlery and cookware. It's often nicknamed as the "Rolls Royce of Cutlery." Before Cutco acquired Vector Marketing, Vector Marketing was Cutco's biggest source of sales. Acquiring them helped Cutco save money on sales and marketing and gave the company more control over the experience sales rep give to clients.

If you ask anyone about Vector Marketing, they would either say that they don't know what you're talking about or they would say that it's a scam because the internet and their friends said it was.

In this blog post, I'll tell you my experience about Vector Marketing and whether it was a scam or not.

Vector Marketing Logo

Like most people, I too got the letter in the mail. While I was hesitant at first because it just sounds like one of those sales jobs that are commission only, the thing that stood out was how they would pay you a base pay per appointment. And this applies to whether you make a sale or not. At first, you might think that it would be much easier to get that base pay by showing it to many people and not try so hard at selling the knives to them. In reality, that's not the case.

In training, you learn that to qualify for the base pay in general, they would have to be a MAC customer (customers that are married, in their 30s or older, and either are homeowners or people who have a lot of cash). While that might seem complicated, the minimum requirements a client could be in order for you to get your base pay is if the client has their own home and has a career. Because the world was in the middle of a pandemic-recession, the number of people that I could present to would be a whole lot less. Plus, many were hesitant to listen to my presentation because many were conservative with their spending.

While the first two days of training were very long and exhausting, I did learn a lot about Cutco and gained insights on how to present the product using the virtual presentation (since we were in a pandemic). Watching videos of people using Cutco to cut various fruits, veggies, and meats made me hungry and amazed me mainly because I struggled to cut many things for most of my life. Plus, seeing my parents struggle when cutting things made me think that it was a normal thing to happen in the kitchen. The videos were what got me to love the product.

What makes Vector Marketing different from other marketing firms is how you don't get to make money from the success of the people you recruited. You do get a little prize (like either a gift card or a Cutco peeler) but those are one time small rewards and that's all you earn from recruiting more people into the firm. Also, the firm has programs that teach you leadership and they have opportunities for you to run your own office and interview future applicants. 

Unlike many other MLM schemes where people don't last long, at Vector Marketing, you have people that have been selling Cutco and running offices for their entire career and continue to make a great living from it. One person that has been doing Cutco for his entire career is Dan Casetta (and he even has a podcast). Seeing many people being living proof that they can make a living working at Vector Marketing adds more credibility to the company.

Earnings are something that many have pointed out to show that Vector Marketing was a scam. Some people complained that because we didn't get paid during training, the company was breaking the law. The district manager of that office talked about it during our training session and he said that the reason why we aren't paid for training was that the skills we learned at training will help us make money. He even mentioned a couple top Vector Marketing sales reps and talked about how they never found a need to get paid for training because those skills already helped them make even more money. Another thing about the pay is that it's appointment based. In the office I worked at, they paid us a base pay of $22 per appointment. Furthermore, if the commission we earned from the sale of Cutco was less than $22, then we would get the base pay. 

Some people have tried to fake their appointments in order to maximize that base pay. The manager once said that Vector Marketing was sued by a former rep that sued the company after not paying him for saying that he did 13 appointments but no sales. In the legal proceedings, they were able to show that the guy was being a phony and tried to rob the company of its money. As the former sales rep regretted his actions, Vector Marketing took him to court, won the case, and he paid for his damages. 

Regarding the products, they're the best cutlery out there. I'm not saying it because I use to work there but it's because my family and I use it and it works like how it performs on video. Interestingly, my parents and I owned a Cutco Spatula Spreader since 2012. Because it looked really nice and was given as a gift, we thought that it should only be used for special occasions like birthdays and parties. At Vector Marketing, I learned that the Spatula Spreader can be used everyday to cut bagels, put spread on sandwiches, slice pizza, and use it to serve lasagna. I used the knife to slice my lasagna and it worked wonders. For the knives and gadgets, they are also great. The Trimmer has made cutting tomatoes less messy because it was really sharp. My dad had an easier time cutting watermelons with the Carver. For the hard breads, the Cutco Slicer made it a whole lot easier to slice them. My family does have a lot of pieces and even plans on getting even more pieces. Cutco products are the best cutlery that my family and I had.

You might be wondering if it's easy to sell Cutco. From my experience, it's been easy to amaze people. While the manager would have high expectations on your sales conversion rates, because it was a pandemic and many people that I knew were struggling financially, the headwinds made my conversion rates worse but it didn't affect the rate at which I was amazing people. Interestingly, some of the customers that I felt wouldn't buy anything actually became interested in the products and actually bought a couple knives. There is little pressure by management to sell but at the end of the day, they do emphasize that you don't pressure other people to buy from you.

Overall, while I wish I had an internship during the summer, the Vector Marketing experience was really fulfilling and it has pushed me out of my comfort zone in a while new level. I learned and got to experience the secrets to being a great salesperson and because of it, I've been able to do nearly $3,000 in sales. The experience has also given me a new found appreciation for cutlery and in the Spatula Spreader that my family's realtor has given me (and yes, I did sell her Cutco).

For anyone that is young, ambitious, and wants to go to the best sales training should consider applying to Vector Marketing. I have to warn you, it will lead you to unprecedented personal growth.