Kirby is a lot like Amsoil was....hiding behind the ruse of door-to-door salesmen. Except that Amsoil salesmen were always trying to get their neighbors, friends and relatives to become 'dealers' so they can get the kick back. Amsoil finally stepped up to the plate and entered the retail marketplace, but maintained the 'discount' for their dealers.
In my youth, I was falsely seduced into a Kirby salesman 'seminar' with a long intro movie featuring Chuck Conners. And then later on, I had some horse dealings (literally) with a big Kirby rep in central MO....I'm sure he's dead by now and wherever he's buried, there will be a giant spiral configuration going into the ground.
As was said above, if Kirby had to come out of the door-to-door shadows and compete on a retail level with all the other current vacuums, especially the high-end ones, they'd be ruined in short order. Maybe they could pull it off like Amsoil if they did both on some level...I dunno.
I had a young friend who became a Kirby salesman a few yrs ago...I warned him. He made his first sale and was on Cloud Nine. But then he couldn't make another and the bills were mounting up. He gave me an inside into how their process really works....he was in constant communication with his rep. The rep was wise to the customer's reactions. He could tell if the salesman was circling the wagon or if it was time to ride off into the sunset. There were many tiers of price structure depending on how the session was going....totally the rep's call on the phone. Eventually, he had enough of high-pressure sales. As was said above, the high turnover of their 'trained' salesmen is built into their process. Unlike getting to know and grow old with your Elux salesman like back in the day, you'll most likely never see the guy again that sold you your vac.
Kevin
