From: rbc@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (robert.connaghan)
Subject: Re: Kerby Vacuum Cleaners Information
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 14:39:04 GMT
Summary: How I bought a Kerby one day.
Keywords: Kirby Vacuum


I bought a Kerby Generation III vacuum about 2 months ago for considerably
less then the $900-950 range I have seen here as a good buy.
My wife had the salesman come to clean a rug that was light colored and dirty.
We had no real intention of buying, but we needed a new vacuum and were
willing to listen to the sales pitch. They got our name at a county fair.
After seeing the machine I concluded that it was probably worth $600 to me.
The overall salespitch took over two hours and I had three young children
underfoot for a large portion of it.  Each wanted to play with the attachments.
A very nice, not pushy salesman.

There are several things to remember, the first two are the most important:
    1.	They will not take a loss on a sale or sell something without a profit.
    	If they sold it at a fixed fair price there would be no haggleing.
	Your not taking advantage of them by not wanting to pay list.
    2.	That by showing up at your house they have already committed to a lost
	opportunity-cost of selling that machine to someone else that night.
	They have a very strong incentive to conclude a sale that night.
	(If they don't sell it to me now they lose two times over:
	the no sale to me and the lost potential sale to whomever they could
	have been with instead of me.) 
    3.  The machine has a great reputation, and is indeed a good vacuum.
	I didn't feel I would be disappointed with it. Just annoyed if I
	paid too much.

A chronology of a Kerby sales presentation.
He spends about 60+ minutes talking and vucumming the rugs using a filter paper
attachement instead of the vacuum bag.  He takes a filthy dirty filter paper
out every now and then and places on the floor; I end up with about 30 of them.
Then he shampoos the rug in question, and does a great job to boot.
Shows me how great the attachments are.
It truly is a very nice machine. And he asked us if we want it........

  $1295	List Price
  - 100	Trade-In (A dead Panasonic, about 10 years old).
	He whips out the order form and looks at me expectantly.
  -----
  $1195	I say no way, have a nice day, He says it will last, blah, blah, blah.
  - 200 He calls his manager (1st time), and they take $200 off.
  -----
  $ 995 I say it is a great machine, but no way, he would have to do better.
	My wife tells him what a cheap Scot I am (true!) and that she likes
	the machine, but the decision was up to me.  When dealing with sales
	that have variable cost (i.e. cars, kerbys) we like to play
	good-cop/bad-cop.  I say it still is too expensive, but I would like
	to buy it if only we could come up with a better price.
	He ask how much, I say something closer to $600.
	He mentions a contest for a vacation trip if he can sell only
	two more units, so he is willing to work with me on it.  I say great.
  	He throws in Free Shampooer ($200 value) and says take this demo
	machine instead of new from the factory.  I say not yet, do better.
  - 100	He calls his manager (2nd time), and they take $100 off.
  -----
  $ 895 I reiterate that I would buy it if they get closer to $600. He then
	talks for a very long time, extolling the virtues of the machine.
	A very long time, he seems to be waiting for me to forget that I want
	a lower price, and that I would just eventually interrupt him and
	agree to buy it at $895.  I guess this has worked for him in the past.
	I do interrupt him and give him my stock speech about what a good
	business transaction is: one in which both parties walk away happy,
	each getting what they perceive to be a good deal.
	And, then I told him how he had just talked for 15 minutes without
	making any effort to lower the price and that if this was his best
	price, thank-you-very-much and good night.
  - 150 He calls his manager (3rd time) and returns with another $150 off.
	He said his manager was willing to split the difference between
	the $895 and the $600 figure I was looking for.
  -----
  $ 745 I said very close but not $600.
  -  50	I ask for another $50 off and he gives it to me.
  -----
  $ 695 His final price, without tax.
	I say great, its been fun and lets start to sign the papers.
  -----
  $ 745	We reach this final number (cost + tax), he has the paper work on
	his lap and starts to fill it, he relief shows, it's late now and he
	would like to make the sale and go home. I feel I can get a better
	deal but I am not sure what say and then it comes to me, the
	final zinger.  I say wait a minute, I want you to pay the tax.
	He calls the manager (4th time).
  -  45 Subtracts the tax, rounding out the final number.
  -----
  $ 700 Final Cost, Kerby Generation III, With Shampoo Attachment.

	As a side note, he also showed a hard wood floor buffing brush,
	which he started to put in his briefcase.  Of course I stated that
	I assumed that it was also included.  He just handed to me.

	He tells me that he will make no profit on this one but his manager
	has agreed to give him his $25 for making a sale.
	I was supposed to feel bad at this point.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In conclusion:
    They sold a vacuum, I assume that they make money, but not
    the $600 profit that they would have liked.
    I got a nice vacuum, but I probably would not have spent this much if I
    had gone out and bought something at the department store.

    It is a very nice vacuum, but has a couple small drawbacks:
    1.  Heavy, although the power drive is good and makes it like pushing
	a feather around. It's just heavy to carry up and down stairs.
    2.	To use the vacuum hose you must remove the front beater brush assembly,
	as opposed to having a extra hole you can just plug into. Easy to do.
    3.  Because it is a good vacuum, the bags get filled up much faster then
	with my old machine!!

The End.

  Robert Connaghan
  AT&T Bell Labs
  rbc@vax135.att.com
  (NJ)908-949-1048