Monday, 8 April 2013

343: The Demonstrator


Marjorie had her own table, provided by the company at a very reasonable £2 deduction from every sale she made.  It folded easily and was wipe clean, perfect for making the right impression when she was giving her demonstrations in-store.

Until she began working for the company, Marjorie hadn’t realized quite how basic her store of kitchen utensils and tools actually was.  All demonstrators were encouraged to purchase the complete range and familiarize themselves with each piece before beginning regular demonstrations.  This was one of Marjorie's favourite parts of the job and she owned every item the company sold.

The stock she held fitted into two black, zip-up carriers displaying the company logo.  Each week Marjorie visited the warehouse and purchased as many units of the latest gadgets as she thought she could sell.  The more demonstrations she could book, the more sales she would make and the more units she could buy next time.  The company discounted the goods heavily to the demonstrators and even better, they would loan out as many zip-up carriers as you needed, subject to a deposit, naturally.

Marjorie wondered about branching out from kitchen items into health and beauty.  Apparently there was good money to be made and the ranges changed more quickly.  She would be up against Babs who had health and beauty sewn up in the north of the region, but if she kept to the lower fringes and maybe even booked double kitchen/health and beauty demonstrations at each venue perhaps Marjorie could start making a real living.

Marjorie invested in one each of the main ten health and beauty products, so familiarize herself for demonstrations.  She scrubbed herself and smoothed herself, tucked bits in and breathed stuff out, relaxed and invigorated every night for a week, until she felt confident enough to demonstrate any one of the new products.

When she visited the warehouse for her normal collection she saw a sign that read ‘Please deliver your tables this way.’  An arrow pointed to the far side of the building and she could a small collection of foldable, wipe clean demonstration tables there.  Next to the sign was a small notice for all demonstrators.

Dear Demonstrator

We would like to thank you for all your efforts and hard work on behalf of our company and we hope you have enjoyed your time with us.  Unfortunately in these electronic times we have learnt that without a robust web presence the company will fare badly against our rivals.  We have concentrated our efforts in this area recently and it has demonstrated to us this is the arena in which we must operate solely in future.

In future we will no longer offer live in-store demonstrations but will have pre-recorded videos demonstrating our products in our major retail outlets.  The remainder of our sales will come from online sources.  Therefore we will no longer be selling our good at a discounted rate via this warehouse and you will be unable to replenish your stock levels.  You may of course sell any remaining articles you have and you would be welcome to purchase further items via our website (details below).

As a gesture of goodwill, anyone who has less than a month’s worth of folding-table contributions left may keep it with our good wishes.  All other tables should be returned to the office as indicated.

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