Vector Marketing Success Story: Stephen Jerome

If you ask Stephen Jerome about his CUTCO sales experience, the Merrill Lynch financial advisor will tell you that the benefits for him were twofold.

As a rep selling CUTCO in the Atlanta, Ga., area he learned to be a self-starter, build rapport with people, get over his fear of public speaking and become comfortable asking customers for referrals.

As a manager for five years, he gained real-world business savvy renting office space, negotiating leases, paying staff and developing a team of sales reps.

Overall he said the rich, seven-year experience he had being part of the CUTCO sales team opened up career options for him he likely wouldn’t have considered otherwise.

“I never would have thought sales would be something I would like or be good at. It really taught me about myself and made me do things I don’t know if I would have done,” he said. “The experience of learning to sell really paid off for me.”

Stephen started selling CUTCO in 1996, the summer before his senior year at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. After graduation, he sold for another year and in the summer of 1998 ran a branch office. From 1998 until leaving the business in 2003, Stephen was a District Manager. He has $8 million in CUTCO sales to his name and, as a manager, helped develop five people who are District Managers today.

“That was my favorite part of the management experience,” Stephen said of developing people. As a District Manager he had 10 to 12 branch offices to manage. “In that situation you really get a chance to teach people something,” he said.

All of the experience gained during his time selling CUTCO translates well into the type of work he does today, Stephen said. The experience looked great on his resume.

“Once I left the business I found that Vector was identifiable in the real world. When you tell someone you sold $8 million worth of cutlery they want to know all about it,” he said. “Having that broad, real-world experience was invaluable.”