John Kirk here to introduce the Amazing How to Become a pitchman in 4 Easy Steps method... and how I became one myself and my ambitions as a junior TV Pitchman in the industry Since I was the young age of 6, my father was a pitchman, (Bruce Kirk). The Ginue Knife man you would see cutting through the hammer at the PNE, that was my dad but I was shy and seemed to take more to mom’s side of the family. My mom was a manager of a Legion in the Lower mainland for 30+ years paid off her house car put her kids through school and built a good retirement savings. At the age of 15 I had my life all planned out, I was a heavy duty mechanics apprentice already investing in the stock the stock market and thought I had my early retirement plan buttoned down. At the age of 17 I flipped my new corvette end over end numerous times in a bad accident and almost lost my arm - its was then my doctor indicated I would have to have a career change. So with a cast and 6 pins in my arm I found myself peeling onions and filling the vegetable bowls pratting for the slicer dicer guy, (Mike Brewer) at the Summer Fair at the PNE. It took a little warming up to him but eventually I was quite impressed with this Pitchman, he was like a rockstar and one of the best. An exact science he knew how to build and hold a massive crowd with each new demonstration, having them all nod their heads and laugh his jokes at the same time keeping them all seemingly mesmerized with his ease of use building them up to all walk to cashier and buy his $80 slicing and dicing contraption. Whether they were rewarding him for the entertainment, really wanted this thing or just caught up in the moment I was not sure, but I was surely impressed. Well it was early in the PNE and this job was starting to feel a like karaoke to me and one slow weekday as the Pitchman was on his break a little old lady walked up and asked if I could show her how the slicer worked and there it was, the opportunity for my first pitch, although I only really knew the funny lines and couldn’t really use the machine at all - she bought, most likely a sympathy purchase but I had been bitten by the pitch bug and was determined to become a great pitchman. I built a team travelled the biggest and best shows in America for a year and came back to develop out the Western Canadian show circuit with our new line of products. The success and money were great but back home my old school friends were making fortunes in the stock market and living life on the road did not seem as attractive as it first had, so I left my career as a pitchman to pursue my fortune in the stock market. After 16 years working in the equity market financing growth companies I found myself discouraged as the majority of companies did not reach their goals and working with various sectors I found them all to be most unattractive/not exciting until I had the opportunity to cover a company called Brookstone a specialty retail company that went from $2 to $20 opening my eyes to the magic Sam Walton of Walmart had discovered - Asian Manufacturing and American Distribution - and just like that I was back in the pitch business sourcing in China pitching here. Years later and many trips to China we now are ready for growth, have built a studio loaded with all best video production equipment, a team of creative and pitch people, have produced more than a half dozen new products and infomercials, aired two on Television and last year had Evander Holyfield former World Heavyweight Champion boxer and my childhood role model come to shoot a new spot. Best of all this industry is fun, Creating and pitching products that solve problems folks face every day helping to make life a little easier with our knife that never dulls, flashlight that doesn’t need batteries or Dirt Trapper Mat that actually removes dirt from your feet. I found a desk job is not for me, I like people and even though like Billy Mays used to often say its a hard way to make an easy living IMO not much good comes without hard work and passion and I am convinced consistent hard work + passion is where the magic happens. The four steps to becoming a pitchman are find a product your passionate about, get into a local trade show, prove the pitch and salability, develop your informercial, put that product on TV...the operative word is passionate as your audience of consumers are only going to be a fraction as excited as you are. But wait theres more...if you act right now I’ll double the offer... heres how to order! but seriously if you do have a product I would be happy to share what little I have learned and walk you through the 4 steps feel free to email me - email [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 20:44:10 +0000
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