INTERVIEWING SALES PEOPLE AT THE IOWA HOME SHOW

Central Iowa is still in the throes of winter.  A sunny day here and there has not melted snow pushed to the side by shovels and blowers or melted hillsides that get little sun.  

This region has the same sun overhead as Brownsville, but that celestial body is further away and, because of the latitude, its rays hit less directly.  

Adil, one of Jerusalem's finest salesmen

The Iowa Home Show at the fairgrounds in Des Moines went on as scheduled despite the cold and wet, an opportunity for an old geezer from Brownsville to roam and learn about products being sold and the people trying to close the sale.

The individual selling booths were not all related to home building or repair, but, obviously, reserved for whover paid booth rent.   Anyway, I'm always more interested in the person behind the sales spiel than whatever it is they're selling.

                                                                                                                                                                      Adil, who told me he was from Jerusalem, was first up, trying to convince me of the need to buy a magic skin cream called Truffoire he claimed utilized secret salts from the Dead Sea near Israel's West Bank.  

Adil rubbed some of his product on the back of my hand and, admittedly, the area looked much lighter for a few moments until it dried, such was the gimmick.

When I answered a question with "OK," he jumped to get a nice bag for my $149.95 purchase, but I was not ready to complete the sale.  Nice try Adil!

When I read out the ingredient list and questioned some things, Adil summoned another middle Eastern man he called their "chemist," who gave a rapidfire summation of how the product worked.

The Jerusalem native feigned anger when I declined the sale, but quickly calmed down and willingly posed for a picture.

Lone Amish girl in storage building after her older sister disappears

Next, I ambled over to visit with two shy girls sitting inside a storage building.

Trying not to appear a religious bigot, I gently inquired if the girls were Amish.  

They said they were indeed Amish and I took notice of the building's fine detail and we talked a bit about Amish craftsmanship.

"So, no electricity was used in the production of this building?" I asked innocently.

"None!" said the older girl, who did most of the talking, but disappeared when I took the picture.  

"Only hand tools and some compression tools," she added.

When the younger girl saw me glancing at a DeWalt power tool, she quickly added;  "Oh, those are battery operated."

"Do you know how the battery is charged?" I asked.

Both girls dismissed that with a shrug, knowing the batteries are plugged in to an electric socket for charging.

"No matter," I added.

"Religions split hairs like that all the time.  One religion may forbid eating meat on certain days.  Another will allow their members to use every individual component of blood, but not whole blood itself to save a life.  Weird, huh?"

I quickly changed the subject, hinting that at least the Amish would not ever cheat a customer.

It was at that point that the youngest girl made a surprising admission.

"Don't think all Amish are good people, 'cause they're not.  We have good and bad just like any other group."

I couldn't disagree with that and admired the girl's honesty.

Jamee's chiropractic display

Next, I visited with Jamee, a pleasant young woman representing a chiropractic clinic, who explained that her first name was a combination of her parent's names.

I was more interested in what had turned her on to chiropractic.

Jamie explained that her father had a health incident that was corrected by chiropractic treatments and that he started taking the whole family for adjustments.

She'd been in medical school, Jamee explained, but was now more into holistic treatments.

Jamee volunteered that she'd been raised in a very strict Apostolic household, but had since moved on from some of those fundamentalist beliefs.

Would I agree to a check of my spinal cord for alignment and other issues?

"Sure!" I answered. 

"Do I need to take off my jacket?" I asked.

"That's not necessary," responded Jamee, putting a funny looking gizmo next to the back of my neck.

The contraption made no sound nor did I feel anything.

The results on a screen showed tremendous problems on my body's right side, Jamee explained.

When I asked about the figure "22%" noted on the screen, Jamee could not explain what that number meant.

The results seemed curious to me since my only pains are on the left side where I had a titanium rod in my femur bone after a car accident.

Anyway, Jamie explained, a full scanning at the chiropractic clinic she represents, normally $120, was now only $20 with a coupon she offered.

I told her I would think about it.

Karen with her gutter cover

At my next stop Karen explained how her company's gutter cover keeps leaves out, but lets water through.   

When I asked about leaves accumulating on the top of the gutter, Karen explained that the cover has a non-stick coating.  The leaves, once dry, simply blow off, she explained.

When I took the above picture of Karen with her product, I mentioned that my phone needed to be charged.

"Oh, I have a charging station," Karen volunteered.

"Would you like me to charge your phone for you while you walk around for a few minutes?" she asked.

Seemingly good people, all of them.

A salesperson must be sold on their product before they can sell to others.

Salepeople often say they are primarily selling themselves; that is, their honesty, product knowledge and reliability.

I believe that.