Come on, we're all sales people!
Ron Popiel
First saw him when I was just 7-8 years old, at the Montgomery County Fair, just outside of Dayton, Ohio, selling Kitchen Magicians. I remember my mother buying one that day. This is also the same guy who sold 13.5 MILLION pocket fisherman units, an item absolutely no one needed. And they are collector items today. Knives, fake spray hair, ballons to put in the middle of two car garages so you didn't dent the other car, it goes on and on.
Decades later, there he was on a BW special, being interviewed by Barbara Walters, explaining why he made a comeback after retiring...
That oven thingy with only a timer and the heat-wasting glass cover? - They shot a 30 minute informercial, cost about $100,000 up front.
Then they ran it over 6-8 cities at a time on a chosen weekend, at least 10 times a weekend. (One to two times per city)
Total sales each weekend cycle? Between 5 and 8 million dollars, of which he had to pay for the TV time, 1-800 call centers, and logistic warehousing and shipping to send them all out. The real secret? Most of the cost of the unit was rolled into the overinflated "shipping and handling". In other words, he made about 30% of that gross, or 1.5 to 2.4 Million a weekend. I cannot think of anyone else in this country who could do that on a weekend, week after week after week, short of pro sports.
