Knife company reps

KNaB

KNaB

Joined
Oct 18, 2008
Messages
832
I went to an event over the weekend here in illinois at a gun shop/range. Basically reps from gun manufacturers were there promoting their products. No spyderco rep:(. There was, however, a rep from another knife manufacturer ( shiny footsteps) who, as i was looking at a spyderco kumo ( this place is a treasure trove of new old stock...white delicas, little ladybug sized ones that i have never seen (looked like a greenish micarta handle) etc. The rep walked over to me to inform me that spyderco doesnt make ANY of their knives in the u.s. anymore. I guess he thought that such information would dissuade me from purchasing a spyderco. Immediately i said" oh really?" I pulled my m4 millie out, to which he replied" thats an older model." Ok whatever. Then i pulled out my manix 2. Didnt get a reply to that one. So, most of us here arent your average joe when it comes to knives. At the very least we are pretty educated about knives; afi's as Sal puts it. Has anyone ever gone to a vendor who assumed you dodnt know as much as you did about the knife world? Reps unprofessionally bad mouthing another company's products?
 
If he had to run down Spyderco, guess he couldn't think of what good points his knife had.
 
I wonder if that was someone who actually worked for the company or just a dealer who happened to have a booth at the show. I have a hard time seeing a company employee saying things like that. That's the kind of rhetoric I expect from cashiers at small retail shops.
 
Two possible explanations:

Hard times tend to bring out the competitive nature in all of us.

Also, have you noticed that there are fewer and fewer people who really know what they're talking about?

The best companies tend to promote their industry and avoid such trash talk.
 
I can remember at least one thread posted by Sal, the man of great integerity

that he is, about him or us Spydie nuts not bashing other knive companies..

I think he went into this topic more than I can remember.

There were a Lot of positive comments about this non bashing other knife

companies. ;)
 
Interesting.

I think I would have looked at him and shrugged. Even though he is wrong, educating him will only make him look intelligent to the next guy (why give a guy like this any help?)

Some people are not only idiots, they are idiots with so much confidence that they will resist logic and reason...I say let them remain easy to spot.
 
This wasn't a dealer that said this, but a guy at the range made some comments when I pulled out my Delica to cut something. He informed everyone in earshot that a buddy of his was using his Delica and the blade fractured. He told everyone that he sent it back and was told that a few batches of bad blades went out and he was "educating" everyone that they shouldn't buy Spyderco knives because it was several models that this bad batch of steel impacted. He also said his buddy wasn't happy with the customer service resolution.

Thinking about how I read this forum, the Spyderco home forum and myself own well over 50 Delicas alone...well you'd think I'd have seen something about that if Delicas all over were failing.

I just shook my head and walked away. There's no talking to the guy that knows everything and wants everyone to know it.
 
I would have replied,

"Really? Well don't tell me anything about your knives because you are obviously uninformed about Spyderco."
 
Reminds me of the time my boss went to a conference and someone asked him who the CEO was at our company these days. When he told him, the guy replied "That can't be. I know him, and he's just a lying salesman." ;)
 
Paradiggum said:
This wasn't a dealer that said this, but a guy at the range made some comments when I pulled out my Delica to cut something. He informed everyone in earshot that a buddy of his was using his Delica and the blade fractured. He told everyone that he sent it back and was told that a few batches of bad blades went out and he was "educating" everyone that they shouldn't buy Spyderco knives because it was several models that this bad batch of steel impacted. He also said his buddy wasn't happy with the customer service resolution.

Thinking about how I read this forum, the Spyderco home forum and myself own well over 50 Delicas alone...well you'd think I'd have seen something about that if Delicas all over were failing.

I just shook my head and walked away. There's no talking to the guy that knows everything and wants everyone to know it.
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Did he happen to tell them what his buddy was using it for? They aren't crowbars. And since you can't fix stupid, the warranty doesn't cover it, so if his buddy expected a free replacement and didn't get it, he probably wasn't happy.
 
yablanowitz said:
Did he happen to tell them what his buddy was using it for? They aren't crowbars. And since you can't fix stupid, the warranty doesn't cover it, so if his buddy expected a free replacement and didn't get it, he probably wasn't happy.
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He did say but I can't remember the details. It was something that was a normal knife use though. "Supposedly"
I don't believe it honestly. I never heard anything about a recall on faulty blades or anything. Just someone spreading wrong info. I didn't try and correct him but I did inform the others in the group that it was likely BS and why I didn't believe the story.
 
I got laid off from a job as a product rep and would LOVE to be a rep for a knife company!!!! If anyone see's this I have a resume ready at the touch of a few buttons!! :)
 
unit said:
Interesting.

I think I would have looked at him and shrugged. Even though he is wrong, educating him will only make him look intelligent to the next guy (why give a guy like this any help?)

Some people are not only idiots, they are idiots with so much confidence that they will resist logic and reason...I say let them remain easy to spot.
Click to expand...

Heh, good point. In fact, I'd assert that some people with less knowledge or understanding tend to be MORE vocal when it comes to those things. It seems like in every field I've been interested in, there are a lot of people around that really think they are experts, or at least that they really know what they're talking about, and actually don't seem to know what they're talking about, spreading misinformation or loudly voicing ill-informed opinions.

Something I've learned over the years (I've seen other quotes to this effect, can't remember where)-"The less you know, the more you think you know. The more you know, the more you realize you still have to learn." Also, especially on the internet, but in real life as well, it seems that the less you know, the louder you are. Of course, these are generalizations, and there are many well-informed people out there.

Interesting topic--I would hope that whoever that person is, he's not of any importance. That would be sad if an actual employee of another company would go as far as to spread misinformation in order to hurt another company. It would be almost equally as sad if he was working in the knife industry, and actually thought what he was saying was true.
 
KNaB said:
( this place is a treasure trove of new old stock...white delicas, little ladybug sized ones that i have never seen (looked like a greenish micarta handle)
Click to expand...

That was probably an original Baby Goddard. The first runs from 1993 were done in a dark green micarta to match the Jr. and full sized Goddards. There was a recent sprint run of these beauties in a deep dark burgundy micarta.

You should have picked that one up! If it was PE, it would be worth some $$$.

TedP
 
I am in sales. I do not talk about the competition, period. I may address a specific customer question about my product vs theirs, but you will virtually never hear me discuss another company or their business practices.

The weakest sales reps focus on price, talking down the competition and giving BS information.
 
phillipsted said:
That was probably an original Baby Goddard. The first runs from 1993 were done in a dark green micarta to match the Jr. and full sized Goddards. There was a recent sprint run of these beauties in a deep dark burgundy micarta.

You should have picked that one up! If it was PE, it would be worth some $$$.

TedP
Click to expand...

I may go back. There more than I few that I had never seen before. Even had ladybugs and enduras in clamshell packaging. I'm sure someone could answer this, perhaps Deacon, but IIRC some of the spydies had blue boxes, and black/yellow boxes. Does that sound correct?
 
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