Sales, Male
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishAccents
North American (General) North American (US Midwest- Chicago, Great Lakes) North American (US West Coast - California, Portland)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Chapter one, we are all in sales. Now, Norman Hall shouldn't exist but here he is flesh blood and bow tie on a Tuesday afternoon sitting in a downtown San Francisco law office, explaining to two attorneys why they could really use a few things to spruce up their place with a magician's flourish. Hall begins by removing from his bag, what looks like a black wand? He snaps his wrist and voila outbursts, a plume of dark feathers and not just any feathers. He reveals these are male ostrich feathers. This 21 99 feather duster is the best on the market. He tells them in a soft spoken but sonorous voice. It's perfect for cleaning picture frames, blinds, and other items whose crevices accumulate dust. Penelope Cronus who runs the small immigration firm with her partner in law and in life, Elizabeth Creer peers up from her desk and shakes her head. Not interested. Hall shows her kitchen brush number 300 a sturdy white and green scrub brush. They already have one on to Cronus's desk. He tosses some microfiber cloths and an anti FG cloth for car windows and bathroom mirrors. No, thanks. Hall is 75 years old with patches of white hair on the sides of his head and not much in between. He sports conservative eyeglasses and a mustache in which the white hairs have finally overtaken the brown ones. After what looks like years of struggle, he wears dark brown pants, a dress shirt with a thin blue stripe, chestnut colored v neck sweater and a red paisley bow tie. He looks like a damper and mildly eccentric professor. He is indefatigable on his lap is a leather three ring binder with about two dozen pages of product pictures. He's clipped and inserted into clear plastic sheets. This is a straightforward spot remover. He tells Cronus and Krier and he gets to the laundry page. These you spray on before throwing something into the washing machine. The lawyers are unmoved. So Hall goes big moth deodorant blocks. I sell more of these than anything in my catalog combined. He says they kill moths, mold mildew and odor only 7 49. Nope. Then turning the page to a collection of toilet brushes and bowl cleaners. He smiles pauses for a perfect beat and says, and these are my romantic items. Still nothing. But when he gets to the stainless steel sponges, he elicits a crackle of interest that soon becomes a ripple of desire. These are wonderful, very unusual. They're scrubber pads, but with a great difference. He says each offers 8000 inches of continuous stainless steel coiled 40,000 times you can stick them in the dishwasher. A box of three is just $15 sold. Soon. He reaches one of his pricier products. An electrostatic carpet sweeper, it has four terminal brushes made out of natural bristle and nylon. As it goes along the floor, it develops a static current so it can pick up sugar and salt from a bare wood floor. He explains, it's my favorite wedding gift. Another exquisitely timed pause. It beats the hell out of a toaster. Kronus and career go for that too. When about 20 minutes have elapsed and hall has reached the final sheet in his homemade catalog. He scribbles the 1 49 96 sale in his order book. He hands a carbon copy of the order to Kronus saying, I hope we're still friends after you read this. He chants for a few moments and then gathers his binder and his bags and rises to leave. Thank you very much. Indeed. He says I'll bring everything forthwith tomorrow. Norman Hall is a fuller brush salesman and not just any fuller brush salesman. He is the last one.