Consumer Electronics

NORMAL, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 05/18/09 -- Students in the Advanced Personal Selling and Sales Negotiations course at Illinois State University, along with Mike Muriel of Vector Marketing Corporation, recently donated $5,000 from the class's sale of Cutco cutlery to the Midwest Chapter of the Starlight Children's Foundation, located in Chicago, Illinois. Vector Marketing is the direct sales division of Cutco Cutlery Corporation, a 60-year old manufacturer and direct seller of high-end kitchen cutlery based in Olean, New York. Muriel, division manager of Vector's Chicago division, met several times throughout the semester with the students on campus, training them to sell the cutlery. The students and Muriel chose to donate their commissions earned from the sale of the Cutco products to the Starlight-Midwest Children's Foundation.

The announcement was made by Dr. Jill Attaway, Professor of Marketing at Illinois State University. The proceeds from these sales will be used to purchase a Fun Center(TM), a mobile entertainment unit containing a DVD player and the latest Nintendo game system that roll bedside in hospitals to provide fun and distraction for pediatric patients.

The check was presented by Sarah Baker Andrus, Vector Marketing's Director of External Relations & Academic Programs to Meredith Stadel, Development Manager of Starlight-Midwest on May 12 at its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.

The Cutco-Vector selling experience is an integral part of Illinois State's Advanced Personal Selling & Sales Negotiations course and is offered to seniors during their final semester prior to graduation.

"We set up a typical sales operation that you'd see at a Fortune 500 company," said Professor Jill Attaway, who teaches the class. "We don't give grades only on sales completed, but rather on the entire process which also includes weekly sales reports, numbers of calls made, numbers of referrals generated, and numbers of product demonstrations scheduled.

"By enabling our students to sell Cutco, we are giving them the opportunity to find out what it is like to take the theory from the classroom and apply it to a real-world sales environment."

"We're thrilled to be able to donate our commission proceeds to such an important charity that helps so many young people," said Muriel. "Aligning with this charity was an incentive for our students to sell and give back."

Cutco Cutlery, based in Olean, New York, is the largest kitchen cutlery manufacturer in North America. Founded 60 years ago, Cutco sells its products through a network of college students throughout North America. Cutco's sales division, Vector Marketing, offers a sales training program that teaches students a wide range of skills, including time management, presentation, lead generation, customer service and how to work in a commission-structured environment.

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