Joe Ades , Greatest Salesman in New York City History !!! #KONYH !!
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN treats him as a master class in salesmanship and live presentation, where how you sell matters more than what you sell.
What it is
A short street-level clip of Joe Ades, the New York pitchman who sold vegetable peelers to crowds on the sidewalk. It shows his patter, showmanship and crowd handling in action.
Recommended by 6 HN commenters across 6 different months, 2009 to 2014.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec iuguy · 2009-02 · on “Peeler Man, HN Salesmanship Hero, Passes”
See the guy in action at [this video] A really fantastic pitchman, great to watch and made an absolute craft out of his work.
Strong rec jacquesm · 2010-04 · on “Ask HN: What makes a presentation great ?”
I don't think Steve Jobs is that great a presenter, Ballmer is (much) worse though. A good presentation and a good presenter are two different things. A good presenter can give a presentation about essentially boring material and make it live, be memorable. A bad presenter can turn a great presentation in to an ordeal. I've linked here once to a youtube video of Joe Ades, have a look at it: [this video] The subject is 'potato peelers', from a street vendor no less. That man has more feeling for presentation in his little finger than any amount of high flying consultants that lecture on the subject. Watch the crowd he draws and how well he interacts with the people. Of course he's had years to hon
Strong rec jdietrich · 2010-10 · on “After 4 years of self-funded coding marathons I feel "finished", care to talk?”
You seem to have been terribly misled. Only very rarely do products sell themselves. 99% of the time, the product is largely incidental to the sales process. Your idea doesn't matter one jot, what matters is how well you can connect to customers and really sell to them. Let me tell you about a fine English gentleman by the name of Joe Ades, now sadly no longer with us. Joe wore Savile Row suits and lived in a three-bedroomed apartment on Park Avenue. He spent most nights at the Café Pierre with his wife, sharing a bottle of his usual - Veuve Clicquot champagne. You might assume that Joe was a banker or an executive, but in fact Joe sold potato peelers on the street for $5 each, four for $20.
Strong rec patio11 · 2014-12 · on “He sold potato peelers for $5 each and became a millionaire”
I heard about this gentleman on HN a few years ago. You have to watch him work: it's a performance, in every sense of the word: [this video]
Recommends jacquesm · 2010-03 · on “Ask HN: What advice would you give college students about starting a business? ”
I think one of the quickest ways to learn this is to jump in on the 'hard' end of sales, cold calls and approaching strangers. Have a look at this guy: [this video] There's a lifetime of experience in there, not quite 'cold calling' but he's got amazing talent.
Recommends bobds · 2011-09 · on “Ask HN: What can I sell in Times Square? ”
It doesn't matter what you sell. What matters is how you sell it. Case in point, Joe Ades with his vegetable peelers: [this video]
Recommends pragmagic · 2011-09 · on “Ask HN: What can I sell in Times Square? ”
Sell experiences. I'm not sure if you've heard of Joe Ades. He used to sell potato peelers in NY and has been mentioned on HN a few times: [LINK] [LINK] [this video] I don't think it really matters what you sell, especially in this case where you just want to improve your sales technique. The main thing is that you sell an experience, not a product.
Cites conover · 2012-11 · on “A breakdown of how I was talked out of $100”
A man named Joe Ades used to do something somewhat similar in Union Square. Apparently he was well known. [this video]