It all comes down to a smile.
That’s what Ethel Krupsky learned in 1957 when she made her first attempt at selling World Book Encyclopedias door-to-door.
She had just been trained that day. And while knocking on the door of her first prospect, she froze with fear.
“All I could do was smile,” the Kansas City woman said. “I couldn’t say a word. The woman asked, `Who are you?’ and I thought I might have forgotten my name.”
Krupsky chuckled as she recalled that day.
But the woman invited her in, and they chatted. Krupsky managed to sign her up on the spot, even though the family was expecting a sales call later that evening from a man with another encyclopedia company.
Now, 37 years later, Krupsky still lugs books and contracts to homes, schools and businesses.
She won’t tell you that she holds the World Book record for selling 100 orders a year for 35 years, but Carrol Noble will.
“No individual in all of World Book’s history, since 1917, has done that,” said Noble, Krupsky’s division manager since 1977.
“The award didn’t go past 25 years because no one had ever done it” before Krupsky broke the record, he said.
She also has more than five years logged in World Book’s heralded 200-order-a-year club.
In fact, World Book officials had to create a new award pin for Krupsky each year as she broke her own records, Noble said.
But Krupsky doesn’t like to trumpet her accomplishments. She’d rather sell people sets of World Books.
If individuals already have a set, “You certainly know someone that might need some, don’t you?” she asks as her bright blue eyes beckon.
Krupsky has no plans to slow down.
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“This has been a most enjoyable career,” said Krupsky. “It has been part of my lifestyle.
“I’m too busy recruiting new representatives, calling on schools and teachers and many parents,” she said. “The word `retiring’ just isn’t necessary.”
Age isn’t something she likes to talk about either even though she admits to being more than 80 years old.
Her years, however, are an asset, Noble said.
“People like Ethel have pretty well seen it all,” he said.
Noble knew that anything average would never satisfy Krupsky.
“People of that age come from the old work ethic,” Noble said.
Only a few salespeople in World Book’s nationwide force of 20,000 are in their 80s, said Janet Lykowski, communications coordinator at World Book’s home office in Elk Grove Village, Ill. Most of the salespeople are women, and many are retired teachers, she said.
Encyclopedia Britannica’s oldest salesperson is 81, said Diane Turner, manager for special communication services for Britannica, based in Chicago. In contrast, most of Britannica’s sales force are men.
As for Krupsky’s life beyond the job, she said: “That’s not important. I’m not that much of a celebrity.”
What’s more important, Krupsky said, is helping children follow their natural curiosities. Looking at the encyclopedia is like “raiding the refrigerator,” said Krupsky, who taught school years ago in her hometown of River Forest, Ill.
“Children can raid the bookshelf when they have the World Book,” she said.
“It all begins at home with parents who start reading to their babies and who continue through childhood reading aloud to them. We didn’t have encyclopedias when I was young, but we went to the library a lot.”
Krupsky said that she had come a long way since that first day on the job.
“Thirty-eight years gives you the skill and self-esteem necessary to make your performance respected,” she said. “When you’re timid, you have to learn how to meet people.
“I wasn’t near as outgoing as people say I am now.”
Besides selling, Krupsky also recruits new salespeople for the World Book business.
“I need two more contracts,” she said. “Don’t you know anyone who might need a little extra money?”