For the past 10 years, Kristen Smith has been a stay-at-home mom, devoted to raising four kids, ages 4 to 13. Last winter, just as she was considering going back to work, an e-mail popped into her inbox. Kajeet, a Bethesda, Md.-based company that offers a cellphone service tailored to kids, was looking for so-called mommy bloggers to introduce its products to other parents.
Smith had never heard of Kajeet or worked in sales, but liked the program’s flexible hours and the way the company let parents limit when and how their children’s phones are used. There were also no upfront costs or quotas, like some direct sales jobs. Within weeks, Smith had signed up, received a Kajeet cellphone, tote bag and promotional materials, and begun blogging about the service.
Cosmetics and home goods companies like Avon, Mary Kay and Tupperware have long viewed moms as a potent sales force. The wireless industry, however, took longer to recognize moms’ potential. Many thought that cellphones, with their myriad service plans, detailed contract terms and wildly different designs, were best sold in brick-and-mortar stores by trained experts.
Kajeet is bucking the trend. Encouraged by steady results from moms like Smith, the company is expanding and formalizing its mom brigade. Dubbed the “mom sales team,” it currently includes around 15 moms, but could grow to 100 or even more, says Carol Politi, Kajeet’s senior vice president of corporate and business development. (No dads are currently involved, but Politi says Kajeet would accept a dad who wanted to join.) “The team won’t grow larger than makes sense,” she adds. “We want the moms to be able to make money.”
Logo from Kajeet