Altria reviews

This is NOT professional sales!! If you do not want to be a merchandiser to not apply for this position!!! You will be working with over 100 retailers going around and putting up POS (point of sale...signage), merchandising products on fixtures for top space and new products, repricing signage, looking at sales data to increase market share(yet you dont control pricing, distribution from manufacturer, advertising budget, etc.), and "selling" in new product (really just suggesting it and maybe placing an "e-order" for a couple of cartons of cigs..which RARELY per "sale"/retailer is over $200 total of merchandise). The vast amount of your time will not be selling anything. The company says they are trying to go to a "consultant sales position," but you can't separate what you truly are and what the customer (retailer) sees you as..a merchandiser from the companies idea of "sales." The position once learned (for someone of average intelligence..about 2-5 months) can become very boring and for anyone with more than basic sales (ie: summer sales jobs at the mall and a basic understanding of financial/sales concepts) this position won't be fullfilling. To illustrate this isn't really a professional sales oreinted position...the company feels the most complex financial concept learned is calculating retailers profit margin, penny profit, and mark up. The income is majority base salary (95% of it) and making a decent sales income (over $60k) will require you to move into management (generally at least a minimum of 2 years into your career). Also you have little say where you will be relocated to once promoted. Another HUGE CON is the company hires a lot of kids straight from college and they get stars in their eyes based on position title and base income out the gate...and have little to no practical sales knowledge or ability..therefore they feel selling $150 of goods in a "sale" is setting the world on fire. People also get promoted WAY too fast and without any true management experience or knowledge. Promotion is based on being liked and having a cheerleader mentality, with sales goals being secondary. Everyone talks about getting promoted even at the first training meeting. While it is a good company with great benefits...for anyone with true sales ability or who wants their income/promotion somewhat dependent on their own abilities and merits...stay away.

-Although you are a member of a team "unit" there is no feeling of teamwork or unity -You will do 95% of your work independently with no direct contact from team members, or managers (This may be great if you have held a job for several years and have mastered time management but for an entry level position there is little to no guidance other than what comes down from HQ). -Your manager will heavily dictate your success, which sounds obvious, but in theory one should be able to pay their own way based on how this system is structured. Because managers are constantly being promoted and shifted around it is difficult to build a relationship. -They bait you with talks about promotions but constantly change career advancement opportunities. -Company sells the idea of their high employee retention rate and small turnover percentages however in the past year they laid off 125 employees which created a 1984 type environment to work in. -You are essentially crushed with initiatives which is normal of a sales organization of this size with so many operating companies, however, everyone is measured on their ability to "sell in" new products which can be extremely easy in some areas and extremely difficult in others. There is no balancing tool in place to accurately assess an employee's ability to sell. Your territory can make or break you. -Their seem to be a lot of Unit Managers with their own agendas that put themselves and their personal success above the team's ability to grow and outperform.