Cbeyond reviews about "training program"

door to door aggressive sales tactics with young managers and people don't act as a team always

Micromanagement, expect you to hit at least 50 doors a day

Some of the departments are understaffed. The teams are working very hard to change that though. It isn't all that bad though because it allows people that are not working in that role to take on work for an open position if they have a passion for it, thus adding to their skills for their resume.

Very difficult and can be discouraging at first (however benefits will be reaped later). Must truly be a self starter and express during training program.

the technology is outdated no one wants T1's and the prices are not an easy sale. plus turnaround time on closing a deal can be 1-3 months. long work days 7:30 meetings out on the road all day and then back to the office at night.

No work/life balance, mistreat/micromanage employees to death (i.e. watched sales mgr make rep who was at one time top in the company sing "I'm a Little Teacup" for literally being a minute or two late to meeting when he came into the office sick, manage by fear, sales mgr would stand next to you and listen to phone calls during designated "phone time" and tell you what to say-very scripted, if you didn't set enough appts. you were expected to stay at office until you did before leaving for "field time", sales mgr stalked me during day & would drop in unannounced on apts. & networking meetings, bait & switch on job description-was originally supposed to be networking-based, but quickly turned into cold calling, was expected to drive an hour to the office and be there by 7:30 AM for rookie roleplaying (even though I was a seasoned sales rep prior to taking this position), wasn't let into rookie roleplaying because was 1 minute late, so had to go back to my desk like a bad little boy to think about it, drive an hour to my territory (which was close to where I lived), and drive back to the office to tell my mgr about my day (sometimes had to turn in biz cards we collected), & then drive an hour home, prey on kids straight out of college and take advantage of/mislead them, mandatory to "call from the seat" which is a used car salesman tactic where you have to call your mgr while in front of a customer and make up a bs question, are not open-minded to previous experience/sales techniques and are expected to follow the script, constantly pound the same businesses day after day and expected to cram product down their throat through gorilla sales tactics and a one-call close, extremely high turnover (1/2 didn't make it through training, other 1/2 was gone within the year), service is very expensive & lacks competitive advantages, people who aren't remotely ready for mgmt get promoted when they drink the company cool-aid, very unprofessional and inappropriate company culture (like a frat house) where excessive partying, discrimination, & sexual harassment is commonplace-you could tell they did the bare minimum to try & satisfy affirmative action requirements (i.e. would have 1 rep over 40 & another who was African American at any given time).

The turnover rate speaks for itself. 90% turnover within the first 3 months. I came in with a class of 15 people; after 2 months there were only 3 left. That speaks for itself. Definitely a churn and burn environment and unprofessional atmosphere. Parallels a college fraterntiy or sorrority. You begin your days at 7:30am, and do not leave until 7:30-8pm in many instances. The reason for this is because you are expected to "socialize" with your c-beyond "family" after work. Extremely ridiculous. In essence, you aren't expected, nor can you have a life outside of c-beyond. In conjunction, there is an excessive amount of micromanagement. You are expected to hit 70-90 businesses every day, regardless of the conditions. Your blackberry will continuously be bombarded with phone calls from your manager, which further contributes to the stresses of the position. There is a huge amount of attrition. Most reps don't stay longer than 6 months, and obviously there is a reason for that. A sales consultant was telling my class that he came in with a class of 20 people, and he was the only one remaining. Huge red flag there. In essence, if you want to get adequate sales training and attain some cold calling experience, it's worth a shot. However, this is definitely not a company where you will build a career. There are many better opportunities elsewhere. There is a reason why C-beyond's stock has been falling since 2007.

Micromanaging. Product priced way above market

There is nothing glamorous about this job. Every day you are out there beating the bushes knocking on door to door of local businesses. And here's the thing... the businesses/business owners hate you. Because you're interrupting their day and trying to sell them a product/service they do not want. That someone else has already tried to sell them 20 times. The gatekeepers usually know who you are the moment you walk in the door. The Management team has really unrealistic expectations of their sales reps. They require that you hit 50 doors (business) a DAY and if you run an appointment that counts as 10. So yeah... 50 cold calls a day. Lastly, I wasn't that impressed with their product/service offering so I didn't feel that good about what I was selling. I never felt like I was giving the business owners a valuable solution.