I am a Sales rep in EMEA that has been around long enough to see the transition from Flight Global to Cirium. This review is largely based on Sales experiences in this part of the globe.
Despite a strong suite of products, the company is let down by an outdated, stick over carrot approach to Sales: mock role plays where you will be graded on whether you wear a suit and tie, call-out days, bi-weekly forecasting, hierarchical/top down approach to management, uninspiring and somewhat arrogant presentations at quarterly sales meetings – “if your clients ask you why they should use Cirium over the competition, tell them we are the best”. 👏
Many of the problems stem from the fact that VPs aren’t from aviation and have tried to adopt a cookie-cutter approach to selling across the different verticals in the industry.
As with most places, there is a fair degree of nepotism, which can be seen in promotions within the Sales leadership team and the fact that top performers have had key accounts taken from them and handed to new hires with no experience in aviation.
It may be worth joining this company if it is to be part of the Finance team, that has been thriving for a couple of years.
Although the motto is “we do the right thing, not the easy thing”, the opposite is usually tre. There are very few female managers in Sales and one of the only women in a management position was overlooked for a promotion while on maternity leave, for a colleague who had only just joined. Also, there is also a certain degree of unprofessionalism: during a company presentation, HR introduced an updated 360 peer review by stating that it would help “in case your manager was a d!ckhe@d”.
There was a very slow response to the issues posed by Covid, as the company website and press releases largely focused on On Time Performance when most aircraft were grounded. The focus on ‘helping’ during Covid was a reactionary response, after realising what competitors were doing.
It was only decided 6 weeks into the pandemic that a grace period for payments due would be granted to some clients. There was genuine scepticism about helping partners, demonstrating the importance of the short term.
