I mentioned the brand recognition, it is great, but only for their most basic services. Anything above and beyond that, or more specifically, anything that actually generates a commission, is widely considered just an attempt to grab more money from the clients without adding any additional ROI. Nearly every "new" offering is either just a repackaged, more expensive program or one that literally does not work. After all the fanfare and push for the new product is done and the product goes live, it simply does not work. Not in terms of it doesn't offer the ROI promised, but as in technically, it does not work. They expect you to continue to go to the well of your best customers again and again with flawed products and then they wonder why you can't grow your revenue. They create products just so they can tell their bosses "it's not our faults revenue isn't increasing, look at all the new products we gave them". That is their only motivation.
Don't expect to be promoted unless you know which fraternity to join and how to stroke their egos. One negative word to anyone in the "in crowd" and each and every one of them will turn on you and brand you as a negative employee. Some advice here, never, ever, break chain of command, ever. This includes reporting to their "open door" HR. Unless it is a full on harassment issue, if you report it, they are going to just kick it back down to your manager and there will be hell to pay.
The tower of power is extremely top heavy. Climbing that tower has so very little to do with your true performance and so much to do with who you know and how much you stroke their ego. People can be hired and put into a position of power instantly, based on past relationships. This leaves the truly hard working that are generating revenue working even harder to pick up the slack of unqualified "managers" that don't understand the clients needs and don't have the skills to do the jobs they were hired for.
Know this, you will spend infinitely more of your energy on battling management and their minion than you will ever spend on gaining revenue from clients. Every bit of your strength will be used to fight internal struggles and making sure you stroke the right egos and not hurt any of the egos of people above you or the ones favored by management. It's tiring and makes it almost impossible to make a living unless you figure out the game.
Managers treat the group like their own private fraternity. The "in crowd" plays together on "business trips", in the office and every chance they get. All the while leaving the "outsiders" or their underlings to fend for themselves without the support from the managers that their own systems demand in order to do your job.
What little energy you have left, you have to figure out the sweet spot for how much money you can make before they come down on you. Make too little and they hammer you, including passively during public meetings. Make too much and one of two things happen. One, they complain about the size of your paycheck. Forgetting the more you make (commissions) the more the company makes. This mentality goes all the way to the top. Or two, on the fly, they will completely change the commission structure so you can not make more than they want you too. Expect at minimal, yearly pay structure changes to keep you from making "too much money."
