Pros
The ability to attend networking events
Cons
Not much of a set training schedule No true professional development Vehicle wear and Tear To be more detailed and transparent I started extremely excited! They bragged on the team/ work environment was /dog friendly , etc and I was super hopeful that I would be a great addition to the team and have the possibility to make a large sum of money. (I was told the first year is kind of rough, which I was willing to sacrifice if it created a stable career and work life balance long term which I was sold ) However, I didn’t know what I was in for. It was not told to me upon being hired that the sales cycle was as long as it is. I was given a book of business that I was not even properly taught how to prepare or scrub to vet out good opportunities. Just more so a “here you go, just go out there and sell copiers” It could have been me but it was extremely difficult to sell or even get meetings weekly that I was expected to do, mind you, I am a tenured sales rep who’s on record exceeded my quota /revenue goals monthly and annually with my previous organizations. I was not able to have a sale go through the months I was working there, not even the sales meetings I went out with my manager on would close. (Imagine how encouraging that was) my 6 months at the company, I was unable to get a sale ro close despite appointments I was setting and going on because there are a lot of variables that go into the sale that we cannot control such as if a person is currently in an agreement and copier agreements are typically 5 years”. My salary was 25,000 with a 10,000 recoverable draw , you can imagine I could hardly live in the midst of the last year. I even started to fall into a depression because of the lack of clear expectations around pay and the sales cycle when I started. I shared personal financial details with my manager about the financial challenges I was facing, before hired I expressed that I was used to making over 100k a year and was told the potential was there. Which it likely was as a lot of the sales team is tenured, but clear expectations should be that it takes years to build established relationships and a fruitful book of business that would produce the income I was seeking. I told my manager I was starting to even struggle to purchase groceries because the lack of money and commission was starting to take a toll on my finances. My manager asked me and I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm but she asked “if I had looked into getting on assistance such as government assistance” I was pretty shocked to know that I would need government assistance working for a sales job which people tend to do to write their own paychecks . I had never needed it in the past. Fast forward to 10 days before Christmas. I was called into a meeting 40 mins away , (no details on the meeting) I walked in and the regional vp asked about my son and we carried on small talk , she then told me they were cutting ties with me because I didn’t perform the way they expected and do hand In my keys and laptop . (Mind you I have never worked with her one on one or even spoken with her about my performance , she’s my managers boss) she could see I was struggling in my role and no one bothered to reach out to see how could I be helped or what I was struggling with. So after being fired unexpectedly right before Christmas , this is where the icing on the cake was.. they emailed me and told me they are keeping my final paycheck because I didn’t make any sales and the 10k draw they gave me was recoverable . Mind you the 10k was just broken up into my salary . So my last paycheck of 2 weeks , they kept it. $1300. Not a ton of money at all but for some one who shared that I could barely afford to live at all, they took it right before. Christmas and never even reached out again. For a place that brags about family, if you saw me struggling already and to pour gasoline on that fire was very hurtful. I understand business, but if you want to be treated like a human, the company surely didn’t need $1300 at the time more than I did, but hey I understood it was policy. However, I’m not sure if I would sign up for that kind of experience. I’m an extremely accountable person and am naturally over critical to myself and I already felt horrible about my own sales performance . (I was always incredibly anxious and went into the desperation selling mode) I was unsure of my sales skills leaving this role because of how unsuccessful I was. I understand it’s a smaller company but investing in your employees professional development goes a long way, you get in what you put out and there was no official training of any sort. The most difficult experience I ever had and it set me back financially in a place where I’m just starting to get back afloat. If you’re a college student with no bills and don’t care to eat I would recommend the role but otherwise you can find a sales job that will pay you wages where you can live and not actually just scrape by / survive. I waited on this review because I was unsure if it was just me or the company, but I fortunately started a new role with amazing training , incredibly large pay difference , and I was able to finish the quarter off at %314 . I just wanted to share my experience because it truly was a difficult time in my life, and maybe after them wasting $17,500 (what I made in 6 months) on me I suppose maybe they are being more transparent and setting realistic expectations. Well now that I think about it, the loss probably was less as I had pending agreements as well as appointments that I’m sure was handed to another rep or manager to work after leaving. Overall nice company, nice people but need a lot of improvement. Your experience could be different from mine, as there was tenured reps who were high performers. I can only share my true and raw experience. I left the company broken and in incredibly low spirits. Also in Richmond Cobb’s brand is much more prevalent so it may be an easier sale there if you are applying for a headquarters role . And I do believe they have more support. Hopefully this was helpful.