Pros
Two weeks of all-expense paid classroom training in Chicago Young culture, 'Beer Fridays' Competitive salary for entry level position Good place to obtain industry knowledge and experience
Cons
Meetings upon meetings (group and one-on-one), day after day, management shadowing you on the phones, and your supervisor sits just feet away from you in an office environment with no walls and no privacy. Metrics are sent out about every two hours. New hires are expected to make 80-100 cold calls, send out two quotes to new clients, achieve 20% talk time on the phones, and add about 30 leads a day (which you aren't allowed to do during office hours). If you have a question or task for your supervisor, they most likely don't have time for you right now because they're stretched thin among 15-20 sales reps. In December, Echo redesigned its commission structure and nearly all sales reps who were making commission saw a significant decrease in their paychecks - and Echo can change commission anytime it wants to, so we could see another pay cut in the near future. If you're a new hire, you won't make commission for at least a year after you hit the sales floor (unless you get obscenely lucky), and the incentives are few and far between ('free dinner' or 'fancy office chair' are the incentives offered for hitting goals, and they're tough to hit). Also, Echo's Accounts Receivable department exists only to establish and extend credit/buffer days, so you are responsible for obtaining payment from your clients - and commission is based off of what your customers have paid. If your client goes into collections and defaults, you are responsible for about 22% of what they owe...this will be deducted from your paycheck. When it comes to actually selling, what you find is that you're selling an average product at an average or inflated price in an extremely saturated market. Most businesses you call are very happy with their 'current transportation solution' and have no reason to switch, plus they're annoyed at the amount of calls they get everyday from 3PLs just like you. It's tough to sell on service in an economy where so many businesses just care about price. Bottom line - there are definitely worse jobs out there. These are just things I wish I knew before I took the job.
