Pros
- They hire entry level - You are given a company car, gas card, laptop, ipad, iphone - Travel expenses paid, including monthly trips to Dayton OH - ALOT of time for the first year is spent basically doing nothing, sitting at your "home office" or watching account managers do their jobs - Very descent base salary first year - Fiscally youre taken care of, most AMs are making 6 figures within their first 3 years
Cons
- With all that free time comes expectations - You report every movement you make throughout the day to an app on your iPhone (clocking in at or before 8am at your home, when you walk out the door of your home, when you arrive at the dealership, when you leave said dealership, when you start lunch, when you end lunch, when you attend to non-business related activity, when you are done for the day and are on your way home, when you walk back through the door of your home) which also tracks your GPS coordinates every moment of the day - This information is neatly compiled into reports that are closely monitored by your "Trainee Manager" in Dayton who then contacts you to ask why you have been clocking in 15 minutes late in the morning, why you haven't been spending more time in dealerships, why you aren't writing about what you did in the company's CRM tool, why you are doing this, why aren't you doing that, followed by threats of termination if your behavior isn't immediately improved - You get the feeling your employment is being held hostage by Reynolds, with routine threats of disciplinary action "up to and including termination" for any deviation from their strict paper trail and behavior protocols - You are a full time trainee, and you are training to become an "Account Manager," but you're told to not inquire or take interest about where that eventually leads, what available territories there are, or what that transition for you will look like. You feel like you are in a state of limbo, not knowing where you're going, not knowing whats going to happen, only being told that its isn't your responsibility to worry about when or where you become an Account Manager, to "keep your head down," and to focus only on your training - Frequent random drug tests, including for tobacco, everyone gets tested at least once a year, even guys who have been in the sales force for more than 20 years - Very negative atmosphere all around, most people don't like working there, most customers don't like Reynolds predatory business practices, everyone remembers the golden days before Reynolds got bought in '06 - Very stuck up, humorless, excessively professional management - I quit after 10 months because i got the feeling that sales management wasn't really looking for talent, acumen, intelligence, or charisma. That's not what the training (up to a year and a half's worth) is about. The top of the power vertical simply wants its people to do exactly what they are told to, when they are told to do it. I left because I am positive, I think independently, I am creative. During that first year as a systems sales trainee you are being very closely vetted, and what they are looking for, and even try to cultivate, is strict obedience. They are looking for people who are willing to perform the endless number of tasks expected of them as an Account Manager, even when most of those tasks are non-revenue generating. I got into sales cause I'm a free bird, not a tool. I had no problem walking out.