Extremely high turnover. It's not an easy job or an easy sell; with most sales job, the objective is to close a deal and that's it. At Groupon, you have to create a campaign that you believe will sell well to customers and then sell that to the merchant. Groupon's platform heavily focused on customer acquisition and often the campaign that has the highest chance of selling may not be immediately profitable for the merchant. Usually, there's a lot of negotiations and it can be challenging to get business owners to see the big picture and the potential ROI. If you can get the merchant to agree, the results are usually rewarding as a good chunk of your comp is based on sales. However, there are times when you do everything right, and for whatever reason the campaign won't sell. BDR starting pay and comp plan frankly sucks, which is where you see most of the turnover. If you are able to succeed as a BDR, you'll like get promoted within the first year and a half. Those who are promoted, typically stick around although the ever-changing objectives from upper management and inequity between verticals can make it challenging.
Gender bias in the sales org is another problem that I've experienced when it comes to promotions and overall respect. I know that this is a problem everywhere, and it's something that I've experienced first hand many times. I will say that they've come a long way in my time there in terms of hiring more female mangers, but, they still have a long way to go. In my experience, I've watched countless men get promoted the first time they were eligible, while I've had to passed over for promotions twice now even though I'm performing at and often above the level of my male colleges in the director position and the feedback I receive is always vague and subjective and not based on my performance or contributions.
The first time, the feedback I received was literally 'you're doing great. we just want to see it for more quarters.' I can't help but wonder if this would have been the same outcome if I was a man. There was actually a man in a different vertical who started in the same class as me who was promoted that round. He was hard working and well deserving, but at the same time, so was I. The only difference between the two of us was that he was a male and finished that quarter 130% to goal and I was a female and finished 244% to goal. That said, I put my head down, and continued to 'prove myself' for 6 more months and was promoted the next round. The second time, I was up for a promotion I was passed over (this time for BDD), the feedback I received was extremely subjective and had nothing to do with my performance or contributions to the company. The manager that made the decision had been transferred to my department the same week I was interviewed. so he really didn't know me or didn't care to. The feedback I recieved was based solely on my personality or in his words, 'the qualities we look for in a BDD'. This was interesting because I've been performing at or above the level as the BDDs in my department since my second quarter as a BDR. I've literally never been less than 150% to goal. I am passionate, driven, knowledgeable and I genuinely care about the merchants I work with. I am also flawed. I have qa quirky personality and a strong mid-western accent. So, I sound different than most sales people. This 'quality' of mine makes me memorable to merchants when I call them. Sometimes, I stutter or stumble over my words. This is an insecurity of mine, but in hindsight, I think this flaw actually makes it easier for me to get the merchants trust because it conveys a sense of humanity. So, yes, many of these qualities don't fit his idea of the qualities of a good sales person, but that shouldn't disqualify me from a promotion. I'm able to close profitable/high volume deals because I know my ins and outs of my department, I am detail oriented and know what will sell and what won't, and I believe in the power of Groupon's platform and am able to convey the big picture to merchants.
