Companies taking advantage of young, naive sales people?

[cdubs3201]

Originally Posted by lenniel

You need to do a better job of researching these companies before you start interviewing. If they won't explain the comp plan during a phone screen, walk away. It basiacally means the comp plan sucks and they just want to 'sell' you by dazzling you with the 'potential'. In many low level sales position, you're a commidity. They don't care if turnover is high because it's easy for someone new and eager who was sold on the potential to come in and replace you. i realize sometimes you just need to job to earn a paycheck but sometimes it's better to find a better opportunity rather than taking whatever comes along.

I definately did my fair share of research, and it's not a matter of them being discrete about the compensation structure. It's more the fact that they CHANGE the compensation structure after I've already started working there. The only think i've been not 100% clear about is how much top reps/avg reps are being compensated at a company because they all exaggerate those numbers.

Both companies I've worked for have changed the compensation multiple times after I was hired. This cannot be prevented very much from "research".

[tb4000]

Get something in writing, basically. Have them send you a form or letter regarding the pay. Verbal agreements mean ****.

[long101]

well you said the place you worked at is a top 100 company to work for and in the fortune 500. So obviously they have to be treating the majority of their employees right and they have alot of them. I would guess you just got the short end of the stick. With all sales organizations comp changes consistently within different segments as the market changes and companies have different 'goals'. Some people get screwed over by changes and others flourish -sounds like you got screwed.
Just remember if you have talent the recruiters are the best sales people at any company. Boiler room is a good example

[cxdurden]

Anyone know about CDW?

[tb4000]

Originally Posted by cxdurden

Anyone know about CDW?

What about them? I used to be an account manager back in '07 there.

[long101]

Originally Posted by cxdurden

Anyone know about CDW?

Thats like saying has anyone heard of Hershey

[cxdurden]

Originally Posted by tb4000

What about them? I used to be an account manager back in '07 there.

Sorry - Went to Lunch...How are they? I am looking into them? Is it bull****?

[cxdurden]

This culture of exploiting college graduates and those with less than 2 years of experience (particularly in sales/management) is pandemic across the board; regardless of the company. I worked for Schneider Logistics (apart of Schneider National) in 2007 as an inside sales account executive in Atlanta. They have an office in Evanston, but it was straight bull****. Although the account executives in the Evanston, Dallas and Reno were making some $$$, our office for some weird reason had very high turnover, the management was racist, the cold calling expectations were unrealistic and the compensation plan was not rewarding. You had to generate $6500 in profit before you saw one dime and on average, each sale -- you generated maybe only about $15...There was no serious lead generation system, bad marketing intelligence, the transportation brokers were bad on getting your sales pushed through (which meant your sales fell apart), you constantly lost customers, etc. I look back @ it retrospectively, and it was better than some other gigs I have worked. The best advice I can give anyone looking for an entry level career in sales is to generally stay away from companies that use recruiters. There is a 99% chance that they hired an outside HR recruiter becase their own internal recruiting department is having difficulties sourcing people. Also, stay clear from management trainee programs. Although more stable than entry-level sales, management trainee programs severely underpay their employees, expect long hours out of them and typically have high turn over because of the multi-faceted responsibilities placed on people. I was desperate @ one point to work and against my wishes, I interviewed with Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I got to the 3rd interview and the regional sales director asked me what were my long-term career goals. I told him I saw myself going into a field sales role, where they set up contractual agreements with dealerships, mechanic shops, etc. In the matter of a half second, his face turned red and sour and he straight up that this was a red flag. The interview went down hill from he told me he was looking for someone who "wants to work long hours, not get paid that much but wants to be like me 15+ years from now -- Only making about $90k a year!". Ironically, a year later, I was in Miami, working for AT&T Customer/Sales Support - and there, GED-having potheads were making $90k a year!

The best sales gigs are in CPG sales. I should've taken the advice of my father and did what he did -- and that was get a route sales representative gig with Frito Lay. The hours are peculiar, but you can easily make $60k a year, enter their District Sales Leadership training program and within 2 years, you will be an area sales leader or a key account executive making well over $70k a year.