Pros
Flexibility of schedule The commission pay is pretty fair. When you sell something, you get paid for it - period.
Cons
No product training. I started in the summer of '10 and never had any training on the camera systems we sell until Feb '11. Even though we have multiple, very good cameras to sell, our manager just wanted us to sell the one, bottom-of the-line model. It is a disservice to the customer and impeded our ability to propose the best solution to the customer. Few leads. We are supposed to have an assigned territory. Yet another new employee receives leads for what I thought was my territory. It seems that leads are parsed out by the sales manager however they see fit - meaning that he/she can pick and choose favorites. Favoritism. Like the above comment, the sales manager gets leads to him or herself, fairly frequently. He/She then chooses who gets those sales - it is totally up to that person's discretion and can put some people over quota or keep others from achieving quota. Marketing - there is next to none for the small business market. Sales strategy - get in first and get in cheapest. That's it. We're not really trained on what makes our products better. In fact, there is little to no product training at all. Organization - sucks. It is filled with backbiting and distrust and blame. No one works together - in fact, most departments work against others, and the sales reps and customers pay. Time management - reps are required to make 200 calls per week. Yet if you're out on the road making sales, even if you're exceeding your quota, you're still threatened with action if you do not make your 200 calls. The sales are secondary, it seems, to meeting the number of calls you have to make. Call lists - need to be more defined by territory. Three of us reps frequently receive the same lists and subsequently call on the same customers. This is frustrating for us and the customers and a waste of time for us as well. And it does not make us look good to the community.