Pros
I really enjoy working for Johnson Controls. They are by far the largest employer on my resume and with that comes challenges, however, in the grand scheme of things the pros outweigh the cons greatly. They have tremendous benefits for us. The insurance is fantastic, I get a lot of coverage at a reasonable cost to me, plus they have a system in place for me to get $720 back a year on insurance cost. Very good! This is the only job in my career where I am evaluated on a yearly basis for raises. Being in sales I notice that our base pay is often an overlook portion of our compensation at most companies but not here. Their 401k Match is the best I have seen. My role is also a very fun role. It's challenging but not in the way a normal sales job is. A big win is very rewarding not only from a compensation perspective, but I am very proud to win in my role. They provide me with a non decal fleet vehicle and a fuel card which until I was in the role would never have realized what an amazing benefit that is. It does come with some monthly costs but again it's more of a pro than a con. Also I will say that I have no shortage of resources available to me to help me succeed in my role. I've been at companies where I have 0 input on the limited resources provided to me and I've been at companies where they had little to no budget for tools aside from the basics. JCI does a good job at building teams and processes around you as a seller. Lastly, Johnson Controls is a very large well known company. I rarely have to go into a conversation and build credibility in my capabilities as an organization.
Cons
There are only a few cons in my opinion. One of them is also in the Pros section. Johnson Controls is a very large, well known business. In certain cases that reputation is not a helpful factor in winning new work. They are a service organization and at times deal with customers who will only remember the 1 service call out of 10 that was bad, and that may impact my ability to be awarded a project. Some of their administrative processes cause a lot of frustration for our customers. For example our billing department, I try and fix the problems that come in from my customers as much as I can but some of this stuff is so far outside of my purview that I am useless. I have seen multiple cases where a middle manager will leave and their role, duties, and reports will be moved to another manager in a similar role or geography, but there will be no change in comp or responsibilities to the next manager. In one case we lost an EXCELLENT top performer both as an individual seller and a people manager (and person to be honest), he was tasked with selling and carrying his own quota as well as managing a team of construction sellers. When the other manager was let go this manager was given the other team and responsibilities, with no adjustments to his own role and responsibilities. That has also happened to my team. Granted, in my case the last I heard was that there have been no adjustments other than the added responsibility. My manager has so much to keep track of that she gets our offices mistaken for each other in our meetings. She's got about 25 direct reports I believe, and growing. Which is not sustainable. Our work is complex and has a low tolerance for error. Our manager should have fewer direct reports so that they can provide a closer level of support. This job has so many variables that can pop up on any project, it's not a simple and standardized sales process and is certainly not a call center where we perform the same task 100 times per day. Another con is the overall cost of using Johnson Controls from a customer's perspective. JCI is undoubtedly one of the more expensive systems available to a customer. In a lot of cases that customer will opt for one of the slightly more affordable but still effective systems available. This is my one serious woe with the business, we lose a lot of new opportunities at all sizes a few thousand up to multimillion dollar projects simply because money goes further with other businesses and systems. Now, we do have the best of the best when it comes to technology and overall value to the customer. You just have to win people over on that idea.
