FALSE ADVERTISING - Wine Broker-montesquieu Montesquieu Employee Review

Thanks for taking the time to provide us with some feedback. We agree with you that our wines are good and many of our salespeople are fun to work with and exceptionally talented. Both of those values are very important to us, so we appreciate your comments in that regard. It’s unfortunate, though, that you feel the way you do about your overall experience at Montesquieu. We think it’s important to clarify several of the practices that you refer to, lest others receive the wrong impression about how we work. We take issue with the very serious claim that we are engaged in “false advertising” in our hiring. This simply is not true. At every level of the hiring process – the job advertisements, the phone/skype interview, the in-person interview, and the initial training – we are very clear about the nature of the role and the qualities we are seeking. This is an inside sales position in which your primary means of file-building is outbound phone calls to a combination of warm and cold leads. It requires people who are eager to tackle this kind of challenge and seize the opportunity to build a career that, while not easy, is immensely rewarding for those willing to work hard. It’s important to understand that clearly communicating the nature of the job at the outset is in our best interest as a company so that we get the best new employees possible – just as it is against our best interest to “burn through” new hires, as some have claimed we do intentionally. Recruiting, hiring and training are costly processes, and typically we lose money on new employees for the first month or more while we help them train, find their footing, develop their voice and begin building their business. Succeeding as a wine broker takes immense effort and dedication, and it’s not for everyone. So it isn't surprising that despite our best efforts to hire well and guide and support new brokers, sometimes otherwise promising candidates ultimately find the experience to be a bad fit. For these individuals, this tends to become clear only once they’re actually doing the work. In these instances, our management is typically able to tell within the first few weeks – sometimes before the employee has himself realized it – if a new broker is not going to work out. At that point, it’s in everyone’s best interest to part ways and move on rather than continue an exercise in futility. We try to ensure such decisions do not come out of the blue by working closely with these brokers every day, giving regular feedback and discussing their progress. Even so, some employees still find this decision hard to stomach when it comes. An important part of our process, and one that we’re very proud of, is our training program. It’s true that new brokers are introduced to the sales floor after two days of full-time training. But having done this for twenty-five years, we have found that actually doing sales rather than merely talking about it is by far the best way to learn and grow. The vast majority of our training takes place on the sales floor, as managers and senior brokers guide and encourage new brokers in the course of their calls and troubleshoot issues that arise. In addition, all new brokers receive one-on-one meetings each day with their manager; every day starts with an all-staff meeting that serves as ongoing training; and educational opportunities to sharpen wine and sales skills abound deeper into a broker’s tenure given the nature of our industry. We agree that watching older brokers work and succeed is an important part of a young broker’s development. Our policy is for all sales calls to take place on the sales floor, so as to facilitate open learning and communication. It sounds like this was not happening in your case. I can assure you that we are investigating this situation and will remedy it immediately. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. All of that said, clearly you left our company with a bad taste in your mouth, and that’s never our intention. It is always our hope and attempt to ensure a mutual understanding with any employee who leaves or is let go so that both parties fully understand why the role was not a good fit. We regret that we did not succeed in doing so with you. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further with you, if you’re willing, so that we can better understand your perspective and you can better understand ours. Please feel free to reach out to Brittney Pearson at 877-705-5669, ext.1516. We hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, The Team at Montesquieu