-Poor commission rates/compensation packages/benefits. In fact, it’s the lowest in the industry. Bonus structure is annual only and you can’t cash out on your bonus until 1.5 years. That’s downright predatory and simply there for employee retention. Major red flag
-The job itself was easy for me but the nature of the industry is low level greasy stuff that you don’t really want on your resume. Basically tell mom and pops that your service and product is amazing when that’s not the case…then talk them into 5 year contracts with automatic renewals and unspecified price increases. I didn’t stay for long but the clients I signed all had issues immediately with the service and asked me how to exit contracts. I spoke to the other account executives and they told me they were on horrible terms with 40-60% of their clients and they felt greasy about selling the product/service. Every single account executive I spoke to said they were actively seeking better opportunities
-On mondays and wednesdays, they demand that you come in to the office for absolutely no reason at all. The account executives come in and pretend like they’re on task and making the “mandatory” sales calls but they just make themselves look busy and catch up on paperwork. It’s a tremendous waste of time built to make sure the sales team are “working”. That’s bad management. Hire competent people and you won’t have to waste time and resources on archaic micromanagement techniques. Also, in the Long Beach office, they cram the staff into a two person office so you have to share tables or work with all your stuff on your lap. They also don’t have any coffee or water (seriously) and the office staff is incredibly hostile if you don’t speak Spanish.
-You need to fill out paperwork at least a day in advance and wait on the wildly inefficient staff to get you maybe $1.50 worth of samples. One day, 3 account executives had to wait around an extra 2 hours for samples…even though we requested the samples days in advance. Base pay is $25/hr for AE’s. Comically inefficient system. Why not just have a sample room or area with a bunch of commonly requested linens. Why do I have to fill out paperwork and have it sent to 3 different people and then hope the person in the warehouse actually reads the emails and gets you your stuff on time.
-The senior account executive will train you. He seems like a nice guy but he’s really not. We had a disagreement about a sales approach and he exploded and got in my face aggressively and raised his voice demanding to know who had more experience in the industry. The guy can’t even write a full sentence without grammatical and spelling mistakes and he’s still in entry level sales even though he’s 50. Lol.
-Supply chain. They will tell you in the interview that most of their supply chain issues have been resolved if you ask about it. They’re not.
-I took this job to take a step back from my workaholic lifestyle and work in a low intensity work balance focused job servicing family owned mom and pops. I wasn’t prepared for the sheer lack of integrity and incompetence and delusion from this company. I left my future deals and commission on the table and walked out on the job…because on top of the previously mentioned issues, the GM insulted my own integrity and experience and intelligence by dismissing my concerns and suggesting that I was making things up. Within 7 days of uploading my resume, a CEO of a multinational tech company reached out to me and spent an hour on the phone with me explaining why he wanted me on his team. He offered me a significantly higher base pay, 4x annual commission expectations in the first year and 10x within 5 years, better benefits and work flexibility, far greater opportunities for growth, and a great environment to seek out mentorship and be valued by highly educated and forward thinking colleagues. I took it.