2 Jan 2017

Milk it for a week of sales 101, then get out

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

Positive environment, friendly management, worthwhile basic sales training. Door-to-door selling certainly builds character.

Cons

Extremely high turnover, often two new starts/departures a week. Little opportunity for work-life balance; immense pressure to work 50+ hour weeks despite promises of 'independence'. New starts brought on as 'Independent Contractors,' exempting the company from having to pay a basic wage or provide standard workers' rights. Product training includes exaggerations of quality and savings, leaving reps to unwittingly mislead customers; in the event that complaints come back to the office, a contractor can simply be blamed and terminated, and the matter is considered settled. Token promises of quick promotion to 'leadership' prepare people for an exploitative increase in time/workload without any raise in pay. Cult-like atmosphere drives conformity, stifles doubt.

Solstice Business Solutions Response

We always like to hear the feedback that people have from their experience with our company, so thank you for caring about making our business better; that might be a reason we were excited to have you on our team. We have a high standard and take a lot of pride in finding candidates that can add to our, as you put it, friendly, positive environment. We are also looking for people who are like minded since that allows us to collaborate and supply support with ease. This is essential since sales is not a career that everyone is suited for so being surrounded by people who understand its importance does wonders in helping someone learn the ENTRY-LEVEL role from the ground up as intended and stated in our ads and website. We are performance and goal-focused - we encourage our representatives to accomplish their goals and put in the amount of work and focus required to achieve them, we call this accountability. These goals are all set by our representatives themselves, and we try to coach them to set goals that are achievable for their skills, and that align with their individual long-term plans for success – if you felt like you were being pressured to work more, I apologize. Your coach probably thought that you were capable of better or was trying to encourage you to follow through with the target that you had set for yourself. Most people need support and motivation in order to rise to challenges and that’s what we would have tried to do for you. Just like in school we want someone to finish an assignment, the time it takes to complete is irrelevant. In regards to our independent contracting, we are trying to cultivate entrepreneurial mindsets in young business professionals and taking responsibility for your own success is a part of that. This way you can truly become a great asset for yourself or your future employer. In exchange our account managers get their success reflected in advancement opportunities, coaching and earnings. We take a lot of pride in our training and I’m disappointed that you did not fully understand the product knowledge and/or were not looking for the right customers to conduct presentations with. If you look at the rest of our page you’ll notice that our past and current partners have found a lot of value in the training. We do our best to recommend products that fit the needs of the customers and to conduct sales ethically. This is why you participated in the regular training that our client provides reviewing product information as based on market research and testing as well as their code of conduct and ethics. It is up to each representative to use this provided information as well as adhere to the code of conduct. As mentioned, we’re looking for a specific type of person and we regret that you did not have the same goals (of gaining skills and a career opportunity through hard work and a student mentality) that we discussed when we first met. I hope you forgive us for not seeing that our values were misaligned.

5.0

25 Sept 2016

An office that truly fosters growth and unlocks the potential in the people that work there!

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

Working at Solstice can and will change you. Get ready for it. Coming in, everyone is on the same playing field. They understand people learn differently so they adapt to your needs. You quickly learn the skills you need for both public speaking and presenting to clients. From day one they teach how to manage yourself,and your time. Once that has been mastered they teach you how to manage others as they bring you to a leadership level where you become a mentor and resource. You can expect to learn how to interview potential candidates, and build a team of your own people who you get the opportunity to train and develop hands on. You can also expect all of this to happen faster than you ever thought possible, if you are hard working, have a great student mentality, and a solid work ethic. Also, a positive attitude is a must!

Cons

The days can be long, which can take some getting used to at first.

5.0

21 Apr 2016

Life changing experience!!!

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

What job provides the ability to not only change your resume from minimum wage to 60k+ a year but also gives you the confidence and the interpersonal skills to enjoy life to the fullest? From a professional perspective, Solstice provides you with the ability to sell while using a systematic approach. By doing so I am now able to move to any other job and make sales without "talent" nor "charisma." But more importantly, I now have the ability to move to any other job due to the fact that every job comes down to selling. For example, interviewing, customer service, tips in hospitality settings, and etc. Then once a candidate is able to accomplish sales for the easiest product, they teach you how to train others. Imagine putting on your resume that you've trained 10,20, to even 50 people to accomplish sales? Who's more valuable to an employer? The fact that you can do 10 sales or teach 15 people to do 10 sales? Everyday Solstice provides workshops for every level. Whether that's new people learning about sales or veterans teaching the new starts. They even teach you how to screen and conduct interviews to give the right candidates the human resource skills. The last and most important skill is the fact that Solstice gives their account managers the autonomy and the skills to build and manage their own sales team. All of these skills were attained for me in less than a year. I went from a first year University student looking for a minimum wage job to now being recruited for 70k+. From a personal impact: I walked in thinking that this is one of those cut throat sales companies. However after just one day, I realized that everyone here truly wants you to do well. The funniest part was after being here for more than a year, I can truly say that everyone here became my family. I've never worked at a place that was so supportive while helpful. This place has given me the confidence and self worth after pushing my self to talking to so many people. I truly believe more than the resume building skills to achieve 70-80k jobs just after a year, the relationships, the confidence, and the self worth that these coaches teaches you to have has been the biggest impact. So let me ask you, do you know a job that can give you sales skills, training skills, interviewing skills, human resource skills, interpersonal skills, and management skills in less than a year while working with the most ambitious, professional, funny co workers?

Cons

Not really a con but just a recommendation to people who want to apply. Extremely hard interviewing process. You will not even be looked at unless you come in with either a suit or a tux. It is a 3 part interviewing process. First you will meet with the owner who has the fastest record of opening up a sales office in North America. You must be able to not only hold a conversation but you need to give examples why you can represent a fortune 500 company in the best light. At the end she will ask you what is your social intelligence and make sure you can answer with a great example that shows you can talk with every demographic. They will only bring back 2-50 interviews to the second. This is the stage where you will meet with veterans leaders who will see if you are the right fit. Make sure you relate with these interviewers to get them to like you. After the veteran leaders talk to the manager, then she will call you to let you know if you've been hired or not. SO MAKE SURE YOU IMPRESSIVE THEM ESPECIALLY CHRISTINE THEIR RECRUITER!!