moving on .. at this moment ( july 2013) it would appear that a huge proportion ( 40% +) of ALL entry level job postings insales marketing and management on careerbuilder .com for the Central florida area come from 3 organizations that are part of the CYDCOR empire . These organizations will stress their independence ( and from a legal standpoint they are independent) but they are closely i nterrtiwned, sharing office space and growing from each other. they are INTERNATIONAL PSI/PSI INTERNATIONAL, DAVIS MARKETINC CONCEPTS ( DMC) and the one i have personal experience with MARKETING CONSULTANTS OF ORLANDO(MCO) .
you can see a sample of these ads here : http://www.careerbuilder.com/Jobs/Company/C8H53J67TYD732N6TWZ/Marketing-Consultants-of-Orlando-Jobs/?IPath=JEB
Note that some of these ads tout that there is no cubicle or phone work or absolutely no cold calling! There may not be any cold calling on the phone, but there will be plenty of interrupting peoples dinners when you knowck on their doors, showing up, unannounced, on their property....
MY STORY:
While out job searching I sent a resume out to them. it was an instinctual thing and frankly i have no memory of doing it. I got several emails from them and ignored them. They seemed fake , like an " office space" parody of business speak, all " maximizing opportunity" and "synergistic effects" and other meaninngless coprorate catchprases. One day the phone rang... I answered and it was someone from Marketing Consultants of Orlando, she gave me a female name, interistingly in the townand a half moths i worked there i would never meet this person or anyone with such a name... i found iout later this is a tactic .. each ad has a different " contact" person so that they can monitor which ads result in the most leads. T he person on the line told me they where thrilled at my resume and themanegerial experience therein and could I please come In tomorrow for an interview?
I appeared the next day with my resume and was taken to the back fo the offices to meet the manager. ( who would also turned out to be the " owner".. this is siginifcant..) The office bustled with energy.. there where at least five other people waiting for an itnerview... and everyone was very well dressed and high energy ( all of which is on purpose... as salesmen MCO knows all the psychological tricks, but they curiosu thing is how muche theyuse it on new employees and not just propective customers)
The manager/ owner, turned out to be a friendly bubbly and energetic short blonde woman named Ashley Allen who greeted me warmly. ( linked in page :http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ashley-allen/65/415/bb5) Ashley told me she was very impressed with my management experience. she talked about how she was looking for new managers adn could see from my eloquence , previous experience in the field of education and high energy that i could probably make a good trainer. at no point did she mention what I would be training others to do. AT NO POINT DURING THIS INITIAL INTERVIEW DID SHE EVER MENTION THIS WAS A DOOR TO DOOR SALES JOB, NOR THE FACT THAT EVERY OTHER PERSON IN THE OFFICE( except for her, though she had done it in the past) SPENT MOST OF THEIR DAY OUT IN THE SUN/RAIN GETTING CHASED BY DOGS/POLICE ETC IN ORDER TO MAKE SALES, NOR THAT THIS WAS A COMISSION ONLY JOB AND THAT, UNTIL YOU ARE PROMOTED TO ASSISTANT MANAGER, THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE MONEY IS THROUGH YOUR COMMISSION BASED SOLEY ON DOOR TO DOOR SALES, OR THAT AS YOU PROGRESS THROUGH THE COMPANY YOU WILL BE GIVEN NEW RESPONSIBILITIES BUT NOT ANY EXTRA RENUMERATION TO REIMBURSE YOU FOR THIS ADDED EXPENSES, NOR THE FACT THAT THE COMPANY WILL NOT REIMBURSE YOU FOR EXPENSES SUCH AS GAS, FOOD CONSUMED ON THE FIELD, OR TRAVEL EXPENSES AND HOTEL ( THAT'S RIGHT ! YOU PAY FOR YOUR OWN BUSINESS TRIPS!) AND FORGET ANY BENEFITS OF ANY KIND. Noope By the end of the first day I was told this was a management training program ( like the ones you can apply to at Enterprise rental car etc) And i would receive a phone call at 7 p.M notifying me if i made it to the second round
.
At 7 pm the phone call came. It always comes. The machine needs new bodies to get through its enormous burn out rate.
Next day , round two. I meet at a Panera Bread just across the street from Marketing consultants of Orlando's office with a young man. he tells me he works for the corporation that has hundreds of offices throughout america ( the name of the corporation is NEVER GIVEN). he is up here on a " business trip" and he is telling me how fun these are ( he does not tell me that HE IS PAYING HIS OWN EXPENSES ON THIS "BUSINESS" TRIP .. which he is) . he buys me lunch ( out of HIS OWN pocket i later learn, never to be reimbursed) and tells me about the sturcture of the organization.
It is here FOR THE FIRST TIME that the Door - to door componenet of the job is mentioned. This is portrayed as a very brief 3-5 week experiential learning adventure . After that I will move into leadership, where i will become a trainer. The reason of those 3-5 weeks is so that i know how to train based on my own experience. Sounds swell. So far it is implied that there are two tiers of employees MANAGEMENT TRAINEES ( that is you and me) and salespeople. We train the sales people but to do that we must temporarily become sales people. THERE IS NOTHING TEMPROARY ABOUT IT, THIS IS A SALESMAN'S JOB. EVERYONE IN THE OFFICE BUT ASHLEY ( THE OWNER/MANAGER) SELLS DOOR TO DOOR EVERY DAY, AND SHE ONLY GOT TO BE MANAGER AFTER SELLING DOOR TO DOOR FOR 2-3 YEARS. All other titles in this organization " leader " corporate trainer" even " assistant manager" are DOOR TO DOOR SALESPEOPLE first and foremost , with added responsibilities ( but usually NO added compensation) as you move up the line. My interviewer, who whas up here on his own dime buying me lunch from his own money, would after my interview, take off his suit and tie put on kakis anad a blue ATT shirt and head to the field to see if he could make any money this day. NONE of this is mentioned by Marketing Consultants/ CYDCOR in the clear honest forward way that I am mentioning it to you.
This is where the CYDCOR system ( remember them? that is the company whose name is never mentioned to new prospective hires you will be told about how this is the most succesful drict marketing firm i the wold with 800 or so franchisees ( like MCO) BUT the name is never mentioned. here it is the name is CYDCOR formerly known as DS-MAX. GOOGLE THESE NAMES and you will soon find why we are explicitly told never to mention them to interviewees... they do not have the best reputation)
anyways here is where the CYDCOR system hard sell begins. My inteerviewer tells me that the thing that drew him to this corporation are the clear paths to advancement. he then starts telling me how i will be an owner within a year ( never "MAY be" always "WILL be", the use of words like may can, probably basically etc is FORBIDDEN as "doubt words".. every interaction you have within the company or with clietns is ony about " will" do what will happen etc) , and before that I will be an assistant manager, a corproate trainer and a leader.
here are some of the things he does not tell you :
YOU WILL BE A DOOR TO DOOR SALESMAN EVERY DAY NO MATTER WHAT UNLESS YOU ARE AN OWNER. Even the assistant manager at MCO, who was very busy with many day to day aspects of running the ship, went out and sold door to door. In fact he was usually the best salesman that week ( the high roller day in day out, top of the " big ups" board.) In fact he was assistant manager BECAUSE he was the best salesman! This is one of the biggest disconnects within the company.. you must always see yourself as a LEADER/ CORPROATE TRAINER/ ASSISTANT MANAGER and talk up your position at all times, never call yourself a salesman ( even the lowest salesman is an " account manager!") if you express contentment with being a mere "account manager" watch out! the entire system is built around your desire to move up! DAILY you will be asked to express publicly how badly you want to reach the next level and how soon you will reach that goal and yet......and yet the ONLY thing that matters ( until you are assistant manager) is YOUR PERFORMANCE IN DOOR TO DOOR SALES DAY IN AND DAY OUT. that is the only thing that determines whether you will eat that week!
Except for the Manager/Owner and the Assistant Manager, your Income is based solely on your perofromance on door to Door sales. BUT as you move up the scale you get responsibilities... THAT YOU HAVE TO FUND! In other words there are added responsibilities but no added income! people often GO DOWN IN INCOME when they go from good " salesman" Sorry! I meant "account manager" to Leader! why? because now you have to go on " business trips" ( you pay for the gas! and the hotel room... thankfully you get to share that hotel room with five of your best friends so you only pay 17% of the price... but still... have you ever heard of a job sending you on a business trip and REFUSING to pay for the hotel? because that is what Marketing Consultants of Orlando does!)... now you have to " volunteer" to host " team nights' ( parties... fro which attendance is mandatory held usually every thursday nightr) .. you may be even asked to split money with a new recruit so they do not leave ( a leaders main job..after his or her own door to door sales, is to make sure the new people dont leave.)
After he met with me my interviewer told me he would meet with the manager/owner ( the manager and the owner are always the same person in CYDCOR speak) and again 6 pm phone call would tell me if i would move forward to round three.
Of course the call came. as it always does.
Round three was aagain with Ashley , the manager/owner. She basically recapped all of the news about my advancement possibilities given by my second round interviwer. Seriously the whole spiel.
then she asked me if i had any questions .
I had two... I informed her point blank that it was standard advice for job applicants to research the company online... but i had tried doing so and had found no information at all. She deflected this question by telling me that " all the branches have different names" .. I of course already knew this I had menat the nmae of the " mother organization. She never gave me one. In retrospect I should have walked out right there for why woul d she not give me the information if it wasn't because she did not want me to read what the internet had to say abou the mother company? ( said Mother company by the way is called CYDCOR formerly DS-MAX. you know have the info i did not have.. happy googling!)
secondly: i expressed her my concerns about working soley for comission. She told me there where two payment schemes, and that i could choose each monday which one was the best for me. first scheme was straight comission everyone chose this becaus epeopell routinemy made 800 a week blah blah blah. basically you got 80-116 dollars ( depending on the package) for each person you signed up to Uverse;
Second a salary of $ 500 dollars a week that took the place of your first 6 sales plus 50 bucks a pop for each one after that,
THIS WAS A BOLDFACE LIE, THAT SECOND OPTION DOES NOT EXIST STRAIGHT COMMISSION IS THE ONLY OPTION. Not only did i Never meet anyone at all who took the salry option , but it would have been matehmatically impossible for Marketing sConsultants of Orlando to offer it, since most people make less than 5 sales a week. MCO simply does not have the cashflow for that second option. THERE IS STRAIGHT COMISSION ONLY. Why did the owner lie to me? because she needed my warm body to sell ATT U_verse due to t the high turnover rate. Why such a high turnover rate? because of the working conditions....
TRAINING.
I was told training would be " equivalent to an MBA" that i had to carry a pen and notebook with me at all times and that every night I would have to take a multiple choice exam that would determine if i could go on to the next days training.
These multiple choice exams never materialized.
Instead training is going out in the field with a more experienced salesman or " leader" and observe him in action while you try to memorize the pitch. I have nothing bad to say about the pitch, so instead I will point out other things.
What to do if the customer has a no soliciting/ no trespassing sign?
My thinking : " don't knock,even if he answers he will be pissed and wont buy anything from us"
training: " no soliciting no trespassing signs are prime targets, their existence means EASY MARK , these people are impulsive and are easy sells.
No soliciting signs in neigborhood : ignore.
gated community : sneak past by driving in after another car, or jump the wall/ fence ( i jumped the wall fence several times and saw many others do it )
if someone says " no soliciting " say, I understand sir/ madam, I am only here to talk about the line work and construction".
The key to the sale came from using four impulse factors and overcoming three objections :
the Ipulse factors include
" keeping up with the joneses" ( bandwagon effect as we were told " no one wantses to be the first or the last to do anything) once you signed up someone in your neighborhood you namedropped them as often as possible all over the pitch.
" sense of urgency" not actually talking fast ( that confuses people ) instead Use " real quickly now" as your transition for anything, thus letting the customer know you wont be taking too much of his time .
Sense of loss . claim it is your last day ever there and you will never be out there ever again the end. Thi sis of course bullshit, you will be out there as long as it takes in order to close as many people as possible ( close = sign up) and they can get teh same deals from the ATT website, not just from you.
" indifference" bascially claiming you dont care if they dont sign up. playing hard to get high school girl style.
as for the objections you basically say " yes sir I understand that , then " explain away their objections ( not ONCE did i or anyone else actually adress the objection head on instead we repeated parto fo the pitch taht seemed relevant and or used one of the four impluse factors above, and then wernt back to the ptich " bulldozing" ( yes that was the term used) the clients until the end.
These are again the negatives, there are of course some positive technuqiues as well such as building rapport witht eh customers, " painting a clear picture, etc.)
WORKING CONDITIONS:
" leaders " come in a t ten for a " meeting of the minds" you will come in at eleven to have a one on one with a leader, then at midday " solo" meeting. then at one o clock " atmosphere " and impact meetings. I wont go into detail here but if you want to read more about the cult like goings on ehere google " cydcoratmosphere" or the like. At 145- 200 o clock solos are relased to go to their territories, leaders hang back until 2:30 . These leader meetigs are rather more unpleasant than the atmospehere one since the owner gets to berate them about the performance of the newbies under their command.
Between 145/ 2:30 and 9 you are in the field.
You must get to your destination ( no gas WILL NEVER BE REIMBURSED) , Buy and eat lunch ( NEVER REIMBURSED) please dont spend more than 15 minutes eating! you must triple loop 35 houses, and you must head back for ' bells' at 9 p.m)
Your neighborhoods will usually be below the median, your customers will often have poor credit ( rule of thumb: the nicer the customer is to you the less likely his credit will go through if you manage to close him)
you MUST work if it is raining outside. I and many others came to like getting rained on, people feel pity for you when you are soaking wet drencehd to the bones, and are nicer and th s more likely to close.
you must knock on every door until you have done so NINE times or you have gotten two hard noes. Yep that is two. Get a door slammed agnrily in your face? your leader will make sure you go back!
You are not allowed to use an umbrella, hat, or shades, prospective customers supposedly mistrust you ifi they dont see you out there soaking in the skin cancer!
At 9 you head back for bells and evening atmosphere, where thos ewho closed that day ( where
" on the bell') are celebrated. You are done by 9 45, or 10 when you are a leader.
so twelve hours a day if you are a leader, 11 if you are a solo. Monday to friday.... then add 2 hours more for satruday ( and you MUST work saturday unles you sold ten accounts moday to friday, in the eight weeks i was there full time i NEVER saw someone close ten accounts mon-friday)
thats 60/55 + 14/13 = 74-68 hours a WEEK!
note that leadership standards ( which less than half off the salesmen will reach in any given week) is 500 usd a week... basic second grade math shows that leadership standards means you made EIGHT DOLLARS AN HOUR MINUS WHAT YOU SPENT ON FOOD AND GAS. there will be many days in which you will go home after a twelve hour day smelly and sweaty and usualy in physical pain, HaVING MADE ZERO MONEY. you donated your day To Marketing Consultants of Orlando... and all you got back was dirty looks because you " rolled" that day.
Actually once you hit leadership your take home pay can go down again.. because know you are expected to
GO ON TRIPS!.... WHICH YOU PAY FOR...
THROW PARTIES FOR THE OFFICE... WHICH YOU PAY FOR...
TAKE ON EXTRA RESPONSIBILITIES... SUCH AS WRITING THE MEETINGS FOR NEXT TIME... ANY EXTRA PAY FOR THIS? OF COURSE NOT!
give up a day of productivity to RETRAIN one of the newbies under you ( and every newby needs to be retrained at least once )
do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make sure your newbies dont " toast" out ( drop out and leave) ... like maybe throwing in some of your own money to help newbie with the gas.
WHY would anyone ever agree to these added responsibilities without any added income? because you are being told for THREE HOURS EVERY DAY ( which again you are not paid for) that you are in a "MANAGEMENT TRAINING PROGRAM and you will be an OWNER. anything resembling a normal 9-to 5 stable job with such things as " heatlhcare and " retirement benefits" are berated as for losers/ sheep/etc/one step removed from welfare. If you have no tolerance for Ayn Rand style Objectivist " job creator/ " prime mover " style bullshit.... well be warned YOU GET EIGHTEEN HOURS A WEEK OF IT HERE.
And of course let us not forget the elephant in the room in the comission free environment those weeks when you dont sell anything for four or five days , maybe a week, and you see your bank account dwindle as you spend money on gas to head out to your crime infested territory.. and get nothing for it. Its moments like the time you buy a whopper jr because it is on sale for a dollar.. you bite into it and realize it is the first time in eleven days you have eaten meat.. not because you are a vegan but because you cannot AFFORD meat despite working 70+ hours a week that you go... what the hell am i doing here? You decide to look for other work on sunday... your only day off... but you are too tired...
I lasted eight weeks as a full time employee. I logged all my hours for eight weeks. In eight weeks I logged 553 hours of Work for Marketing Consultants of Orlando. My total after taxes take home pay was 1197 dollars. for eight weeks THAT WORKS OUT TO TWO DOLLARS AN HOUR. what more is there to say?
