NIGHTMARE... Unemployment is better than this
Pros
There is a twenty word minimum, so I have to type something. I guess the free trip for training was nice.
Cons
Where do I start? Constant turnover of employees should tell you something. If you stay there more than five months, you're already one of the "senior" reps and are expected to run sales calls with new suckers they hired. The auto allowance is pitiful. I was filling up my gas tank 3 or 4 times a week because they would send me all over the NE Ohio area. So many employees leave so quickly, territories were thrown out the window. I'd often drive over 200 miles a day for company appointments that never showed up. That brings me to my next point, the company appointments. Many were empty fields or abandoned buildings that hadn't been touched in years. Some of these did not even have a phone number attached to call to confirm, and if they did, our manager did not want us doing that. They give you money for cell phone reimbursement, but you better have an unlimited plan with all the minutes you will eat up on pointless conference calls. Ever have a commission based sales job and have to strictly report to your boss' schedule? Yeah, neither did I. Production didn't matter at all. They micro managed you to death. Mandatory office time in the morning, regardless of where your territory was or where you had appointments scheduled. An appointment could be 40 miles west of your home, which is 20 miles west of the office, but they still expected you drive to the office and add an extra 40 miles to your day! What made it worse, is there is literally nothing at the office that can not be accessed remotely. They don't even give you a computer at your desk. It's a phone and a phone book and you have to fight everyone else in the office for one of the available computers if you want to look up any customer information or print any forms. They give you an iPad with 3G connectivity now, but what's the point if they don't let you use it to its' potential? If that wasn't bad enough, be ready to give up a weeknight every week to call residential call lists (I thought I was small business?) and give up a Saturday once a month. Keep in mind, they are not paying you a salary for any of this... Now, let's just say that you finally get lucky and get to pitch to someone, you will quickly find that ADT's prices are an absolute joke compared to the rest of the industry, and in this economy, small business owners do not care about reputation or name, just the bottom line. Any competitor that comes in before or after you will be pitching rates for monitoring and install at least half of what you are. They will tell you that Pulse is the best technology out there, but every other company has something similar and in some cases, a step or two better. Training is non-existent. They send you for a week for what they call "quick start" training, which literally teaches you a half a day of what ADT's products are and the other four days how to overcome what they call the "buying cycle." This training should have been my first clue as to what I was in for. Locally, your manager will not be available for any ongoing training. They are too busy on conference calls with area and regional managers for you. The only interaction you will have with them is to ask why your numbers are where they are.
