So here I was, urgently looking for a job. A friend of mine, former Marcus Evans employee himself, told me (with a corresponding warning) about this company. The often mentioned boiler room atmosphere and high employee turnover were made aware to me. Anyway, I scheduled my interview and it went as planned. Of course, the manager in charge told me about the high earning potential and all things wonderful. Rather than being unemployed, I accepted the job offer...
First week was training week. Were a total of 12 new sales people. The training session was, overall, fairly decent. The sales managers actually knew what they were talking about and the role play training was quite OK.By Friday, a few our our class already quit.
Effective week two, we were assigned to our teams and started pounding those phones. My team manager would always remind us (sometimes annoyingly) to "get deals". Well, I was fortunate enough to start my sales experience selling a fairly decent pacakge, a summit down in Florida.in essence, it was about contacting senior management of financial institutions and offering them a free package (seesions, room & board and MANDATORY meetings with vendors). Yes, you contact those poor fellas and they are made, and this is legally binding, have one-on-one sessions with vendors. And we are talking about dozens of these meetings in two-three days! In all fairness, many of these decision makers don't mind this ordeal.
Anyway, my first couple of months were fairly decent, money-wise that is. See, as a new sales executive you are pretty much stuck with selling only ONE program. And then it hit me. I was assigned to sell one piss-poor conference. Two months on the f*ing phone and I only closed two deals. And I don't suck in sales.in fact, my fellow team members sold as much as I did, and they had a solid track record (both ended up being managers). At the time my salary was base "and/or" commissions. The key words are "and/or".
That's right, for two months in a row I made $1000 per month. How the f*k makes $12,000 a year in this country? The worst thing was that other sales executives, some of them semi-retards, were closing a good amount of deals. Why? They were "selling" summits. Yes, the same events that you give a way for free and get a commision on it! Conferences, on the other hand, ALWAYS have a high price tag. Best part of these sh*ty conferences? We were unable to see them because, heck, they were shi*y, but our manager would accuse us of "not believing in the product". Well, I belive in s*t, but that doens't mean that I can sell it.
Anyway, after this horrendous product I was fortunate enough to sell a summit and a conference, both good products. So I had like three or four decent months (about $4,000 per month). Followed by a couple of terrible months again ($1,500-$2000 per month). Remember the 12 people that started with me? After six months there were only 3 of us left.
I was fortunate enough to find a new job (non-sales related) that would start in two months. Of course, I did not tell my colleagues and managers about my new job, and was considering quitting right on the spot. But I was assigned a couple of good conferences/summits. So I decided to work until my last Friday and get as many deals as possible. I even urged my clients to make a decision and submit payment a.S.A.P. So I could get paid before quitting. Long story short, my last two months were very decent again.
It has been mentioned that sales executives are forced to make 200 phone calls a day. The phones are audited so the managers know how many phone calls and how much time you spend. Now how gets flogged for not making enough phone calls? The ones that not sell. If you get your deals in, then nobody is going to bother you if you only make 30 calls. At the end of the day, what counts is $ and not phone calls.
All in all, I worked less than a year, and I was the 11th to quit from my class of 12. Calculate that! That's about 92% turnover rate.
In a nutshell, Marcus Evans has its pros and cons:
Pros:
*Excellent sales training and drilling.
*Some of the conferences and summits are actually great products and easy to sell.
*A lot of great people to socialize and get drunk with.
Cons:
*Dog-eat-dog sales environment. A lot of backstabbing for deals.
*Some of the conferences and summits are, quite frankly, GARBAGE and impossible to sell.
*Deceptive and immoral sales tactics are openly and officially encouraged.
Anybody interested in learning sales techniques needs to work for this company. 6-12 months are more than enough. It REALLY helps you. If you work longer than that for this company, then you need to be institutionalized.
Chicago dudeChicago, Illinois
U.S.A.
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