I was with this company for quite a while and observed alot of different things. While their positive mental attitude is a nice thought, standing outside a grocery store or bank and 'promoting' and 'helping out' charitable organizations for 8 hours, then driving back to the office for another 3-4 hours (required unpaid office duties) tends to break your spirit.
I was taught basically how to manipulate or scare parents or grandparents into purchasing a 'safety ID' for their beloved children. I was told different 'statistics' in order to help maintain a good sales record. And even though every morning meeting (required) and teach and train session ended with a 'JUICE' (join us in creating excitement), i would most days come back 'negged out' due to the 1 in 10 will say yes theory.
I was hired on after spending the day of 'o' (observation) with my training manager at a bank, she obviously made alot of money and kept showing it to me. What i was curious about was why the other team member (one of her 'girls') was not allowed to talk to me about company information, only the training manager. I was given a test to see if i could recall the 5 steps to a 'conversation': intro, short story, presentation (dont forget to PITH), close, and rehash (remember everyone has a stash hidden).
I was interested in marketing, but did not know what or how 'direct' this kind of marketing was. When my team didnt 'ring a bell' that day, i was taught by my 'manager' how to parking lot pitch (without getting caught by walmart security). I worked for both a CPEA office, and finally a DARE office. Mind you, we didnt work for these companies, we were allowed to use their name and logo as long as we sent back a contribution to the charity (allowing us to set up in places for free, since we were helping charity).
When i started on with the company, 30% of charity logo'd merchandise would go back to the charity (usually a T shirt or Lanyard), everything else went into 'our' pockets. Eventually it turned out that it would be 5% of ANY sale (safety id cards, puzzle books, balloon kits, t shirts, lanyards, duck puppets etc) was to go back to the charity. We were NOT allowed to take donations of any sort. Even if someone pushed it into our hands, we were technically supposed to give an item of that price away to keep inventory straight.
We practiced pitched every morning, and learned different ways to manipulate the phrase "donate to the DARE/CPEA program" Since my company is not a not for profit, if we had used the word donate, we could have been arrested had the right person heard. Never were we to let on to customers that we were merely a marketing company collecting 30 % commission on the sale they were giving us. Hardly anything regarding the safety ID was legit and when people were told that it could help activate the amber alert (if their child were to be kidnapped) in a matter of seconds, i got naseaus.
Ive spoken with alot of law inforcement agents that had never heard of Kidz IDZ, or safety ids that help find a child quicker. It was a scam, but people bought into it because we would instill the fear that their child would be kidnapped if they didnt purchase this from our table outside a store or bank. We always looked very professional and even had name badges with our DARE logo, name, and the words RMC Child Safety on them. And of course we had a personally written letter of authenticity from a DARE corporate rep, letting the public know that they should purchase from us so it could help dare.
At first, when i had a great attitude and was being sent to easy locations, i was livin the good life, even though its commission based only (performance based is what we told our days of o). Then my 'manager' wanted to 'challange' me by sending me to the dead locations where i literally saw 5 people the whole day, so the law of averages (1 in 10) didnt feel like it applied. But whenever i came back to the office, i had to put on a happy face and pretend i did amazing in the field because i wouldnt want to neg out one of my girls i had lured into the company.
9 times out of 10, my manager would not have 'rang a bell' (made her goal amount for the day) so she would call my cell on my way back to the office, and have me, training manager, do not only wearhouse, but day breakdowns and inventory and rebuild ports and take in the cash and credit and checks and log it all. I was running the office on my commission only day, not making a cent once i was in office. My days usually lasted 12-14 hours and drained me. (putting on a happy face after being yelled at by some person who didnt like being talked to wasnt always easy).
I ended up incredibly sick and dehydrated, and had a talk with one of my 'waxer' friends from a different office and decided one day that i had to quit. And the pitiful thing was, i felt BAD. I didnt want to let my manager down since half of her team had either quit or been fired recently. I didnt think at the time that she had been using me the whole time to make her money for her. She would drive MY car to her event, never lend money for gas (which we paid for on our own), and was ALWAYS late back to the office. But she made sure to become my 'best pal' and always invite me over to her 'house' (actually Harmony Hunts house in Hemet, ca) to hang out with the rest of the 'employees' who worked for one of the 3 companies in the redlands office.
Most nights i didnt recall the drive home, but woke up in my bed for another day (blackout drunk driving, smart and safe). When i had finally had enough, i texted my manager and told her i needed to talk to her, and i brought in a couple items she lended to me. She not only tried to talk me into staying, she had called harmony hunt herself in to try to 8 step me into staying on, blaming me for my bad health, and not the fact that we were dressed conservatively in extremely hot weather, in the sun all day long, without many opportunities to take a break (our paycheck was on the line).
Basically, they fear of loss you in the first interview, show you how great things can be when your making money on your second interview (day of o), and IF you get a final interview, they make sure to tell you that you had some negative vibes going on throughout the day, yet you still got hired. I was trained to hire the pretty girls, because pretty girls get sales, at least from guys. I do feel they gave me valuable knowledge on how to sell something to someone who isnt shopping at my store. I can now sell a man with no feet a pair of shoes, but with my integrity on the line, i could no longer 'omit' very important details about what i was doing for the charity.
Now, when i see a new fresh faced girl or two at a table selling dare merch or any waxers, i listen to their pitch, and then tell them where they went wrong and how they could improve and get more sales. Its incredibly fun, but i think they find it offensive (like i used to). Its a fabulous company to work for if you have a criminal record and cant get another job, or you do drugs and would fail a drug test, or if your just down and out and have nothing going for you... Very few people make it to the 'top', and they are usually the people who have been merching in the field for over a year. And then IF they can build a team and start an office, the chance of success, especially in the first year as a manager/owner is slim to none. But hey, theres always a place to go to 'retrain'.
I wouldnt recommend this company to anyone who has dignity and doesnt want to have to basically lie in order to make a paycheck. But if you want to learn how to overturn a negative (no), then this is the place for you. Just make sure you wear comfy shoes and bring a ton of water and have money already saved cos youll be paying for your own gas and wear and tear on your car. And dont be too 'pushy' because you can always lose an 'event' by a customer complaining to the store manager, and then your day is shot... No more money.
Oh, and if you are a young woman, watch out for the guys who work for the wax side, they tend to like booze and hooking up with the 'hott' charity chicks, even though its company policy that they arent supposed to do that.
But hey, give it a shot if you want, you probably were like me and had absolutley NOTHING to lose, and ended up gaining not much at all.
Former rmc/triuniversal 'employee'
redlands, California
U.S.A.
0 comments