To potential employees of TMG Solutions, I hope this finds you well.
First and foremost, I wish I would have taken all of the posts into consideration before taking a job with TMG Solutions, Inc. Who does not work for T-Mobile, but rather Cydcor. Also, by contributing to this I know I am only giving Stephen Kordella, manager of TMG Solutions, ample information to create a rebuttle incase someone interviews, and asks questions regarding Cydcor. My purpose is to bring the truth to light about TMG Solutions.
Second, I would like to say sales is not for everyone, and if you are thinking about being involved with TMG Solutions and are not 100% confident in doing sales, do not go through with it. You will not learn anything from being at TMG. You will not learn how to properly interview and train people. You will be taught to use a script to answer any questions during an interview and training session.
It is Stephen Kordella's job to get you in the door with the first interview (ten minutes), second interview (ride along watching someone how has been there about a month to a month a half, drive and go door-to-door), third interview (making sure "you are good fit for us and we are a good fit for you"). You can read about the interview process from other posts; they are very accurate regarding the interview process. The most employees of TMG are great people to work with, who are trying to make money, who probably decided to turn a blind eye to the TMG's tatics or are too far in to leave.
When first interviewing for a position I was told Fortune 500 companies such as AT&T and T-Mobile hired TMG to do business-to-business sales. While TMG does do sales on behalf of AT&T and T-Mobile (note I did not use "for") TMG works for Cydcor (Cydcor is not a broker for TMG), because Cydcor owns TMG Solutions, previously called The Merl Group. Proof: During a "pep session" (games are played to wake up employees) when Michael Scott flew in from California from Cydcor to work with TMG employees a game was played, the question was, "Who do we work for?" Everyone responded, "T-Mobile" and Mr. Scott responded by saying, "No! You work for Cydcor" to win the game. The new people in the room including myself were shocked because we were told that we work directly for T-Mobile. Trust is important in a working relationship.
Employees are encouraged to "sell" the cellular phones for the maximum cost - not a bad idea; employees keep half of phone sale (BlackBerry is sold for $100, TMG employee keeps $50, before tax). Consumers can receive most phones for free or for a low cost, however consumers are not aware - unless the consumer is familiar with the website.
Once promoted employees will have to take on more responsibilities (making conference calls with their personal cell phones, interviewing, training, taking roll, teaching the new people the sales system, etc.) for no extra pay. While the majority or all of the people hired are brought in for manager-in-training positions, it is expected to take on more responsibilities to prove to the manager you are "manager worthy". The way most people should view these opportunities is more work means more pay, but this is not the case at TMG Solutions.
You will work a minimum of 50 hours a week and hope you complete two sales or $100 of sales a day while interviewing and training people. $100 dollars of sales a day does not seem hard, which it is not, if you meet people who have good credit and the money to purchase something they do not get to physically touch, and actually want to switch cell phone carriers. Please keep in mind employees have to make it "okay" for a consumer to break a contract costing him or her a few hundred dollars to save a ten dollars a year.By the way, T-Mobile service is not great outside of Indianapolis, it is difficult to convince people to buy something that does not work very well.
On to the point of being paid; you can either go for 100% commission (not bad if you sell over $100 worth a day which is two lines for T-Mobile) or salary plus commission ($300 a week and 35% commission of your payment per line). Each line sold pays you $50 dollars if you are 100% commission or $35 if you are salary plus commission.
If you sell 2 lines a day, five times a week, you earn $500 before taxes; $500 minus 20% (if you're lucky) equals $400 a week. Not great but you can pay rent and maybe some student loan payments. However, figure in the money you spend to do your job (gas, repair on vehicle, food, cell phone bill). $50 a week on gas, $25 on food, $25 on your cell phone, comes to $100 dollars spent per week if you are lucky to drive to a location close to the office. So, now you have $300 a week in your pocket... Before rent and bills. Stephen will talk to you about people not willing to make sacrificies, so they are not able to make it "in this business"; by sacrificies he means using your credit card to survive. Listen to one of his manager speeches he gives on Thursdays. Most likely he will bring up that he and his assistant manager used to have a lot of debt but it is almost all paid off now. This debt was due to trying to sell products door-to-door.
My next point, Stephen is not a good boss, it isn't entirely his fault though. He lacks the maturity to see past his own ambitions and was made "manager" at a very young age; he does not have the experience to lead. His passive-aggressive behavior ("Well, if you want to keep sucking", "I stand by winners", or "The winners sit on the otherside of the wall") will do anything but encourage you to work the minimum of 50 hours a week; be at the office at 7:30am and be back at the office at 5:30pm, if you didn't hit your quota go back to your location/territory because Venicom takes orders until either 8 or 9pm.
With that being said, he will help you the best he can, but it isn't to see you as an employee succeed, but to help him move up in Cydcor. To be promoted you have to be good at sales, okay with deceiving people, and comfortable with giving out your cell phone number; please keep in mind if you are desprite enough for a job, you will be sold to take the job.
It is Stephen's job to hire people. If he is unable to, then who will drive to random businesses (that are not expecting you) then walk door-to-door in dress clothes (dress for success) with an I.D. With your photo on it stating T-Mobile sales representative to make him money and push him higher up the Cydcor ladder. At the bottom the I.D. Will state TMG Solutions. You most likely will be told to tell the business owner or other workers that TMG Solutions trained you.
You will use impulse factors to make sales to people who are and are not in the coverage area. It does not matter if you are put in a location with low/no service, you are expected to make the minimum of two sales. You convince the consumer they need these cell phones. Call into Venicom, place the order, give the customer your cell phone number incase they have any questions. You do not have to give the customer your cell phone number, however if you give the customer TMG's 1-800/1-866 number, the customer's concern for not receiving their cell phones in the mail after a week (when they know it will sometimes take two weeks) will be earsed from the "answering machine". Even if you want to help the person, you won't be able to, because whoever shows up earlier than 7:30 (it won't be Stephen) to write down follow-ups will not tell you. Have fun going back to the same location where there is an angry customer who believes you ignored him or her.
After the consumer does not hear back from you (after gaining their trust), they will cancel the order, go to the store and purchase what he or she wants, for less. Remember, you are a sales person, not customer service. You will have to make follow up calls though. Don't forget because you will lose your sale. While it does work and the customer does receive the phone (s), there is a thing called buyers remorse. As I stated earlier, you are selling on behalf of T-Mobile. Outside of Indianapolis, service is not great and then there is nothing you can do. No one wants a provider he or she cannot use. There is a reason for you having to wait two weeks to be paid on sales.
To earn the salary of $300 per week, you must sell ten lines per week; totallying $600 (with the commission) before tax. If you do not sell ten lines, you do not get the $300 salary, only the $17.50 of each line you sold (50 *. 35 = 17.5).
So congrats, you were hired, completed your two weeks of paid training (300 dollars if you are lucky), you sold twenty lines ($1000) this week after working a minimum 50 hours, 50% of the people regret impulsively buying phones so they cancel. Then the other 10% cannot use the phones due to poor service, they cancel. You know have 8 lines ($400 dollars if on full commission or $300 instead of the $600 expected because you didn't meet the quota of ten lines a week so you don't get your salary), if they do not cancel in the next two weeks. You will get paid after two weeks, but if people cancel, it is taken out of your next pay check. Welcome to the reality of working at TMG.
Yes, you can make a lot of money at TMG Solutions, if people do not cancel their plans, you can walk to your location, never spend money to eat, and live at home with no bills. For the current employees, I hope you are doing well, making money, or finding better work. For the potential employees, I hope this finds you well and I wish you the best of luck in the search for an ethical company.
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