...but even good pay has its limits.
No specific vacation time means that you probably take your computer with you and never really take a vacation. In my two years, I never truly took time off. Could be my fault, but it would be nice if Groupon would have time when you can be completely off the grid. All other departments can take time off and not worry about merchants calling them or things going haywire. But not sales. Your expectation of numbers doesn't drop, so you never really unwind.
On top of that, senior management is whipping harder and harder.
I realize you can't make different standards for people. But trying to mold all reps into one style -I think- is ruining Groupon. I was always "slow and steady wins the race" and did very well. No phone. Only in person. But the standards of contact go so high that I was unable to effectively sell like I used to. I felt as though I was being converted into an Inside Sales rep who was outside sometimes. I had a very high close rate this way. Then, I made a LOT of contacts but didn't close as much. Seems to me that the wrong things are being measured (contacts instead of contracts). Consistently closing contracts is no fluke (thanks for that comment Darren) even if the activity doesn't match your model. You people (most of Groupon) may need the contact standards. I just wanted to close business.
There came a time where I was TRIPLE LOGGING ACTIVITY so that the right things showed up on the right reports.
No more human intuition. QL rules the day. As outside reps, we know the market. We know a good restaurant from a bad one. But convincing people in Chicago of this proved problematic. There were sandwich shacks that were qualified to run with us, and high-end restaurants that were not. Yes, we could feature the non-qualified high-end ones, but it won't go to many people so won't sell well. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Company ran by a bunch of young twenty-somethings and some older people trying to be cool twenty-somethings. Expect all meetings to be the most unprofessional that you have ever been in. From the first meeting on my first day until the very end; cussing in meetings is the norm. But it's above conversational...it's as if they were trying to make a point. Kids just out of college don't generally make good managers.
