Pros
Met some great people (who all got fed up and left) that I still keep in touch with. Taught me how never to treat people.
Cons
They live and die by the motto “Organization > Team > Self” which sounds selfless and inspirational until they use it to justify every questionable decision and accuse you of not being bought in if you disagree. It would work if you weren’t made out to be a naysayer for trying to advocate for things that would make your job easier. Every manager is self serving and the hypocrisy is so overwhelming that none of the reps trust them or respect them. They try to control the message of everything - especially bad news - by giving reps different explanations for their decisions. Then they’re shocked that the reps talked to each other and called out the lie. For instance, word got out that management got paid full bonuses during the pandemic and the reps who qualified originally weren’t getting anything. Later on they told some reps that they would get 50% of their bonus and told other reps they only had a certain amount allotted in a “bonus pool” and paid them less of their bonus. Turns out they purposely paid those who had gotten promoted during the year less because they never had them sign new contracts and they were able to pay them 50% on their inside sales bonuses. Then when it was brought to management’s attention they said “you shouldn’t discuss your finances with other reps.” They actively have tried to avoid paying commission on large deals and banned reps from selling inventory in certain areas because “the organization makes more money through Ticketmaster” which is counterintuitive to the whole practice of selling season tickets in the first place when you put it that way. New Business, Service, and Groups stopped having collaborative meetings as a team and the reps were left to communicate amongst themselves for any policy updates or news (employees leaving). Lead distribution is a farce. The majority of the success the company had during and post-NHL shutdown was through form submissions and inbound requests. It used to be an automated system but then management took it over directly and then distributed the leads to those they deemed to be deserving which is really just a popularity contest. Management oversight is fine but when one rep is complaining about too many submissions and one rep is complaining about literally not having any maybe you adjust. Managers constantly would push off problems and avoid dealing with them, leaving reps to scramble. The inside sales program has been a mess for years and they even laid off the guy getting it back on track. They love to hold over the reps heads that we were able to keep our job during COVID times. When they reopened the office though, they sent out “an anonymous survey” to see how people would feel about returning to work. The anonymous survey required an electronic signature to complete and was a document stating we were willfully returning to the office and it was mandatory to complete. Hired people with zero management experience to lead and train a team. The manager was paired with the team’s previous manager who had been demoted. The demoted manager and the reps created all the trainings over the course of a few months. Sales is a grind and it’s competitive. You need to know going into it what to expect. It’s not for everyone and it doesn’t have to be all sunshine and rainbows and everybody having fun. But you don’t need to make everyone miserable.
