Horrible Management & Ridiculous Pay Practices - Sales Consultant BizLab Employee Review

1.0
Sep 27, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Casual dress & spins on the sales wheel to get petty junk food items mostly, but hey.

Cons

(1) Losing prospective sales to favorite higher-rated salespeople who get routed calls mostly from areas like Massachusetts & The Hamptons that have large amounts of disposable income, very easy closing %'s, and taking calls from customers instead that have no credit card to even qualify for the freebies like free DVR & equipment & installation, etc, and even want to use their prepaid Walmart or Chili's card to try to qualify. (2) The calls above and customer service calls count against you (because the website doesn't clearly specify if whether you are a current customer or not OR they enter the wrong prompt on the phone menu) and take the 50 calls on Saturdays about the current PPV fight can cost you literally hundreds of dollars. (3) As basically a Dish Network sweatshop (you get a 3' x 3' cubicle) you are subject to chargebacks as well, which at the time I was there was a base salary of $8/hr and when you get your check it's around $300-400 for 2 weeks of hard work). If not you're on a draw and actually owe the company money. (4) Management changed it's pay structure at least three times while I was there over 3 years (a long time there) and was struggling how to pay it's sales force and maintain a profit based on their negotiations for SEO placement on Google with all the other Dish retailers out there. When it lost position on a bid, it let peole go. I left when I learned of the 3rd downsizing was imminent, please refer to post on 8-19-16 that confirms this (we called them "Black Fridays") because it usually happened on a Friday. The owner Jeff Hughes put on a great front crying & such but was all an act. It's a tax writeoff or an experiment in passive income for him as he has his own legal business, finance company, and Rockit Clicks, among others. Claimed he was open to developing other websites, but ideas that were presented were never explored. (5) High-level management (at least two I know of) was let go for fraudulent practices as earning a commission there that caused reps & management do do strange things to earn a living there. (6) Even though I earned praise for having the highest % package & equipment attachment & full processing fees ($49.99) to every new order in the same month, was replaced by another sales rep that they routed high % closing calls to to increase his productivity over mine. Again, they play favorites. It's who you know there, not what you know or how good you are at objections & sales closes. (7) The only reason I am posting this today is due to a new opportunity for a career, and they claimed Bizlab did not respond or cooperate in their request for records to prove past employemnt. Probably due to that person was fired or they keep shoddy records, something the IRS probably wants to check into. In fact they were investigated for legally not paying OT, and had to issue back-pay checks in two consecutive years I was there. (8) Check the post dated 1/15/16 who was there for 5 years. Company does not value hard-working long-time employees but like other reviews squeezes every bit out of them before letting them go. Great job experience for a high school graduate, but not a career with those older or that have a family. Another poignant post is the one dated 1/05/17 as is a very accurate assessment of the current state of affairs there that I hear from ex-employees. In fact we call the 20 or so ex-employees and managers that are now at Time Warner Cable downtown MIlwaukee "Bizlab East".

Explore other reviews about BizLab

5.0
Sep 15, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Very flexible to work with students schedules, Provide simple training, the manager was great.

Cons

Not much of a good structure yet.

1.0
Dec 25, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some of the people are great to work with. The hours I had were awesome. The commission on a good week was ok. The dress code was comfortable and lax. The prizes that they have for contests are pretty amazing. Outside of that, there isnt much.

Cons

Some of the Leads/ Asst, Leads really need to learn the proper way to talk to people. The hourly rate is a joke. The commission structure is a joke, Sterling Commerce Group is a joke. Someone else can do the same thing, talk to people however they want and have no disciplinary action at all. You do something, and you are immediately fired. There are people here that will intentionally leave you out of special events that they organize. Oh, and watch out if you do get let go, they will keep some of your belongings and not let you come pick it up. They want to ship it to you. What a joke. Also, they will all but tell the company in an email why you either left or were let go. I thought that was confidential information.

4
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