Southern Wine & Spirits of America Reviews

Pros

Met some great people & life long friends

Cons

Managers & owners are flaky. Favoritisms all around the store. The guys get paid more than the girls do. They expect you to do more work than your title for no extra pay. No paid vacations or holidays. Only closed one day out the year.

Advice to Management

Choosing favorites isn’t fair. Stop picking on people who you don’t care for. Don’t be a manager when you want to be.

Pros

Outside sales equals independence.

Cons

Like most sales jobs, the goals were ridiculous.

Pros

None nada zilch zero zip

Cons

HR one sided ... fails to review all sides and facts provided ... overworked ... poor team leadership

Pros

Opportunity and potential for career growth is there if you want it and a lot of perks available to you. Real ability to network and build cont ya within the industry.

Cons

Management seemed to be hired based on who they know from previous employer, not necessarily any skill pertaining to the job they’re hired for. New hire training can lack any real depth or time allotted for it.

Advice to Management

At the end of the day, there is more to your business than the bottom line sometimes. Utilize employees to their strengths and listen more to suggestions being made.

Pros

Great company with a lot of opportunities.

Cons

You do not get vacation until after a full year. Negotiate vacation ahead of time.

Pros

probably the best overall wine and spirits book in the industry. Built by the reputable Lauber team.

Cons

Micro managed. The philosophy and practice of personal relationship building business skills one on one has been replaced by a " pushing out boxes en masse.. " dictator style management that has ruined, in my humble opinion, the entire atmosphere in the most important and prestigious wine markets worldwide. In short, SWS came in and removed knowledgeable, caring consultants and replaced them with box pushing foot... soldiers for the most part. They've ruined the cultural aspects of our beloved wine industry.

Advice to Management

Attitude is reflective of leadership.

Pros

Great team, manager, perks, and work/life balance

Cons

Sales pressure, lots of driving, will calls

Pros

Free wine and spirits. You could create your own schedule as long as you start by 6:00am. If you got on a good team you could reap from the benefits of the sales in their territory.

Cons

Bonuses were unrealistic in most territories. You had to lie to meet your quotas, which your manager instructed you to do, and you usually didn't get your bonus unless you lied. Management also had you go to stores that were 80%+ EBT and most of their liquor left the store with a five finger discount. The compensation you got for driving doesn't cover the expenses from the driving. There were a lot of promises... from the Recruiters that turned out to be unobtainable or nonexistent.

Advice to Management

Make goals reasonable and obtainable. Do not force the territory managers to go to stores that are a waste of time. Compensate your employees better. If the VP can drive a $120k+ car and get carpool violations and act like he is just getting a burger from McDonalds, something isn't right with that equation.