vB Easy Archive - COR stand up!

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COR stand up!
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Posted by: bumfights

First of all, anyone who has worked any kind of sales job in the past knows that at risk commission is the biggest scam any employer can pull on you. Hit this much, we'll give you a percentage. Why not give us a straight percentage up front? Because then you wouldn't have to over obtain and hit 1.5x what we asked you for, just to maintain your current lifestyle. In short every honest sale you make really counts for nothing.

It's especially important when you consider the current COR plan. In the PAC market, if you hit $1,575, you get your at risk commission, which is $627. This goal went from $975 to $1150 in one month, to $1575 in 6 months with zero warning. I literally logged into my-comp for this month early in the day and saw the usual $1150, then logged back in a few hours later to see $1575. Our at risk commission was $627 for each of these attainment tables. If you're confused, all this means is you are getting paid less for more work.

The message the company is sending is this

verachieve and do your job and get paid the same or less. Our at risk commission is exactly the same, no matter how good you do, or how much you grow the business. Compare the adjustment from the first to the second to the third. Does it seem appropriately adjusted? **** no. Pull in more revenue, you should earn more at risk, if you're operating under that kind of commission plan.

Anyone here good at math? Us COR employees are taking consistent pay cuts and seemingly not saying **** about it.

Keep in mind you have to plow your way through charge backs which are tabbed at a negative value before you can start "attaining" towards your at risk. Let's not mention the last 3 months where there have been changes in feature plans to our customers that are so enticing they will most definitely switch. Great for the customers, extremely bad for us commissioned sales people. Not that I'm against consumers getting the most bang for their buck, but it seems like the company has taken every step possible to screw us for promoting their garbage.

Let's not mention if you really kill your feature attainment you are still capped at 150%, which is complete ********. If you get through all your charge backs and manage to obtain 250% of your feature payout, why are you capped at 150%? You worked your way from $1,000 in charge backs because the company felt fit to adjust plans for no reason for 3 months in a row and you sold people on it, only to have it redacted out of your pocket times two.

I sold the hell out the +5 UNL SMS feature the month it came out only to have it royally screw me in the end. Doing the math now, I lost more in pushing that feature in charge backs unlike most of the other lazy people in my store who didn't do squat. In short, I was penalized for doing my job, and doing it well. Is this how ATT rewards it's top sales people? I want confidence selling the products of the company I work for.

As if that kind of payout isn't ******** enough, you have to compete with the local sleaze bags at your mall who will randomly populate numbers and update features without the customers knowledge or consent. I've had so many charge backs from these *******s. Corporate has no concerns about these ****s because they are still, in some way, contributing to the growth of the business.

I'm calling for every single COR employee on this forum to utilize the CWA in this thing and get it back to where we aren't treated as slaves. Believe it or not the company is scared to death of the union, and that's the way it should be. All of us COR RSC's are bargained whether we pay dues or not so let's make it work for us. Attend your monthly union meetings and realize we can make a difference. Sign nothing they put in front of you and realize they are the ones scared for their jobs.

Calling for all COR to step up,

SF.

Posted by: JP Whoregan

Here here; I raise my glass to you my friend. My market isn't as bad as yours concerning the at risk, but it's getting there. I've always traditionally been somewhat of an "anti-union" kind of guy, because my conservative roots don't really jive with the whole concept

But concerning the feature payout, if the CWA could actually do something for us about it (and I'm not sure they can) then I'd join in a heartbeat. In either case, the feature at-risk in this company is well below what others in the industry are getting paid, and it's a travesty, really.

Kind of like the INSULTING 4% they pay us on accessories. Here I am, talking some old lady into paying $30 for a leather case that probably costs $2 to make and gives the company a 1000% profit margin, and the thanks I get is A DOLLAR AND TWENTY CENTS!!!!!! I sell a $30 item with a miniscule cost and MASSIVE profit margin, and the company might as well just buy me a Diet Coke!!!! It's such an insult, I'd rather they didn't pay me for accessories at all.

Like I've said in other threads: it seems the attitude of upper management on this issue is that if you don't like the commission scale, then we can just quit, because there is a whole line of pimply-faced, fresh-out-of-high-school, dyslexic, stuttering 18-year old schlubs who will be happy to do this job for 25% features. They seem to have this notion that what we do is so damn easy, that the AT&T product is so damn great, that it somehow "sells itself", so they don't need to be paying us much for selling it.

Ever walk into a Circuit City lately, and get the impression that the kid telling you about computers doesn't know a damn thing he's talking about? That's because he's not a "computer consultant" or a "computer specialist" like his nametag says. What he really is is a $7/hour clerk who is there to stock shelves and tell you where the bathrooms are. Circuit City fired thier commissioned staff a long time ago, and it shows in the knowledge of their current, non-commissioned "salespeople" (and I use that term lightly). Try to get "product support after the sale" from the kid who "sold" you your computer at Circuit City. It'd be a pretty funny experience. Do you think the kid at CC or Best Buy cares whether or not you can't load MS Office? NO!! He's not paid to care! To him, you'd just as well return the damn computer and get your money back. Or better yet, pay the "Geek Squad" $120 ADDITIONALY to come out and "fix" it for you.

My point is, AT&T's fat cats would do well to heed the examples of what happens when the company decides it doesn't need to commission its employees anymore. Just wait until the day commission disappears completely, and all they have in the COR store locations are monkeys who take bill payments and listen to complaints...then watch the churn.

Posted by: The Champ

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP Whoregan

Kind of like the INSULTING 4% they pay us on accessories. Here I am, talking some old lady into paying $30 for a leather case that probably costs $2 to make and gives the company a 1000% profit margin, and the thanks I get is A DOLLAR AND TWENTY CENTS!!!!!! I sell a $30 item with a miniscule cost and MASSIVE profit margin, and the company might as well just buy me a Diet Coke!!!! It's such an insult, I'd rather they didn't pay me for accessories at all.

Verizon only pays 5%...

Posted by: Superpimp

I think it's the opposite we need to send a message to the union and de unionize and make them work for us. I was forced to join the union and so far they have't done diddly squat. It's not like we can just ber fired, in the state of Ma it is next to impossible to terminate an employee regardless of being in a union or not.

Posted by: vzwfan00

AT&T isn't the only carrier that screws with you on commissions. I worked for VZW for 1.5 yrs and went through about 5 changes in the payouts. There was one month where all of us in the store got paid over $3,000 each in commission, then all of the sudden the next month they cut our pay outs for our store by 45%!!!! No warning at all. Accessory payouts have been going down as well.

Posted by: The Champ

^^^ it's at 5% right? the commission on accessories.

Posted by: JP Whoregan

75% on features is fair. AT&T's vesting period on features is 6 months. If I sell a customer on a $10 feature, and they keep it for only six months, that's $60 in guaranteed revenue for the company that they otherwise would not have had. If they keep it for longer, and often times they do, the profit goes even higher. It's not going to kill them to pay me $7.50 on it.

Posted by: The Champ

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP Whoregan

75% on features is fair. AT&T's vesting period on features is 6 months. If I sell a customer on a $10 feature, and they keep it for only six months, that's $60 in guaranteed revenue for the company that they otherwise would not have had. If they keep it for longer, and often times they do, the profit goes even higher. It's not going to kill them to pay me $7.50 on it.

It used to be 85% in my area...but yeah honestly anything over 50% is cool with me...but honestly they're being way too stingy. even 100% they'd still make a good profit...

Posted by: shorty28

i agree the current commission plans sucks, but thats the nature of the business. when i was hired 1 1/2 ago, my manager did forewarn me to make as money as i could on the previous commission structure because its likely to change without notice. months later, the inevitable happened. that chargebacks are a *****, but its not so bad for me, being that i'm part-time and when i go to work, its the evening shift and its busy and i make my numbers and money this way. on the flip side, i was so used to making at least $1200 commission checks after cut, working 25 hour work weeks, because i'm a full time student, to making a measly $625 commission check. thats almost half!!! so, what i decided to do is exploit whateva AT&T wants us to sell, which is unity plans in this case, and make as much money that i can off of it before the structure changes again. basically, don't like the company discourage you from selling and making your commission the honest way! just adapt to the current commission structure and do the best that you can while you can, because it will change again, believe it or not. whether its for the worst or the best, thats the question!

Posted by: The Champ

Quote:

Originally Posted by shorty28

i agree the current commission plans sucks, but thats the nature of the business. when i was hired 1 1/2 ago, my manager did forewarn me to make as money as i could on the previous commission structure because its likely to change without notice. months later, the inevitable happened. that chargebacks are a *****, but its not so bad for me, being that i'm part-time and when i go to work, its the evening shift and its busy and i make my numbers and money this way. on the flip side, i was so used to making at least $1200 commission checks after cut, working 25 hour work weeks, because i'm a full time student, to making a measly $625 commission check. thats almost half!!! so, what i decided to do is exploit whateva AT&T wants us to sell, which is unity plans in this case, and make as much money that i can off of it before the structure changes again. basically, don't like the company discourage you from selling and making your commission the honest way! just adapt to the current commission structure and do the best that you can while you can, because it will change again, believe it or not. whether its for the worst or the best, thats the question!

Do we get a lot off of selling unity plans?

Posted by: ivwshane

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Champ

Do we get a lot off of selling unity plans?

Almost as much as selling a $40 pda plan.

Posted by: The Champ

lol wow...so we don't even get a lot for doing a single line activation???

Posted by: shorty28

from what i understand, unity is gonna eventually have a higher pay-out than features, so thats why my manager is pushing it so hard. AT&T has to exceed expectations with its shareholders, thats why unity is the hot button. i asked some successful reps how they continue to make good commission checks and continue to get notoriety, they tell me that i should NEVER get comfortable with a certain pay structure because if we are making lots of money off of it, then the likelihood of it changing is very high.

the way unity works in our market, can't speak for everyone else, is that whenever a bellsouth and AT&T bill is combined then its $3. Big deal huh? If their bill is then combined then we can sign them up for unity and then there's another $10 spiff involved. That's $13 dollars just right there.

Let's say a customer wants to activate new service with us and has Bellsouth as their landline provider and the customer decides to go with a $59.99 rate plan. Also, the customers wants Early Nights and Weekends and decide to get a media basic package. Now, I'm using the formula for my commission payout.

$3- combined bill
$10 -unity plan
$11 - Tier 1 for $59.99 rate plan
$4.49 - 50% payout for Early Nights and Weekends
$4.99 - 50% payout for Media Basic
= $33

So, yea it does almost equal the payout for a PDA data plan sale. The only obstacle is getting customers to combine their damn bills for starters.

Posted by: lowkey16

Quote:

Originally Posted by shorty28

the way unity works in our market, can't speak for everyone else, is that whenever a bellsouth and AT&T bill is combined then its $3. Big deal huh? If their bill is then combined then we can sign them up for unity and then there's another $10 spiff involved. That's $13 dollars just right there.

Let's say a customer wants to activate new service with us and has Bellsouth as their landline provider and the customer decides to go with a $59.99 rate plan. Also, the customers wants Early Nights and Weekends and decide to get a media basic package. Now, I'm using the formula for my commission payout.

$3- combined bill
$10 -unity plan
$11 - Tier 1 for $59.99 rate plan
$4.49 - 50% payout for Early Nights and Weekends
$4.99 - 50% payout for Media Basic
= $33

So, yea it does almost equal the payout for a PDA data plan sale. The only obstacle is getting customers to combine their damn bills for starters.

one thing you must remember though, is it's $10 for each line on the account that you are doing the upgrade or activation for. but i totally agree, the commission scale has gotten so bad that i'm barely making half the commission that i used to

Posted by: JP Whoregan

Heres a curveball for you: what about the markets where AT&T has no landline service available, so it's impossible to sell Unity plans, but they're cutting our feature payout nonetheless? I'd gladly whore out Unity plans if I was able to sell them.

Posted by: lowkey16

Quote:

Originally Posted by JP Whoregan

Heres a curveball for you: what about the markets where AT&T has no landline service available, so it's impossible to sell Unity plans, but they're cutting our feature payout nonetheless? I'd gladly whore out Unity plans if I was able to sell them.

the thing that makes me really mad is that our DOS, ARSM and SM are pushing this on us so hard...yet well over half of our customers in my store are iru or live in small towns just outside of our city and don't have AT&T. not to mention we're a college town and how many college students have land lines? i mean it's a great deal IF you have a land line and IF you don't already get 15-30% off your service because of where you work. i think it's absurd that we're supposed to talk people out of a 25% discount just so they can make a few more calls for free

Posted by: ivwshane

LOL combined billing? Yeah how about we start selling that when we don't have issues just trying to set up cb!

I don't know if all markets are having the same issue but cb is not working in opus correctly.

Posted by: lowkey16

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

LOL combined billing? Yeah how about we start selling that when we don't have issues just trying to set up cb!

I don't know if all markets are having the same issue but cb is not working in opus correctly.

i've never had an issue setting up combined billing

Posted by: ATnt-RSC

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

It's an issue in my market as well. There isn't a workaround for it, we were told to just call people back when the fix was posted.

Posted by: ASKJAX

Many customer service reps have been performing account changes and removing features and not replacing them with the proper sales rep id. When you check the time and date of customer contact with customer service you may notice a feature deletion and than a feature add. This is simply beinbg done by customer service representatives to get credit for already exisiting features. Thats why COR retail reps are seeing a higher amount of feature charge backs in their commissions. Check your feature charge backs and see of the feature is still on the account. Check the notes and you will see where feature was removed removeing your cuid and salesrep code along with store code only to see the feature added back in by customer service. The A nice one is the Blackberry Feature. 29.99 being changed to 39.99 to add tect.....and blackberry package being removed to only be replaced by the 54.99 blackberry package. Why should a rep lose commission if the customer elects or inquires to up their package 3 months later when they decide they need the more expensive feature. Rep did job and sold feature. Now customer service gets credit. I like the way they remove the text packages and add the family talk 30 package on a 5 libe deal. Just because customer did not go back to store and they generated 40-50 in text features only to see them removed and have family talk text added without their proper codes. Looks like customer service has become a large competitor to the in-line store sales people. It's just not fair.

Posted by: JP Whoregan

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASKJAX

Many customer service reps have been performing account changes and removing features and not replacing them with the proper sales rep id. When you check the time and date of customer contact with customer service you may notice a feature deletion and than a feature add. This is simply beinbg done by customer service representatives to get credit for already exisiting features. Thats why COR retail reps are seeing a higher amount of feature charge backs in their commissions. Check your feature charge backs and see of the feature is still on the account. Check the notes and you will see where feature was removed removeing your cuid and salesrep code along with store code only to see the feature added back in by customer service. The A nice one is the Blackberry Feature. 29.99 being changed to 39.99 to add tect.....and blackberry package being removed to only be replaced by the 54.99 blackberry package. Why should a rep lose commission if the customer elects or inquires to up their package 3 months later when they decide they need the more expensive feature. Rep did job and sold feature. Now customer service gets credit. I like the way they remove the text packages and add the family talk 30 package on a 5 libe deal. Just because customer did not go back to store and they generated 40-50 in text features only to see them removed and have family talk text added without their proper codes. Looks like customer service has become a large competitor to the in-line store sales people. It's just not fair.

That's an easy fix, I just go back in and re-flip them back under my codes. It sucks that we have to "police" our features against CCARE, but that seems to be the way it is.

Posted by: holaDude

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivwshane

Just an fyi on CB. Advise any customer that signs up for it that their wireless bill cycle will change to match up to their home phone bill cycle, and they will get a porated bill when it changes. So if their wireless bill cycle ends on the 2nd of the month and their home phone ends on the 22nd, the wireless will change to the 22nd once the combined bill request is processed.

Posted by: FL9to5

"Why should a rep lose commission if the customer elects or inquires to up their package 3 months later when they decide they need the more expensive feature. Rep did job and sold feature. Now customer service gets credit. "

That kind of attitude scares me. If you are doing your job in customer service, and spend 20 minutes on the phone with a customer, analyzing their bill, and find features that would better suit them, AND the customer agrees, why not "sell" them on these, and heck yes, get credit for it? At this point WE have sold the customer, not sales. And we also have a tracking program, so if a sales rep goes in and "flips" it back away from us, and OUR commision, we can track and report that.
If you want to blame anyone, blame the company that set up this type of no-win scenario, for either channel.....

Posted by: shorty28

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowkey16

we do have a good majority of customers in the AL/LA market with Bellsouth, but there's also a good amount of customers with CenturyTel as well and thats a monopoly. if it wasn't for centurytel we would definitely get more customers to switch to unity and maximize revenue for AT&T. the messed up part is that most of the customers hardly even use a landline phone.

Posted by: bumfights

Well, I hope the rest of you took what I wrote and run with it. As for me, I've accepted an IT position for about twice as much annual salary. It just kind of fell in my lap and let's just say I'm absolutely ecstatic about it. Time to put my degrees and certifications to some actual use.

I've spoken extensively with my union rep and made my position known about our commission cuts, because it's ******** the way we are getting paid. I've made my last two weeks with the company a crusade of sorts to hopefully restore some sort of balance to the commissions.

Things may be changing in the PAC market soon, if that is comforting to anyone. I'm not sure what everyone else has been through, but I know for sure the PAC market has seen some of the hardest commission cuts because we're tied with driving the most growth for the company right now, with DLS/TX right behind us. I know most of the people that frequent these boards are probably amongst the better salesmen in the company because they care about what they sell, and they're serious about doing their jobs and getting the biggest paychecks they can. What the company is moving towards is compensating everyone the same, and that's simply not fair. A hard worker is a hard worker, especially when commissions are involved.

A few things I've learned; fear the union more than the company, because they are the first to lie down. Don't work for the union, make the union work for you. We are all bargained employees and I strongly advise you use that your fullest advantage, in every employee-vs-employer situation. I wish all of you luck if you continue to work for the company or in whatever else you choose to do. I've had immense amounts of fun in sales for the most part, along with exchanging witless banter over these forums and bragging about how much of what I sold. There is some satisfaction in closing somebody. I still have faith in this business as far as making a living is concerned and I hope you all continue to do what you have to do.

Keep this thread going with results on what's going on in the company. Best of luck all.

- Bumfights