vB Easy Archive - Thinking of joining the darkside!

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Thinking of joining the darkside!
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Posted by: vzwty

I am thinking of leaving the verizon indirect I work for to work for corp at&t. I have worked corp before with Verizon and Qwest and I really miss the benefits and base salary! I am all commission right now with awful benefits. I have gone through two interviews and feel strongly they will offer me the position. Frankly I am very overqualified but want to get my foot in the door!

I wanted to get some feedback on working as a sales rep for at&t. I read parts of the stickied thread but most of it is out of date. I have a few questions.

What are the benefits like and when do they start?
What is the average hourly rate?
What is a realistic # for income in a year if your an above average rep?

Thanks

Posted by: cellguy030

benes are after 90 days. hourly depends on part of the country. 10-12 hr here.

45-50k isnt unheard of, more for the rockstars closing on business accts

Posted by: ATnt-RSC

50k is average unless you're in the styx. 60k is above average, above that and you're in an exceptionally busy store.

Posted by: ivwshane

Dark side? I thought verizon was the dark side?

Posted by: lowkey16

yeah, verizon is the darkside

50k average?! yeah right! i made less than that last year and was tops out of the 2 stores in my city. although i'm on pace for about 60k this year....just crossing my fingers hoping that it doesn't get as slow as it did last year, we just got a new store and that seems to be bringing us a lot of new business

Posted by: yoshix003

I am weighing apples here too I am thinking of bailing.. But I need to know Pros and Cons between the 2 competitors.. I mean don't hold back. I hate when people talk how good something is and then when I sign up it SUCKS!.. I mean the bad OUTWEIGH the good. I am sure you guys were in those shoes before.. So, whatever gripes you have now like manager's how retarded payouts are etc.. let me here them.. Thanks

Posted by: ATnt-RSC

Honestly, your experience will be shaped mostly by the people directly above you. It's not like at VZW where everything is uniform, AT&T is very decentralized. A lot of control is at the ARSM level (the step above individual store managers) and the store level. Almost everything else is at the market level, with almost no rules (aside from the general code of conduct) set by corporate HQ. Asking a random sample on the internet what they think won't do you very much, at least without saying WHERE you're looking to get hired.

In my area, I've got some good people above me, who are concerned more about closing sales and getting the job done right than ******** metrics no one actually cares about. That leads to a generally fun, proactive, and lucrative environment. That's not universal, unfortunately. Search this section for threads about management cracking down on dumb crap (my fav was the ARSM who said the stores will only sell 10 out of the 30 or so models we offer).

Posted by: yoshix003

Thanks for the reply, that is what i am talking about.. I know its vague questions.. And yes it does depend on upper management and crew. Just wanted to see the different between both company gripes. @ VZW for example there alot of trainings and meetings and also we're starting to do alot of outbound calls (cold calling) I don't enjoy cold calls I think its a waste of time and ironically we have a No Solicitation sign on front of our building. So, in my thought process if we as a company don't like solicitation what would we think that other companies like ours

.. Anyways, keep on those posts..

Also, interested in pay and compensations. ie. perks.

Posted by: ATnt-RSC

Perks: If you're in a union market, guaranteed pay raise every 6 months regardless of performance. Plus, if you're union, it's pretty hard to get fired as long as you hit your numbers. Two free voice lines with discounted features (ERP lines) after 90 days. One company line with unlimited EVERYTHING (COU). COU is technically business use only, but no one is ever hassled for personal use (don't watch porn though, I think they look for that). Discounts with lots of retailers (we're getting 2-3 grand off flat screen TV's from a couple of vendors and 6% off Apple products, plus more). Company matched 401k, decent (not as great as it was) insurance.

Compensation: Roughly 50/50 wage/commission. Hourly is similar to VZW, and varies by market. You're paid the same commission on contracts regardless of it being a new line or renewal, it's a straight spiff based on voice MRC. You've got quotas for each, and you can get an accelerated payout if you go above and beyond. Average rep does around 60-120 contracts per month, depending on traffic. Features and add-ons are paid at a multiplier of ~30%, which accelerates after hitting 80% of your goal and keeps going as you hit more of your target, maxing at about ~60%. Accessories are paid a set percentage, which varies from 4% to 20% based on market. If you've got wireline services in your area, you have an at-risk and goal like VZW, multiplier is pretty high, you can make $100 off a single TV service sale.

You have to hit the majority of your goals to avoid writeups, but you don't need to hit all of them. 3 months straight of non-performance results in dismissal, but as a new hire you get 3 months (I think it's 4 now, but someone can correct me) of quota relief where they cannot get written up. So, unless you steal something, you're basically guaranteed 6 months of employment.

Meetings and crap: Store meetings either weekly or bi-weekly, usually the latter, done Saturday mornings before open. Monthly or weekly progress reports with your store manager, which are done during the day when it's slow. Training day every 3 months or so on average for important stuff. There is cold calling, but it's limited to people going over on text messaging or internet/international, usually only pushed by management when your features per line suck. It's hit or miss, but on a rare day you'll make $50 off calls and help people with their bills.

Systems: Primary system for POS, account diagnostic and troubleshooting is called OPUS. It's meant to sell stuff, anything else useful is coincidental. These days it's pretty stable, but limited. Plus, it won't let you do anything that HQ doesn't want you to, which is great for newbs. Any and all heavy work is to be done by Telegence or CARE (which depends on market, though Telegence is the main billing system and CARE should disappear in a year or so). Vast majority of reps do not have access to either low-level system, it's reserved for management, customer care, or reps that have been around long enough to when those systems were the primary account system.

Posted by: vzwty

The 90 days benefits sucks. That will kill me. I have a wife and two kids and not having benefits for 90 days is going to be a deal breaker. Verizon corp starts day one. I expected maybe 30 days. Union has its pros and cons. I just got a raise at my current job. I'm pulling in around 4k a month working only 30-35 hrs a week. Im at a slow location too. Works out to about $28-29 hr. Plus it allows my wife to work a part time job to keep her sanity. There going to haft to offer me something pretty good to get me to switch.

Posted by: ATnt-RSC

Insurance starts day 1. ERP lines are available after 90 days.