Just curious about your toxic sales environment job stories weather you're in it now or had a previous role that was toxic drop some stories
Toxic Sales Enivroments
17
Asking me to work 12 hours a day, sometimes even suggesting that I should work the weekends.
Saying - I know you're sick, but you do know right; it's a day lost in sales. Can you clock in for 2 hours and complete this task ?
Saying - I know you're sick, but you do know right; it's a day lost in sales. Can you clock in for 2 hours and complete this task ?
"clock in" - sheesh.
Yeah immediate red flags lol thanks for the share
Sounds awful!
No Karen, I cannot clock in on my paid time off.
Used to work for a "family company" where the owners had previous drug trafficking charges.
The environment was full of racism, familial fighting, and hostility. Suffice to say making cold calls in my PJs and getting told to fuck off from my room is a much better environment. Pretty much night and day.
The environment was full of racism, familial fighting, and hostility. Suffice to say making cold calls in my PJs and getting told to fuck off from my room is a much better environment. Pretty much night and day.
😂😂 this laugh pretty hard. Sorry to hear you had to deal with it but glad you’re in a better position now. I prefer the latter as well lmfao.
Wow that’s crazy
OMG! This is excellent. A wonderful tick of perspective in there!
oh boy i had a few.
my first SDR role was so micromanaged, and leadership used fear to motivate everyone all the time.
you always felt like you were one bad week away from being put on a PIP.
Company outings were every month and were "strongly suggested" but if you didnt attend it was clear you were in the dog house.
AEs would be let go if they missed quota 3 months in a row.
if you didnt show up an hour before work and stay an hour after work you were questioned on your work ethic.
They paid overtime but then expected you to work 2+hours everyday (outisde of staying an hour late, so really 3 + hours haha)
Just insanity
my first SDR role was so micromanaged, and leadership used fear to motivate everyone all the time.
you always felt like you were one bad week away from being put on a PIP.
Company outings were every month and were "strongly suggested" but if you didnt attend it was clear you were in the dog house.
AEs would be let go if they missed quota 3 months in a row.
if you didnt show up an hour before work and stay an hour after work you were questioned on your work ethic.
They paid overtime but then expected you to work 2+hours everyday (outisde of staying an hour late, so really 3 + hours haha)
Just insanity
Damn.
It’s insane
Wow sounds like absolute shit 😂no offense. I’ve had my fair share of that type of bs so I get ya. Hope you’re in a better place now! Thanks for the share.
yeah i lasted a few months and then left to be an AE at a different company haha. best decision ever.
WeWork? 😅
Hahah not quite!
I was relocated from CA to TX for one position, just to handle an East Coast territory. That's the not the worst of it.
The division GM distrusted sales people so he had a policy that everyone had to be in the office unless you were travelling. Needless to say, I travelled more than I would have otherwise.
The office situation was pathetic. Sales area had cubical dividers which only went to my chest, so you could hear everyone's phone conversations. Additionally, if more than 2 people were on the phone, you couldn't make calls.
We had 1 guy who had international. He was also hard of hearing. When he would do Skype calls to Brazil (daily), he would be talking to loudly that literally no one else could be on the phone.
I walked in with 5 years experience doing the job with an onboarding group of industry newbies. Also, both Sales Managers and the VP of Sales had less industry experience than I had - put together. So when I filled my funnel in 3 months and my "colleagues" were still struggling with learning industry terminology, there was some heavy resentment.
It was also very cliquish there. If you didn't fit in socially, you were a pariah. This fed into everything. Getting assistance with deals, etc. It was maddening.
There were many more things which made it toxic, but I lasted less than a year and got a new gig.
The division GM distrusted sales people so he had a policy that everyone had to be in the office unless you were travelling. Needless to say, I travelled more than I would have otherwise.
The office situation was pathetic. Sales area had cubical dividers which only went to my chest, so you could hear everyone's phone conversations. Additionally, if more than 2 people were on the phone, you couldn't make calls.
We had 1 guy who had international. He was also hard of hearing. When he would do Skype calls to Brazil (daily), he would be talking to loudly that literally no one else could be on the phone.
I walked in with 5 years experience doing the job with an onboarding group of industry newbies. Also, both Sales Managers and the VP of Sales had less industry experience than I had - put together. So when I filled my funnel in 3 months and my "colleagues" were still struggling with learning industry terminology, there was some heavy resentment.
It was also very cliquish there. If you didn't fit in socially, you were a pariah. This fed into everything. Getting assistance with deals, etc. It was maddening.
There were many more things which made it toxic, but I lasted less than a year and got a new gig.
That’s rough sounds like ass. Which company was this? I’m only asking because I just accepted a position and will be relocating to Tx and I’m in the east coast right now 😂
anonymity my friend. Hopefully your new company won't be as lousy.
Lmao it’s gonna be the same company
Just quit and tell them it's because of something you read on Bravado even though the company wasn't disclosed it still felt suss.
Are you a woman? I ask b/c this sounds like something they'd do to one of my kind.
Took a job out of desperation after the dotcom crash and 9-11, working ISR for a well-known and respected brand that had been acquired by an equity firm.
The pay was ludicrous, we literally had to clock in, and had call counts on a nascent CRM that was horrible and didn't work well.
Your sales were counted by faxes coming in from one of your accounts. A separate group was onboarded in another part of the country, and they spent their time calling our accounts and having the faxes redirected to them. Because some kind of weird corporate infighting was going on, those sales would count for the quota for those reps, not us.
We all got let go en masse with a slap-in-the-face statement about how it was impossible to find good workers in our region. Assholes.
The pay was ludicrous, we literally had to clock in, and had call counts on a nascent CRM that was horrible and didn't work well.
Your sales were counted by faxes coming in from one of your accounts. A separate group was onboarded in another part of the country, and they spent their time calling our accounts and having the faxes redirected to them. Because some kind of weird corporate infighting was going on, those sales would count for the quota for those reps, not us.
We all got let go en masse with a slap-in-the-face statement about how it was impossible to find good workers in our region. Assholes.
😂😂 damn sounds rough thanks for sharing though I’m sure it was quite an experience to go though.
It was - but on the upside, it led me to meet a colleague who thought of me when an opening arose at his next company - and it was the best thing that happened to my career path for years. While I wouldn’t want to repeat that boilerhouse situation ever again, it definitely turned out well for me!
When I was told if I want to start making the big $$$ I need to start cold calling on Saturday
What the heck was the product?
It was Payroll
First day in the office: “Ok, who all was in a sorority?!?!”
When I knew I would quit: first day in the office.
When I knew I would quit: first day in the office.
My first job was an utter shit-show, 10+ hour days with over 100 calls every day, all for a low wage & salary. Didn't have a manager for part of that time as well which created a bit of chaos.
Oof
I worked for a big property management software company out of Santa Barbara, they had a badge swipe system on the door and would monitor arrival, lunch breaks, when you left....They also tracked your cell phone and had all the "we don't trust sales" oversight you could think of. It was the worst micro-management environment ever and my most hated job. Plus pay sucked. The whole reason I went into sales was $$ and flexible schedule.
I was asked to take calls while being off before, and to do overtime after my shift even though my target was achieved.
Worked at a company with 70+ sales reps, no territory assigned, no accounts lists assigned, all up for grabs if you’re within the one-month-rule (meaning if a lead didn’t get back to you the 30 days, anyone can have a go at them.
Needless to say, this led to many disputes, fake crm notes, fake claims to deals, just a clusterf*** of all sorts of internal issues.
Management could care less as long as we were selling as a whole, which we did.
Needless to say, this led to many disputes, fake crm notes, fake claims to deals, just a clusterf*** of all sorts of internal issues.
Management could care less as long as we were selling as a whole, which we did.
Did we work at the same company? Lmao
Might be :D
All same company Lmfaooo oh boy.
VP of Sales Standing at the door to the office, finger on Rolex, in a sneering, posh British (NYC btw) accent as people walk through the door 12 seconds late….
“Late. Late. Late. Pay docked. You’re late.”
My director manager literally mugged a sales rep on the floor… half joking half not. He got some great leads, my manager stole the printed paper from his hands and took them while passing it off as a joke. Literally pushed him into a wall.
Sales guys telling clients to “go fuck their moms”
No voicemail. No email. Only call ceos.
One guy got fired, no one told him and they legit just took his desk away. Poor guy stood there for 5 hours before anyone told him he had been fired.
Brought in new management team, they tried to change our structure to an actually good one, came in one day to all of their tech only disconnected and no one told them that the entire middle management team just brought in was fired. They were there from 3 weeks and from large well respected industry leaders.
Sex in the office. Drugs.
People sleeping overnight after binge drinking and waking up to work.
One guy ripped his suit and literally fucking stapled his pants back together and went to a client meeting.
I shit you not I cannot make this crap up and I have so much more.
VP of Sales Standing at the door to the office, finger on Rolex, in a sneering, posh British (NYC btw) accent as people walk through the door 12 seconds late….
“Late. Late. Late. Pay docked. You’re late.”
My director manager literally mugged a sales rep on the floor… half joking half not. He got some great leads, my manager stole the printed paper from his hands and took them while passing it off as a joke. Literally pushed him into a wall.
Sales guys telling clients to “go fuck their moms”
No voicemail. No email. Only call ceos.
One guy got fired, no one told him and they legit just took his desk away. Poor guy stood there for 5 hours before anyone told him he had been fired.
Brought in new management team, they tried to change our structure to an actually good one, came in one day to all of their tech only disconnected and no one told them that the entire middle management team just brought in was fired. They were there from 3 weeks and from large well respected industry leaders.
Sex in the office. Drugs.
People sleeping overnight after binge drinking and waking up to work.
One guy ripped his suit and literally fucking stapled his pants back together and went to a client meeting.
I shit you not I cannot make this crap up and I have so much more.
OH. MY. GOD. How long did you last? Who did they think they were? The wolf of wallstreet? I bet they all had super small wieners.
I was there 2.5 years. Was cool in some ways, was in my early 20s. Would never go back to that now lol
Excuse me I find the last part of the comment very offensive I’m part of that secret club
Bro wtf is this a crack house you accidentally got a sales Position at 😂😂
I had a post about my most toxic sales environment of all time last year but for those who are new.. I took a job as a very seasoned and accomplished Senior SE for a global tech company working at one of their US subsidiaries that still felt very "start up" (350 ppl) so I was one of only about 15 reps. I had been hesitant to take it except for the person I would be reporting to and had told him I was taking the job only b/c I'd work for him. 3.5 weeks into the job the NIGHT before my final role play with our VP, my new VP and manager call me into a 7pm emergency zoom call (red flag) and tell me they just hired a new manager and I'm moving to his team. The guy was toxic in his first email to the team, prior to even having met us.
For the next 9 months on a daily basis, I endured the most abusive (not just in a work sense, I mean ACTUAL abuse) treatment from a boss that I've ever even heard of happening. First, he shusshed me and told me to shut up in front of 7 executives at a Fortune 50 company during an in person meeting.
Then 3 weeks later I told him I had just gotten a call my grandmother might die that day and the hospital had asked that I get there immediately if I wanted to say goodbye. He responded "so you don't plan on showing up for our 2pm one on one? Don't even think about leaving until you've updated salesforce." (I did no such thing.).
2 months later I found out I have an incurable chronic form of blood cancer. I told him they didn't expect it to impact my work (I apparently have had it for years and been the #1 rep this entire time) but I'd need flexibility for the next 3 weeks to see a multitude of doctors and get a bone marrow biopsy and other testing done. He told me he needed to end the call and tell HR to fire me for being too sick to have a job. I doubled down and documented it.
2 months later, just days after getting the go ahead on a nearly $1M deal (the shortest to close a new deal in company history) I was put on a PIP for lack of pipeline.
2 weeks into the PIP (I was hitting 100% of the intentionally impossible to hit goals) he called me into a random meeting with HR to tell me he heard I was making racist comments to a POC. What he didn't know was me and that POC were having dinner in person an hour later while they were in my hometown and were actually friends. He had made the whole thing up.
3 months later now about 10 months into this job, I was the #2 highest revenue producing rep globally against at this point 40+ reps when including our non US based teams. I had just closed a deal and when my commission payout day came, I didn't get paid. When I documented this in writing, I was told they decided to only pay me half but only if I signed a brand new comp plan. I cited state laws governing our comp plan that made this illegal.
I was fired the next day for poor performance. And never paid on a $50k commission I earned while dealing with my new cancer diagnosis. I didn't even take off on 2 separate days I got bone marrow biopsies. I did them over my lunch break and went back to work. I lost my health insurance. All my stock. My entire income. And was so traumatized I couldn't get out of bed for the first 2 months at all. Thankfully, I've had time to heal and get therapy and am now in a job that treats me very kindly. And I'm back to being a top producer once again. But this took 1.5 years of my life from me in every possible way.
If that doesn't top this list as most toxic of all time, I'd like to meet anyone who can beat me for drinks as soon as humanly possible followed by therapeutic consensual yet non sexual cuddle time.
For the next 9 months on a daily basis, I endured the most abusive (not just in a work sense, I mean ACTUAL abuse) treatment from a boss that I've ever even heard of happening. First, he shusshed me and told me to shut up in front of 7 executives at a Fortune 50 company during an in person meeting.
Then 3 weeks later I told him I had just gotten a call my grandmother might die that day and the hospital had asked that I get there immediately if I wanted to say goodbye. He responded "so you don't plan on showing up for our 2pm one on one? Don't even think about leaving until you've updated salesforce." (I did no such thing.).
2 months later I found out I have an incurable chronic form of blood cancer. I told him they didn't expect it to impact my work (I apparently have had it for years and been the #1 rep this entire time) but I'd need flexibility for the next 3 weeks to see a multitude of doctors and get a bone marrow biopsy and other testing done. He told me he needed to end the call and tell HR to fire me for being too sick to have a job. I doubled down and documented it.
2 months later, just days after getting the go ahead on a nearly $1M deal (the shortest to close a new deal in company history) I was put on a PIP for lack of pipeline.
2 weeks into the PIP (I was hitting 100% of the intentionally impossible to hit goals) he called me into a random meeting with HR to tell me he heard I was making racist comments to a POC. What he didn't know was me and that POC were having dinner in person an hour later while they were in my hometown and were actually friends. He had made the whole thing up.
3 months later now about 10 months into this job, I was the #2 highest revenue producing rep globally against at this point 40+ reps when including our non US based teams. I had just closed a deal and when my commission payout day came, I didn't get paid. When I documented this in writing, I was told they decided to only pay me half but only if I signed a brand new comp plan. I cited state laws governing our comp plan that made this illegal.
I was fired the next day for poor performance. And never paid on a $50k commission I earned while dealing with my new cancer diagnosis. I didn't even take off on 2 separate days I got bone marrow biopsies. I did them over my lunch break and went back to work. I lost my health insurance. All my stock. My entire income. And was so traumatized I couldn't get out of bed for the first 2 months at all. Thankfully, I've had time to heal and get therapy and am now in a job that treats me very kindly. And I'm back to being a top producer once again. But this took 1.5 years of my life from me in every possible way.
If that doesn't top this list as most toxic of all time, I'd like to meet anyone who can beat me for drinks as soon as humanly possible followed by therapeutic consensual yet non sexual cuddle time.
Being told daily you suck and your job is at risk even though you are at 80% quota attainment in Q3
Had a director at one of my early gigs that outright told us to lie and commit light fraud to get deals through and customers approved.
Also you had to 'earn' casual friday, and there was a minimum threshold to hit to earn any commission. Many people sold a bunch of deals they weren't paid for.
Also you had to 'earn' casual friday, and there was a minimum threshold to hit to earn any commission. Many people sold a bunch of deals they weren't paid for.
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