Posted by Hank:
Posted by Bippity10:
Allanfan: This was my first job out of college. I did it for almost 2 years. I can tell you stories you would not beleive. There are actually hundreds of these offices nationwide. All under the umbrella of a main company called Granton Marketing. The offices are run by individuals and ethically are different from location to location. Some lie like it's their job(because it is). Others don't lie(as much) and actually sell pretty good products. But regardless it's an f'd up story. As a young man I was an idiot and did this job for a while, but it wasn't a total loss. I did learn how to sell ice cream to eskimos and came out of my pretty quiet shell and now can't shut up.
But honestly, I can spend weeks telling stories about this company. Weeks!
What kind of system does Granton Marketing promote? What kind of products were you selling? I am curious, since I had two sales experience similar to Granton Marketing set up. One for Vector Marketing, where I had sell kitchen products, and one for Primerica (a division of Traveler's Group/Citigroup), where I had to sell their financial and insurance products. Both experience showed me how dishonest the business can be, but I did learn a lot from Vector Marketing. At least they gave me some trainings to sell knives, while Primerica provided me with little training. All they told was to keep recruiting other sales rep so I can override their commision, which didn't make sense since there's no commision to be made if no one is selling.
When I worked at Primerica, I couldn't believe how many people were doing this, and how many were being brainwash to thinking they could make 6 figures doing this. The guy who recruited me was like 30 years old, and had been with the system for 5 years. And, I am pretty sure he didn't make more than 100,000 in those 5 year span. In the beginning, I was pretty pissed at him for misleading me, but then after I quit, I felt very sorry for him.
1.) System-It's basically a pyramid scheme. There are several products and models but here is the main example. There is a distributor that goes out in the field and sells these discount cards for $20. The seller makes about $9 on that card. The company gets everything else. The seller sells between 30-80 cards per week, depending on the product/territory/deal. There is a "leader" that "manages" a team of sellers. That leader also makes about $9 for every card he sells. If he reaches a weekly goal he gets paid a dollar for every card his team sells. Then there is a manager who runs the individual branch. The branch is incorporated so that Granton does not get sued if the branch does something illegal or unethical. But Granton does supply material help such as accounting/advice etc. The manager pays for all of these services, takes money out of his pocket to pay the "leader" the extra cash when they reach their goals and other incentives. You are told you will make about $7 per card when you become a manager. As a "leader" this is how they keep you around. The office will sell between $400 and $1000 cards per week. Multiply that by $7 per card and it sounds like a lot of money. But after all the fees and overrides you end up making nothing. I was making $500 a week as a manager of a successful office. After that, they entice you with the next step. REgional directors where you manage I think 3-5 offices. Vice president where you manage many more. These guys run the day to day in one office and get the "$7 per card" but also get a $1 off all of the other offices that they are in charge of. Not true but this is what you are told. In the end the men that started the company make a ton. Some underneath them make a lot too. The rest spend 1,2,3 years being enticed into bigger and better things, only to realize that the goal in the company is to burn you out so that you never get to the VP or higher level. They want you to do well, make them money and then leave so they never have to split with you. There's a ton more to it, but that's the basics.
What products: There are a ton. Some are junk, and some are pretty good. They sell little trinkets that you would find on a rack in a convenience store(calculators, cheap work bags etc), I'm sure all of you have seen them. They also sell these little discount packages where you pay $20 and get say 3-5 oil changes. Or $20 bucks and get 6-10 buy one get one dinners at a local restaraunt. They sell these products business to business and door to door. Some of you guys may have them come to your door one day. They've come to my door and I recognize it right away. The oil deals are really good if you don't change your own oil. I always listen to what they say regardless of how I hate the company because some of the deals are really good. They have done buy one get one tickets to sporting events but it's not common. Only for teams that are desperate for fans.
3.) How do they get people to do door to door and business to business 6 days a week, working 7 am until sometimes midnight? It's the promise of bigger and better things while only telling you the half-truth. They get you in the door by telling you that they work for sports teams. They don't tell you how. They get you to stay after your first few days by telling you that at the next step you will make a lot of money. This continues until you find out that you won't.
4.) What does Juice mean? Join us in Creating Excitement.
Like I said I could go on and on with stories. When I opened up an office I had a core team of 6 guys. We built our office up to 30 people that sold stuff everyday door to door. I lived in an apartment with 4 other guys and one girl. We all were very close and had a great time partying together when we weren't selling. When I figured out what was really going on, I sat them all down and told them. I said that I could not continue because now that I know the scheme I would be unable to lie to them. We now all hate each other.
