The most challenging job I've ever had but I became a tremendous sales rep from my experience.
Pros
Every Day is different. You learn about the ins and outs of every business. Senior Management has made additions to the products offered. AT&T Advertising now offers Print Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, YP.com, YP mobile, texting services, Online Reputation Management, Online Display Advertising and Search Engine Marketing (Google, Yahoo, Bing...etc). Tremendous initial training for those new to the advertising world and continuous training for new products. Uncapped commissions. Reaching the top tier will turn a new $100 monthly sale or $1,200 annual sale into $350 commission. Great benefits. This is one of the few "Unionized" organizations. Should a problem arise, it's nice to know someone has your back. 2 weeks of paid vacation and 2 additional holidays. Paid week off from 12/25 to 1/01.
Cons
Tremendous Pressure to achieve quotas which are unattainable. Commissions are your livelihood. If you're not selling, then you will struggle financially. The commissions have recently changed and will pay top dollar for the top 5% of sales reps. The commission is based on a tier system which refreshes every year. So if you reach the top tier in November you only enjoy the high incentive pay for 1 month. No residual income. In the 1st tier renewal of an existing advertising program of $1,000 per month or $12,000 per year = $120 (10%) in commission. Increasing this advertiser by $1000 per month or $24,000 per year = $800+$120 = $920. That is $920 commission on a $24,000 sale, that is less than 4% of the yearly revenue. In the 1st tier, New program's match 100% of one month of advertising. Most managers micro-manage. Sales reps sell products and the one's responsible for fulfilling the product seem to drop the ball more than 50% of the time which requires a lot of explaining and apologizing and charge-backs that come out of your commission. The sick policy for AT&T is: Don't get sick. The attendance policy is: Don't be late. Very structured working environment. The first 6 months of employment are probationary. No health, no benefits except 401k and no personal time.
