Vantaggi
When you develop good working relationships with those you work with, the job is definitely worth it. I was fortunate to have great support from the store employees that I worked with in my territory. I started from the Management Training Program and worked my way to becoming a Store Manager and Sales Rep. You learn too much about paint, but you really learn valuable managing and selling skills that can translate to many different fields. Because mid and upper management ask a lot from you, you learn that much more. The company is in a position to continue gaining market share, so there have been some great returns on company stock. There are plenty of opportunities, if you're willing to put the effort in and also move for the next promotion. Pay is competitive enough. Other paint companies pay in a 100% commission system for sales reps, here they pay a base salary and bonus.
Svantaggi
The company asks a lot from the employees. There is extra pressure from the Division President, and I've seen mid-level executives just completely cower and comply with any request no matter how impractical it was. Some of these things added more hurdles to my position than necessary. There are never ending marketing promotions. I mean, this company is supposed to be the Nordstrom of paints, not JC Penney! Most of the time, I felt like I was good for passing out flyers more than developing true long-lasting b2b relationships. Because upper management pressures each area to perform on these promotions, there is usually unrelenting pressure from middle management for us to meet these goals just to look good in front of upper management. This really takes away from the autonomy of an outside sales job. Most of the stores are under staffed. In most of the country, Store Managers are exempt and salaried, meaning they average 50-60 hours each week. In California, Store Managers are non-exempt and are required to work exactly 48 hours by policy. This puts an extra strain on the stores, because there is less flexibility in staffing. As a Sales Rep, I've had too many times where I would call the store and find only one employee working and dealing with multiple customers at once.