Vantaggi
-Incredible Colleagues: The people here are brilliant; some of the brightest and kindest you’ll ever meet. Victorious has very talented people who are customer facing and that is the company's greatest asset. -Industry Recognition: The company has garnered awards over the years, due to the hard (+thankless) work of their CSM, SEO and Content teams which can look good on a resume and provide some initial credibility.
Svantaggi
Leadership & Layoffs -Callous + Cruel Layoffs: Recently, one-third of the Customer Success department was laid off only a handful of days before the annual company retreat. All of these employees were top performers, and leadership handled this as poorly as they possibly could. No one knew this was happening and there were no plans/transitions made for dozens of customer accounts. This incredibly short-sighted decision by leadership was a huge blow to the morale, which is already very low, and left the remaining team members both anxiety-ridden and required clean up their mess. Employees with over 3 years of hard work and dedication were treated like trash. So much for "People-First", which is clearly not a core value they actually embody. -Lack of Empathy: There’s a pattern of leadership blaming former employees for systemic issues instead of acknowledging poor decision-making on their own behalf. They routinely gaslight employees to avoid taking any personal-accountability. Collapsing Culture -Nearly Nonexistent Culture: In 2021 and 2022, Victorious made efforts to foster teamwork and engagement, but regular stand-ups and fun Slack channels have all but vanished. Morale-boosting traditions have faded, and there’s a noticeable disconnect across teams. Everyone has been burnt out for years now, and this feedback has been shared far and wide, but nothing has changed. The poor culture and low morale is somehow continuing to hit new rock bottoms. -Secrecy and Poor Communication: Big decisions that impact the customer-facing teams are made behind closed doors, with minimal transparency. Employees are often blindsided by sudden shifts and restructures, with NO training given. It is impossible to keep up with leaderships' knee-jerk reactivity. Sales Methodology -Ineffective & Misaligned Sales: The sales team OFTEN brings in customers who have slim chances of SEO success with unrealistic expectations. This sets other departments up for failure and leads to high churn. -High Turnover & Minimal Training: The sales department turnover is extremely high, suggesting insufficient training or a flawed approach to selling the company’s services. SEO Department Struggles -No Accountability: The SEO team is personally responsible for many accounts that churn, however, there is no accountability for them being weeks late on deliverables, or not following through on promises made to customers. The CSM team pays the price for this major issue. -Understaffed & Overworked: The SEOs carry an unmanageable workload, which has been a concern shared for years. Promises made to clients frequently go unmet, leaving the Customer Success team to manage the fallout. -Poor Retention: Skilled and talented SEOs tend to burn out within a year and leave, which perpetuates a cycle of instability and unmet deliverables. Overall Lack of Accountability and Strategy -Constant Blame Game: Leadership frequently shifts blame onto others rather than taking responsibility for failed initiatives and oversight. -Short-Term Fixes vs. Long-Term Vision: The company pivots quickly from one new strategy to the next without learning from past mistakes. This reactive approach erodes confidence and clarity across all teams. If they would listen to feedback and concerns frequently being shared, they could have saved the ship from sinking; it is too late now.
