Life As A Route Sales Manager (CSM)
Ive read the previous postings. First of all, sometimes a depot DOES have a sales pro that exceeds and does well, as Numbersgamer mentioned. This is the exception though. You would have to have a good route with potential to build, as well as be willing to work extremely long hours, route-build, and be allright with knocking on people's doors as late as 9 or 10 pm. Then you have to wait at least a year just to start earning decent to good commissions. Not to mention all the food you would have to buy just to be qualified on their hundreds of offerrings.
Keep in mind that even though Schwan's has good food, it is high priced. No matter what Positive Reinforcement says above, we are still in a down economy and most people have to drive to the grocery store at least for milk, eggs, and beverages. Why not pay less for what they want at the store, and not have to wait for a "time window" you are slotted. Most of the times as a sales trainee, we didn't make it to the customer during their slotted time window. And one of my training days was spent with people constantly telling us they couldn't afford to order, or just couldn't wait for the 2 week cycle to come around to order.
Remember that when Schwan's started in 1952, the American landscape and family was very different. We are living in society where both mother and father work, kids have extra-curricular activites and weekend soccer games. It is harder today to catch customers at home, even with specified time windows, and especially with 60-100 customers per day. On top of that, we have a more fast-paced, mobile society where it's easy to get around, Wal-Mart and super markets are within a reasonable drive, and Sam's Club and Costco offer incredible prices!
Schwan's has a 70% employee turnover ratio. One of the reasons I quit after 2 weeks training was that I was able to review the last year's sales numbers by route, posted by the bathroom in the depot. Each open route in the depot I had a possibility of being placed on was weak. The routes were running $500-600 daily, well below the $900 mark to even start making commissions. I figured with my sales experience, my hard work, and my love to meet new people, I could greatly improve on the route. But even if I doubled the production of the best open route, I would still be making a little over $40K a year for my 80 hours a week. And that $40K feels like 40 cents when you take into account the loss of family time, loss of personal life, increased stress, and always being miserable.
All of what Gussy82 says above is true! Even the false info I was fed to get me hired. And I was also told I was NEVER required to work Saturdays. But the first week of training, a message was posted in the depot that it was MANDATORY for EVERYONE to work the next Saturday (also St. Patrick's Day when everyone is out) as an extra route day. The employees were also treated poorly. My first few days on the job were spent listening to the sales and facilities managers degrade all the employees over my training videos. Besides that, the depot manager had to sleep either in his office or on a fellow employee's couch because the company wouldn't let him keep charging a hotel room, after they moved him from another state to that location. They weren't even allowed to order uniforms for several months, leaving me to dig through old worn and dirty uniforms of ex-employees to equip myself for the job. I had to wear pants that were 2 sizes too big, and a jacket that was 3 times too big.
Users like The Motivated Schwans Man speaking of the money invested in our training and telling people to grow up, and Positive Reinforcement calling everyone failures must be Schwans management or execs. It's the same kind of BS I experienced there. When the people that mean the most to you tell you they miss you and haven't seen you in weeks, who cares about what the company invested in training? After all, it's a system that works for the company, not a career for the hard working or smart individual. If you still aren't sure who is on the level here, make sure to read the post from above by SchwanmanWife2 and tell me you would change places with them.
