Although it facilitates upward mobility, incompetence among upper management is the rule rather than the exception. Disorganized communications channels and a lack of training lead to a frequently dysfunctional working environment. Frugal would not be a good description of Prime's policies... miserly would be more adept. Each branch is budgeted $75/month for supplies, which often leads to personal purchases of store necessities by the manager, such as printing paper.
Above all else the moral bankruptcy of Prime Communications is what truly sets it apart from other retailers. The company insists upon ludicrously improbable sales goals which fly in the face of empirical evidence based on past sales trends in order to reach decent commissions compensation tiers, effectively ensuring that large commissions checks to sales personal will not need to be paid. Disagreements over compensation are a common occurrence and are rarely resolved in a favorable manor for the employee. This is just one aspect of Prime's many less than laudable policies.
Sales representatives are encouraged to record pass codes and social security information of customers in a physical CRM location attached to a customer profile such that full, unauthorized access of the customer's account is only a click away at any given moment. Encouragement of high pressure sales tactics, a retail industry standard, is the norm; which wouldn't be so bad were it not for the dishonest way employees are encouraged to position products and services for customers. Let's just say that transparency, honesty, and the customer's best interest are not foremost in the minds of the management of Prime. To illustrate this, I will provide a brief example.
During the months of February and March at&t ran a special for all new line activations on a postpaid wireless account, which was heavily advertised on national media. Per new line initiated on an at&t post-paid wireless account a $100 bill-credit would be applied after 45 days of active service. This was the case under any circumstance for post-paid activations. Given this context, I invite you to imagine yourself in my shoes, a relatively recently promoted Sales Manager in a meeting with your brand new District Manager and your fellow Sales Managers in your district. One of your fellow managers is receiving praise for his performance and the tactics employed to attain his great numbers. "Great job this month on the wireless homephones *!" (no names will be used, they will all be substituted with *) "why don't you let everybody in on how you've been getting people to close with you?" says your District Manager.
"Well, *, I've just been positioning the $100 bill credit effectively." replies your colleague.
"Yes you have! Tell everybody about how you've been positioning it!" the DM encourages.
"It's been really useful in overcoming objections. Just last week, I had an old lady who had an old land-line and was paying about $35/month for it, so I told her I could save her money on her home phone bill if we converted it to a cell phone. She didn't wanna do it at first, so I asked her to wait while I called my DM... then I called you, *, and I said, 'Hey, *, sorry to bother you, but I have a Mrs. Jones in the store with me, and I was wondering if you could give me approval to help her out... Do you think I could get her a wireless home phone for free today with a 2yr contract? Ok... one more thing... do you think we could get a credit put on her bill for switching over? $100! Great, I'll let Mrs. Jones know." your fellow replies.
Not only was the $100 bill credit an automatic addition to the new line activation, but ALL wireless home phone units are free in store with a 2yr contract... regardless of any other circumstance or special. This manager feigned a legitimate helpful gesture in order to manipulate an old lady into a purchase of a service which she may not enjoy, on a two year contract in order to boost his store's numbers and ultimately his paycheck. As horrifying as these actions may be, what is most shocking to my mind is the praise and encouragement of this dishonest behavior from upper management. This was not mere tacit complicity, this was facilitating, enabling, and promoting of dishonesty in a formal company meeting. It is an endemic problem poisoning the company and its character.
This is but one example among many of immoral activities occurring on a regular basis inside of Prime Communications, and barely touches on the poor manner in which they handle their employees. In short, Prime Communications is not a good company to work for if you have an ounce of integrity and expect reciprocated respect from your employer. I await my leave of this organization with baited breath.
