Where do I even begin? If you're thinking about working in the sales department for CTA, run for your life and career! You will get lured in with a false sense of making a lot of money and working with interesting tech companies. You may even be presented with a sales commission plan that looks comprehensive on the surface. But once you get into the organization, the cracks will start to present themselves, and quickly. As a sales person, you will NOT be treated like a professional. You will be treated like a child (at best), and will be expected to do as you're told at all times. The sales commission plan process is a complete joke. It is entirely dictated by senior management at CTA, who literally has no clue what the customers are thinking and moves at a snails pace. By the time you receive the commission plan, it will be 1) entirely unrealistic, 2) late to a point where it is infuriating, like, with only 3-4 months left in the sales cycle..., 3) absolutely not open for discussion - several people have been fired for even trying to have one, and 4) will be presented to you like "sign this or don't get commission". Whatever your commission plan says, divide it by three and that's most likely what you'll end up with. The truth is, there is a disappointing stigma at CTA where the people in charge of setting the commission plans believe the sales people are overpaid order takers and that they don't matter. RUN! Once you survive that nonsense each year, since the goals are set unrealistically by people with no clue, there is immense pressure to sell, sell, sell. Oh, the customer is barely a tech company? Doesn't matter! Call them anyway and see if they'll buy a space in the show. It's no wonder the quality of company participating at CES has declined immensely over time. There are no quality controls in place. There are political controls in place that prevent you from actually doing anything cool with interesting companies, but quality? Nope. It's just mindlessly sell, sell, sell to anyone who tries to come in the door to get a space or to any pathetic company that looks even remotely relevant. Then there's the workload and client distribution... a classic case where there are more "Managers", "Directors", and "VPs" than actual people doing the sales. If you think you'll have time to form meaningful relationships with any of your clients, forget it. There are so few people actually doing the sales for the show that you'll be expected to manage the entire show experience for hundreds of customers. Hundreds of them. That's hundreds of emails and phone calls each year from all over the world, every day, every hour. You'll barely have time to even get through your inbox let alone actually have a meaningful conversation with anyone. You'll ask for help, you'll beg to sales leadership, and what will they do? Nothing. Actually, not nothing. Nothing would be a blessing at this point. Instead, they'll make you feel bad for raising complaints. "CTA depends on you. Our salaries depend on you." You'll be made to feel guilty for expressing legitimate concerns about how things are going like you're some kind of selfish complainer. Then there's the information flow. As a sales rep overseeing the CES show experience for hundreds of customers, nearly 98% of the time, you will be the absolute LAST person to know anything important about show changes or updates. In fact, sometimes your customers find out before you do which is always fun, because then you look like an uninformed moron. If you made it to this point, hopefully you're thinking - well did you express these issues with HR? Obviously. HR at CTA is a joke. They don't have your back and they don't address issues. They're besties with the VPs and senior leadership and are part of the problem. Anything you say in the HR office can and will be held against you. So there you have it. That's what it's like to be on the sales team at CTA. Work there if you're desperate but please be warned. Everything above will eventually come true.
