Forced to give 5 stars previously - Account Manager SMB Team Employee Review

This is Bill Hauser, the CEO personally writing this response. First of all thank you for speaking out in your review. I am happy to hear you found your co-workers nice and the workload easy to manage, but I am disappointed to read about the challenges you faced during your time here. First, if anyone pressured you to leave a 5-star review, please personally email me at Bill@smbteam.com with details of what happened so I can immediately address whoever did this. We believe in a culture of honesty and transparency and would never compromise that in any way. Thank you for bringing this up, and I apologize you felt this way. I want to take ownership around the lack of process management. As a rapidly growing and newer company, we do have room for improvement in this area. On one end of the spectrum there are companies that are ALL process driven, but suck the life out of their team by holding them to strict standards. On the other end of the spectrum, there are creative-driven companies that allow more flexibility for how things get done. We tend to be a more creative company, which means we’re more flexible and allow more autonomy to our team. Keep in mind, we grew from nothing to 70+ employees in 5 years (from a start up)! You also listed me (the CEO) as a negative to working here. You didn’t go into detail, so it’s hard for me to respond to this. I can say with certainty that I (like most people) don’t get along with every person I have met in my life. Perhaps I rubbed you the wrong way or maybe you just don’t like me? Either way, I appreciate you calling it out! One of my top goals in our culture is to create an environment where everyone can be 100% themselves. I want to build a culture where we treat people great, but we're not worried about being liked. I want a culture where everyone on our team can be authentic to themselves, and where we all respect people for their own unique quirks and ways of doing things. So, thank you for reminding me of this! Regarding the concerns you raised about our communication with clients, I want to make it clear we would NEVER lie to our clients about the unique offerings of our company (which ARE unique). In sales, you have to convey value to get someone to buy your product or service. Perhaps you are comparing how we frame our sales pitch around the outcomes that our clients want vs. the process-based delivery of what we do? I’m not sure, but I do know we don’t lie to clients as it would directly conflict with more than half of our core values as a company. If there was any blatant lying that I am unaware of, email me personally at bill@smbteam.com with examples, so I can address whoever specifically you’re referring to on our team, as that is NOT tolerated here. Finally, I want to address your concerns about our virtual events and webinars. SMB Team runs the largest virtual events in the legal industry. Every year, we get 10’s of thousands of lawyers at our events. And, YES… we sell things at our virtual events, so that we can stay in business. We believe in what we sell because of the results we get for our clients. I am sensing that because of A) your resistance to our sales pitch and B) you calling our virtual events/ webinars scammy, that perhaps you have a resistance to sales in general? I will admit that we are a sales-focused company, and some people won't like that. And, I appreciate you speaking out about it! I would highly encourage anyone reading this to please attend one of our virtual events or webinars to see for yourself. They really are world-class events and the best in the industry for a reason. We have nothing to hide, so see for yourself if our webinars are "scammy". In conclusion, I REALLY appreciate your feedback and take it seriously. I acknowledge we are not perfect, but we are committed to continuously improving our culture and addressing the concerns of our current and former team members. Thank you again, and I welcome any further feedback you may have. Please email me! Stay Great, Bill Hauser