SaleCycle Reviews

There are several positives at SaleCycle which makes this company an attractive proposition, however there are a lot of negatives you can only understand after working there which is too late. Even with company review websites like Glassdoor! Sadly, there are not enough genuine reviews – many reviews have been published by senior management. Employees are regulary told when a negative review goes live and in weekly meetings are encouraged to complete positive reviews during the day. These so called positive reviews cover up and mask some of the issues at this company. It is a shame the time spent asking people to create fake positive reviews could not be better spent genuinely improving the company. Therein lies the biggest problem at SaleCycle, the management. There is a constant need for SaleCycle to appear to the wider world as the market leader in its field, the best place to work – when sadly this is no longer true. Becoming a manager or director at SaleCycle is achieved by the amount of time served and how friendly you are with the CEO. This unfortunately means that there are many members of the management team with no real experience or actual talent and it is to no surprise that the company’s success has stalled. There is no experience of managing teams, no leadership skills to inspire and generate results and no understanding of how to make the company great. I’m surprised at how much they have achieved so far with this structure in place – the only explanation is, the company was in the right place (a booming market) at the right time (first to market). Since then the marketplace approaches saturation with competitors such as Adobe, VE, Yieldify and other solutions. SaleCycle has failed to adapt to any changes and has been complacent. From my experience, the biggest cause of concern is the sales outfit at SaleCycle. Sales within the business is poorly understood and mismanaged. The job itself is essentially cold calling from the moment you clock in until you clock out, if you are not picking up the phone then you are not doing your job. This may have worked in years gone by, but the marketplace has changed. SaleCycle is no longer the only product available in the market, it now competes with many competitors offering cheaper and often better solutions. In no other company have I seen such a mismanagement of the sales team. Results are demanded. Sales targets are unrealistic and often unachievable, not only on a yearly basis, but monthly and weekly sales targets are never achieved. You are reminded daily that targets are not being achieved and told at how disappointing it all is. This constant lack of success makes the sales teams feel like failures and makes going to work an everyday struggle. Even when you do bring business in, other parts of the business complain that you are adding to their workload. Account management moan about the transition to bring them on-board. Other than a quick clap around the sales team, your sale, the thing you’ve worked on for weeks and even months is treated as a burden. Are you feeling motivated yet? Like any sales role there is commission available when a deal is made. If you are looking at this commission as a way of topping up your very average salary at SaleCycle, you should be made aware that the average time taken to close a deal takes at least 6 months. The business then needs to serve the needs of the client and make their project live which can take a month if they are quick. The project then needs to be live for a month and then you may get it the following month. So at the earliest you can expect your first lot of commission in month 9. Also to get this commission you have to beg for it – fill out a form, and take it to the finance team. They will then pretend to put it in the bin several times. The commission is then checked by the management team. If they are feeling generous it will be paid out. If you are still on probation (they like to keep everyone on probation for as long as possible) then they may hold onto it for even longer with the promise of having it when you’ve passed probation. In other words, please make sure you can manage on your basic salary. It is no surprise that staff retention in the sales team is like a revolving door of people coming and going. Staff turnover is very high. There are many companies whose sales teams grow organically through recommendations and word of mouth from happy employees. Unsurprisingly the company fails to attract talent and recruitment is a constant battle. Some factors outside of SaleCycle’s control is that it is based in Sunderland and many experienced ideal candidates work for companies in the bigger cities in the UK such as Manchester and London. Couple this with a relatively poor compensation package I do not see this scenario changing anytime soon. Free ice cream isn’t going to cut it anymore. There is very little investment in employee training and development at SaleCycle, something worth considering if you are looking at developing yourself and looking to further your career. During my time at SaleCycle only managers were offered formal training on a local training course. This does not make sense given that many employees are aged 18-30 and are in junior roles. Those looking for more responsibility and development tend to move on quite quickly. In my opinion, staff morale was low. Many of my colleagues I had conversations with often discussed their disappointment with their role at SaleCycle and many of whom were actively seeking other employment. The company motto #LoveWhatYouDo is batted around every day in the office, on emails, in meetings, and in external marketing - a great philosophy but unfortunately drilling the phrase into everybody doesn’t change how everyone feels. It also contradicts the footfall out the door as disgruntled employees leave for greener pastures.