My DM told me they would never cut inside sales and we are completely safe. I think my DM drinks too much but everyone hit last year so I think he is right. What are the chances? We are in a recession right now and that is a fact
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Cengage, Pearson and McGraw are zombie companies at this point. They are able to keep their doors open but that's about it. There is absolutely zero potential for growth in this industry. The only reason these companies are still in business is because higher ed is hidebound and completely resistant to change. Professors will keep ordering the books because that's the way its always been done, and they could give two f--ks whether the kids in their class have to pile another $200 on their ballooning student loans for an access code they may use 4-5 times throughout the semester.
@9jkb+1hX1OWsm. Well, I had a home renovation that became a disaster. So I'm glad the contractor had insurance, because I got nearly a six figure settlement.
But I get your point.
The problem with educational publishing is there is no true demand. No one wants the product and more importantly, no one needs the product. And one of the other posters was correct, people don't appreciate when a product they don't want, and don't need is forced down their throats.
You may not want insurance...but you need it. (And I have zero to do with the insurance business.)
I could not agree more with the last two posters. College textbooks and college publishing are becoming like insurance, home warranties, and home renovation. No one really wants to pay for it or there is no value to it. Publishers have not done anything innovating in the last 20 years yet there are people talking about changing student learning, changing lives, and the other usual psychobabble. There is no competitive advantage from a Pearson, Cengage, or a Wiley. The content, sales strategy, pricing, marketing, and cultures are all the same--no value whatsoever. Also, instructors also don't value the companies they work with--they care about tenure, research, teaching the necessary course load and maintaining the necessary office hours so they can go home. It's a dying industry--get out while you can!
@7kcw+1hX1OWsm You clearly know this but no one in publishing is doing meaningful work. Like no one. When I left publishing for a completely unrelated industry...a real industry, I realized how completely horrible mid-level and senior management is...across the board.
Educational publishing is an irrelevant, niche business that literally no one cares about, which is why it fosters such terrible people, bad products and no real innovation.
Being embittered is easy when you work with people who constantly pat themselves on the back for working for a company that professes to be all about changing education and changing lives, but that is actually all about keeping the status quo, flying under the radar, and jockeying for favoritism. How does this system work, you ask? By forcing unwanted, outdated, and overpriced products down customers’ throats by any means necessary… even when we all know the product is buggy, filled with errors and typos, has delayed instructor resources, has an unjustified price increase over last year, or isn’t going to be pubbed when we promised. We make money off of a system designed not to educate people but to make money—all while telling ourselves we’re doing meaningful work. How not to be embittered?
I’m not embittered. I just enjoy watching arrogant people fail.
I get the feeling 90% of users on this board are Inside reps and the other 10% are embittered ex-employees.
They don't do massive lay offs in Inside Sales any more, they put pressure on you to quit and when you don't quit they fire you. They have been doing that to individuals for the last three years, even if you hit goal.
MH has no hesitation to layoff inside reps. He is one seriously bad guy.
Never cut inside sales? Inside let 20+ people go in November 2019…. Anything is possible.
Those pizza parties always sucked. The same nasty pizza every time.
I don’t think we need to worry because everyone got raises and made goals because that is a sign of a healthy company
I can see that because 90% of Inside Sales works from home so, they could eliminate office space, big cost savings. No need for pizza parties for moral either. Inside Sales literally could meet in a hotel conference room once a year for product updates and never set foot in an office again.
DM's are useless. There is a reason why most of the district managers have been there so long. They know they cannot operate like this at other companies outside of Cengage and toxicity is supported from the top down. If you look at their tenure, more have been there 15 plus years. It’s an easy job…provide as little support/enablement as possible to the team, do worth less ride along with their reps, and know nothing about the product. The DM job is babysitting 60 percent of the time and the rest of the 40 percent review useless reports on pipeline. Cengage managers know they have it easy so rising as long as they can till they can exit. Unfortunately they have no idea what to do next with the useless industry everyone is in.
Field reps are completely ineffective compared to inside sales. Underperforming DM's will be discarded, field reps will be discarded and territories will be consolidated. Offers will be given for less pay, omitting company car etc for field reps to remain as remote inside sales but they will be eventually eliminated. Recruitment will begin to increase inside sales 50%. Also, my wife and I made soup last night and it was exquisite.
Kermit loves you
Next you will hear them saying “a recession is great for our business because people go back to school.” Biggest joke ever. And yes. DMs know nothing. Zero.
DMs are as clueless as everyone else.