Art Post
A few days ago I received an e-mail from a P4P’er (Print4Pay Hotel member) in respect to her quitting the industry or just resigning and moving to another company. Here’s a snippet of the message that was e-mailed to me.
Arthur, I’ve been in the copier industry for more than ten years with my current company, I’ve always hit my quotas and have been a student of the industry. Today I found out that there are several new reps in the company that have a higher salary than me; in fact it’s almost 24% higher! There are a couple of other differences however I’m pretty annoyed that my years of experience are of no value to the company I work for. These new reps have ZERO experience in the business. I have no one to turn to and would like some advice as to……… from Andover, Maryland.
Damn, girl….I’m not sure what to tell you. I would tend to think that someone with your experience would be worth more. First things first, I would not rely on hearsay; this could get you fired if you confront your manager or dealer owner. If its hearsay always remember this saying “believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see” and leave it alone. On the other hand if you have proof (documentation) then I would recommend a meeting with your manager, be prepared because depending on how you got the proof could get you fired also. Maybe you need to address it like this to your manager, “with all due respect I’ve heard that there are new reps that have a higher salary than mine, why is that?” If it’s true most likely you’ll see uneasiness in their voice, a cold stare, and a few seconds of silence, most likely whatever is stated by your manager other than “yes you’re right”, will be a load of BS.
Since you’ve been in the business this long I think it would be foolish to leave the industry. I would get your ducks in line before you talk with your manager and if you don’t like what you’re hearing then maybe the only recourse is to resign. There also might be a good reason for the other reps having a higher base, maybe that have a lower commission scale. Make sure you have all of the facts first. I tend to think that with someone of your tenure you also have more responsibilities with managing existing accounts and I can’t see the logic why a new hire would be paid more, especially when they do not have to manage that many accounts or more importantly they don’t have the knowledge to manage the accounts.
If what you say is correct then I pity the management team that you work for and maybe it’s time to find a new team.
One other item I found on the Web:
“Do you have enough savings or other income to manage on? Even if your employment situation isn’t the best, you might want to consider hanging on to the job you have as well as your paycheck and starting your job search before you resign. That old saying that “it’s easier to find a job, when you have a job” does hold true”.
Good Selling!
