I know the SM role is not as respected as it once was several years ago. Would more money be the only reason to take it and is it worth it ? Looking at it from a reps perspective the job has turned out to be a glorified greeter position. There are definitely pluses and minuses like with any new job. Do I want to get stuck working a bell to bell because another another manager can’t come in ? Do I want to lose the freedom of taking a sick day on a whim because I have the responsibility and pressure to open or close the store ? No doubt the job is easy and a lot of stuff I do is 75% of what an SM does. I guess I can always try it and if I don’t like it move back to a specialist role ? My family says I should take a shot and have nothing to lose. I’m in my early 30’s and have been a rep for 5 years now. Any advice or opinions ?
16 replies (most recent on top)
Ha. It's always been a baby sitting job. I've done it for years.
Well it happened!A rep who got by every month, very good with operations and inventory not the "heavy hitter" or slammer that used to be promoted during the years of individual quota. Just got an Ast Mgr job! In the past,he didn't fit the mold on the person they hired! I told him stay at position for 1 year then ay any cost get something else within the Co. Good luck
@3afr+1iqQ8DsK I like everything you suggested but here comes some reality for you. If you try to be an SM that tries to outshine the other managers in the store you will be gaslighted out of the job. Lets face some hard facts. To even get an SM job you did some but t kissing and played their game to get in. Fakery and phoniness at its finest. Now you think changing that game once you get the SM role is going to fly ? HA ! Try to go against the grain and see where that gets you.
My DM told me its the worst Job in the company because if the store is doing " poorly the ast mgr will be blamed and if the store is doing well the gm gets the credit those were his exact words. Now these points are what you should consider if you accept! 1) Stay at ast mgr position for1 year only 2) Don't get caught up just greeting at the door move around and help the reps. 3) after you get your certification to be in the " Do nothing club" don't hang out in the back,go home early, come in late etc, 4) work most weekends till you get to the covetd Gm job then you can take every Sunday off and work no late shifts.5)Get into work before your reps if closing be the last to leave its l perceived by staff morale is still important (6 don't micromanage and be confrontary(moral again) 8) lead by example don't take short cuts Good luck
@2duk+1iqQ8DsK “ Take the money not deal with customers “. Um wtf are you smoking.? I’m an SM and I deal with customers all day long, at the door greeting and handling countless escalations. Actually I deal with customers the majority of my shift. Everyone else does as well. Clearly you don’t work in a Verizon retail store.
Sm role is in a weird phase. Seems like they are like we need it, but do not want it. Glorified babysitter to a bunch of 20 year olds now anyways. Take the extra money, not deal with customers.
I’m currently an SM out in the midwest. How sad is it that not one response here has been positive about the SM role ? Most of what people are saying is true. I guess that if your long term goals are with Verizon take the job and move up higher down the road. If you are looking to be a career SM then i would highly advise against that. The job truly is unstable AF.
Verizon retail is desperate and they will promote and hire just about anyone. It’s funny how it all works out though. All those bottom of the barrel reps that benefited from the team commission change are now are taking on SM jobs. You know retail is dead when you see things like that going on.
I’ve seen some questionable promotions to SM the past few months. Two of the specialists who were promoted rarely made quota before covid kicked in. Why would you promote someone who was bad at sales ? It just goes to show you that’s not what Verizon is looking for anymore. It’s all calls, numbers and ops stuff. I think knowing the type of store you are applying to and what type of people you are working with will make a huge difference. Even though most stores are busy stay away from the prominent high traffic locations. Good luck with whatever decision you make !
SM job in a nutshell : Open/close store, greet, do calls several times a week talking about numbers that you have zero influence over.
@yap+1iqQ8DsK That’s how the job once was...everything you mentioned. It’s not like that anymore. Ongoing staffing issues prevent most of what you said from happening. Unless you work in a very slow store those are some unrealistic expectations from the SM’s. I will admit my SM role has become a “ glorified door greeter “ and it stinks. I barely get a chance to sit down. The reps in our store are basically abandoned, left on their own with no management interaction. This is going on in every store and the numbers show it. Until they correct staffing and hire permanent door greeters things will never improve. I’ve seen people on here mention that bringing back individual commission will solve a lot of issues. That may be the case but a lot of things would still remain a challenge. At this point I would not recommend taking on an SM role.
It use to be a cake walk. Now that they got rid of operations and customer service; it all falls on SM's. Couldn't pay me enough to do it now.
You'd be better off trying to move to a better sales job in another company.
if you want to join the lazy people in the back watching movies on your phone and watching the cameras to then write up your personal just become an SM.
As far as moving up after that, do it fast who knows if next year we'll have corp store or soon will go to indirect like most of them these days.
Where do you want to go with your career? If you aspire to be a leader in the business this is a big step towards that. You don’t have to be a “glorified greeter”. Learn the management side of the table and run the store how you would if it were yours. Be there for your reps. Help close sales, take customer escalations and alleviate them without throwing your team under the bus. Do yourself everything you ask your team to do. You’ll get it.
If you are really good at preaching the kool aid and telling upper management what they want to hear rather than the truth then you'd be a good candidate. They'll put you on calls and call you out for numbers because that's really all they care about. Make sure you know your numbers really well and how to speak to them, again with what they want to hear. And if you put in any extra hours you get paid half of your normal pay because this company is good at sc rewing over loyal employees. You have to go in really early to do inventory and box counts. You have to be good at handling all the angry boomers and karens. And no matter how much the job s ucks, you still have to put on a smile and act like 5G home is the next best thing to ever happen in the wireless world. Best of luck being a puppet fellow Vteamer