Since the plan is to turn over more and more stores to indirect, is it safe to become an indirect account manager? I know that channel has been downsized in the past but it seems like a safe bet under the circumstances.
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Sorry sour grapes. Your gravy train has pulled into the station. Now you are going to have to work for a living if you can find a job.
Good luck to all the downvoters. You all enjoyed the downfall of Corp retail and now you’re no better.
I guess all the upvoting and downvoting the indirect fanboy did had no impact on keeping their job. IAM's are getting clobbered today. The chickens have come home to roost.
In California they have hired high performing reps to IAM. Although they tropically hire B2B or GM to the role, that’s not always the case.
I was an Indirect Account Manager for 8 years. When I was recruited from B2B after 4 years and hired in Indirect, the Directors then ONLY hired highly successful Store Managers or B2B Reps. It was never a first job in the company. Many of these comments about the role are laughable on this site. Solution Sales Reps would never get an interview when I was in the role. IAM’s in the Agent space (NR role was Merch and training) do reporting for all their doors, 15 store visits a week documented, must be able to multi-task, update merchandising, assist with IT issues, fix customer issues, fix agent Reps, get crucified by your DM and Director for 20 different KPI’s, train the reps, side by side sell, have meetings with owners and their DM’s, scout new sites. Always had a full plate daily. And Accountable for all. The role a few years back was stressful but rewarding. A strong IAM with good doors and good influencing skills could make $110k a year. In speaking with friends that are still IAM’s, since the merger with IAM’s from National Retail doors, COVID, WFH, the role has changed dramatically. Base salary plus a weak STI now will cost IAM’s 10-20k a year in earnings. Plus the channel doesn’t have the same high caliber of dedicated reps it did in the past. They are nervous the role will eventually will be downsized, eliminated or outsourced, ala ATT. The company probably won’t pay 80k a year to call stores from home through all of 2021, like 2020.
There’s a ton of activity on this post in terms of downvotes. Seems like all the confident IAMs are on this site a lot for some reason.
If a winners circle/presidents cabinet rep can get the job with no prior experience I think the necessary “skill” needed for the job is marginal.
AT&T outsourced all indirect positions to part time, minimum wage paying contract positions. Shows you the skill needed and value brought by the job.
It’s pointless to get recommendations from this site. You’re better off reaching out to leadership or someone active in the position you are inquiring about. You can ask about any channel and there will be an entitled Solutions specialist who will tell you how the job is pointless or has something negative to say. Not because the job is pointless but because they themselves are projecting their unhappiness. They feel their job as a solutions specialist hold some sort of weight. Well, when I was a GM I interviewed prep cooks and cashiers for the solution specialist openings in my A level location. Those who I hired appreciated the opportunity and eventually were promoted surpassing those who had entitlement issues. What else can you expect when you’re stuck in the most entry level position in the company.
Been in Indirect for the first 4 years of my Verizon tenure. At first, the position was super stressful like how anything was at VZW. It was very productive as had influence on agent doors and commissions, training, programs, etc. However, since the the two channels combined, Big Box and Agents, there is significant over staffed . Local Agents do have a lot of value but for the AMs for big box, since they can’t sell side by side anymore, and the large retailers don’t care for cellular, they have little value and that’s the problem. I have left the channel a few years ago because I don’t see a future there especially now with Covid and WFH. There is too many of them and not much they can offer. In fact Target pulled out of the program. They don’t even support Apple and the Agents are consolidating. The comp plan has changed to STI. I see significant cuts in that channel in the near future but that’s just me. It is also a channel that is hard to move out of. Other channels and other companies don’t take Indirect very seriously. It took me awhile to get out but I did. I mean, they can pay a rep from 20/20 15.00 per hour to do that job for National Retailers and then just have a few AMs work with the agents. That’s the ATT model and it makes sense. Or have the TMo like 50 locations to 1 AM. I would be cautious on this position and also if you have ambitions it can be stagnant. True, hardly anyone leaves those positions. It can be a position to go and hide and until VZ makes a change.
The ride-a-long was fairly simple when I did it. Take a look at merchandising with an iPad and chat with the staff at a few doors. Listened in on a call with an owner which was the most interesting part.
I agree that the negative comments are usually ppl projecting their negativity. However, that’s pretty bad if you’ve been working from home all year. I’d be a bit worried too, good luck and thanks for the input!
Personally, I would read into the negative comments. This is anonymous for a reason. More than likely the negative comments come from those who have entitlement issues and are projecting their negativity because they are negative in general. They would jump at any opportunity to be an account manager but that poor attitude leaves them alone to get ahead and now the position is “worthless or pointless”. I have been and Account Manager for a few years and I’ve developed wonderful relationships with our partners and I’ve seen the effects of someone who hasn’t. Yes this position “in some areas” can be thinned a bit but none the less I’ve seen small wireless businesses go under when we stop supporting them. I can guarantee you that our impact to the business far out weighs the impact of a– or and SM on here spouting off colored comments or giving their perception of what they think the job is. It’s those perceptions they have displayed that will get them nowhere except exactly where they deserve to be.
Good luck finding one of those jobs. There is a reason they don’t come up very often
I am an IAM and I'm fully expecting the role to be nearly eliminated very soon. We've been working from home, essentially doing nothing because you can't do the job from home, and the stores haven't missed a beat. From a business perspective I can't see how VZ keeps the role intact when it has proven to have no influence on the business over the last 10 months.
Sounds like there are some salty asshats ITT that A. Have no f—ing clue what they’re talking about when it comes to what account managers actually do, and B. Probably got passed over multiple times due to piss poor attitudes in their retail roles and nobody wanted to touch them. These are the same people that wait until the job rec posts to call and say “HeY cAN I dO A rIDe aLOng? I wANt tO KnOW mORe aBOuT iNDiRect”
The company tells you its a job that you have to be a store Gm to even get a foot in the door. The job itself is you're making sure your indirect partners are up to date on merchandising, promotions, and the staff is up to date with Verizon etc. Its one of the easiest jobs in the company a peanut could do it. Like they say its not what you know its who you know.
Indirect Acct mgrs are equally as useless as a screen door on a submarine
You’re going to be waiting some time for an Indirect Account Manager position to open up. All and all if you have the patience and see something I would recommend it. It’s a very fulfilling position. I would suggest doing some research and reaching out to an account manager to schedule a ride along or a virtual ride along. Good luck 🍀