Complaint Review: Granton Marketing - Toronto Quebec

I believe that whatever a person does, that he or she should work hard and the benefits will pay off. There is a point where ignorance comes into play. I think an educated person, not just book smarts but street smarts as well, should be able to evaluate a profit and loss concept at the job that they are working on. It's just unfortunate that people ignore their hearts and fail to keep an open mind. I really think that this quote comes into play for these marketing companies. "Work smarter not harder."

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! first of all, you start off your report by saying "Business do fail - 95%, 50% - who cares." does anyone else see the ignorance in that? call me crazy.....tell me something Stephen, WOULD YOU CARE IF YOURSELF FIT INTO ONE OF THOSE PERCENTAGES!!! secondly, i want everyone reading this to understand that this guy, "Stephen," probably ONCE was a great human being. ill even bet he used to have a conscience! but then this terrible thing ocurred in his life, he took a job with granton marketing. from then on, everytime he faces a situation where his conscience would kick in, he rationalizes it exactly the same way he rationalized my report...by saying that the people who dont "make it" just arent hardworkers. he even ended his rebuttal by saying so, just like i had predicted the people trying to refute my argument would (that was my pre-emptive strike buddy and you ate it up) that aside, lets get into the beef of your argument.... you say that anyone working for more than a couple of days would understand the fact that eventually they would be expected to run their own business. GREAT, WHERE DO I SIGN UP!!??!!! question for you...how long does it take for you to tell someone what exactly is involved? days?, weeks?, months? a year? two?(and i am not talking in the work involved!!!!!! DONT BRING THAT UP, ITS RIDICULOUS, everyone who makes it past the first couple of days, like i had stated in a previous report, is WILLING TO WORK AND WORK LONG HOURS, THAT ISNT THE ISSUE!!!!!) I AM TALKING MONEY!!!!! another question for you...when do you tell people that they will be expected to give up thousands of dollars of their own money to set this business up? wait, ill answer it for you (im just that kind of guy)...NEVER!!! all you people advertise is the fact that its a "management training program," not once was i told that by getting involved in it would i not be able to pay my bills!!!! YOU DONT TELL ANYONE THAT PART DO YOU? let me set up the way it goes for you financially if you take a job with granton or one of its affiliates: a.) you make $50/day for the first three days of "retrain" b.) you go out on your own, make some sales, make a little money. not alot of money, but you knew that going in, and besides its still enough to pay your bills. c.) you learn you have to pay for gas and lunch on your own...you rationalize it in your head by telling yourself "its going to pay off in the end" d.) everyone gets excited about some road trip 300 miles away you sign up, then learn you have to pay for lodging, meals, gas, etc. (everything). but again, you rationalize e.) you get back from the road trip, not having made much money due to the expenses involved, and you get PROMOTED!!! now you learn you have to pay for your interviews' lunch as well. you continue rationalizing. f.) you PUT YOUR FIRST GUY ON!!! YOU HAVE A TEAM!!! now you have to pay $50/day to retrain (remember that $50 you made in your first three days?, yeah, it comes from here) plus youre retraining other leaders' people too. rationalize. g.) there becomes more retrains than leaders, therefore, youre taking out 2, maybe 3, retrains in one day!! now you go to figure how much money you have to make just to get through the day... so lets calculate how much money you SPENT today. thats $100-$150 just on retrains, plus $5 gas plus $5 lunch ($10-15 if you have an interview) plus $300 because the car that you have been driving 120 miles out to the field everyday finally calls it quits and needs some work plus $75 for PERMITS!!! (yes, you even pay for SOLICITING PERMITS!!!!) plus $10 for the dinner you had to set up with some really "juicy" leader/asst manager/manager. so lets calculate how much you spent today: $235 (and that doesnt even include the car)...you have to drop port just to make $10!!! (in case anyone is wondering, dropping port isnt an everday occurence, putting it mildly) when do you tell people that part Stephen? just wondering. so go ahead keep telling yourself that youre better than everyone else because you "work hard" and others dont...whatever it takes to ignore the conscience you once had. fact is most of the people that make it through to "ownership" still live at home with their folks, have absolutely no expenses, and are allowed to play around with mommy and daddy's money. Stephen, for you sir, i feel sorry for.... for everyday you wake up in the morning, you have to force yourself not to face yourself. and that is a TOUGH thing to do, i did it for a couple of months, i know. take care

Business do fail - 95%, 50% - who cares. Your business failed. You agreed to do the sales work at the agreed levels of commission so there is no point in complaining about it after the fact. People can and do get to run their own companies -some in months, some in years - you didn't. It would be impossible for the group to be the size it is without people being promoted from field sales to management and ownership. Ownership is the cornerstone of the business model and the 'hype' that surrounds the office. The majority of people who remain in the business for more than a few days would no doubt know that the aim is to end up running your own business. If you were not interested in, or willing to take the risk of, running your own business, as you allude to in your add-on, why did you stay? There are thousands of other direct sales companies in the world which pay solely on commission as well. DSMax's maistake seems to be giving you the chance to do something more. It is highly unlikely that anyone would bother to take the time to FAKE a response. I sincerely doubt that any company 'bigwigs' are really that concerned with what you decide to write. Furthermore, the fact that the respondent comes from Chicago is not particularly rare - as several million people will tell you. (And it is certainly not 'ironic'.(sic)) I could go on but I feel that I'd be wasting my time. For anyone who is considering working for DSMax or any of its associates; you will be expected to sell door-to-door or business-to-business, it requires extraordinary hard-work and long hours, the money can be poor at times and rarely reflects the number of hours put in, most people do not become owners. In other words, it is a real business, and if you are interested in running your own business it is an excellent way of developing your skills and mentality. Having dealt with the group both as an representative, and more recently as a client, I can honestly say that they are well respected in the business community and their training programs produce some of the hardest working and most ambitious business people in the industry. My advice to anyone considering working for/with DSMax is to trust your own judgement and if you can deal with the long hours and hard work then it is a viable and rewarding business to be in.

Is it just another arbitrary number that DS-Max likes to throw out there? Statistics are a tricky thing, and when they are as vague as that, they are incredibly untrustworthy. Like you mentioned, Ed, the success rate quoted, while likely false, is supposedly represented by all businesses in every market. Come to think of it, DS-Max's lousy sucess rate is probably the outlier that skews all the rest of the businesses into the negative.

ONE MORE THING... Hi, its me again, Easy E. after i posted my report i read someone elses report and along with it was a rebuttal. the rebuttal quoted a statistic that went something like, "95% of all businesses ultimately fail within the first two years of being opened" and that "10% of americas population control 90% of its resources." these two statements are VERY TRUE indeed, for anyone with half a clue about the business world probably recognizes this to be the case. the gentleman (whos name and report that this comes from slips my mind) who quoted this statistic uses the two universally known concepts as a rationalization as to why the majority of people who undertake a job with ds-max/granton/whatever ultimately end up failing in getting to own their own company. his claim is that with so few people making it in other businesses, why should their business be any different?. what i pose to him (and what is probably the biggest CANCER in this whole system) is the fact that 95% of people who fail in opening a business are people who ARE PREPARED TO OPEN A BUSINESS!!!! the majority of this 95% of people KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE GETTING INTO!!!!! they knew that they will be expected to invest their own capital and their own resources in order to hopefully break into that rare 5% club that actually do make it. MOST OF THEM ARE PREPARED TO LOSE MOST IF NOT ALL OF IT, AND IF NOT PREPARED, UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A DEFINATE PROBABILITY. the thing about the company in question (ds-max/granton/etc.) is that it preys on PEOPLE WHO, FOR THE MOST PART, ARE NOT PREPARED FOR SUCH A COMMITMENT!!!!!!! MOST EVERYONE THAT WORKS FOR THEM ARE FRESH COLLEGIATE GRADUATES WHO ARE JUST LOOKING FOR A JOB. maybe im just extrememly sheltered, but i have yet to encounter a single college grad that is prepared to risk thousands of his or her own dollars on a concept that yields no higher than a 1 in 20 success rate!-especially when he or she has no clue that this is what is going to be expected-all they think this is is what its advertised to be, a "management training program." think about it-what do you think the success rate of the businesses in america succeeding over a two year period would be if the majority of them STARTED WITH NEXT-TO-NO CAPITAL?!!!???!-do you think it would be as hight as that 1 in 20?, ill tell you this much, i think a 1 in 50,000 succeession rate would look pretty good. so all of you "vice presidents," "managers," "assistant managers," and etc. who rationalize what youre doing to these mainly 18-26 year old kids with the fact that "most businesses dont succeed, why should theirs be any different?" WAKE UP!!!!! you are taking advantage of good, hard-working, dedicated people who are willing to give their lives up on your account. if they werent all of these things, they wouldnt have made it past the day of O!!!! I KNOW, I WAS ONE OF THEM!!!! you spend 14 hours a day, 6 days a week (sometimes even 7) working your a*s off and what do you get in return?-an empty bank account, a g/f or b/f who left you because they couldnt understand what you were doing and why, and yourself completely deserted scratching your head thinking "i knew it sounded too good to be true." so who thinks they can go out there today, be completely honest in what they are doing, and not screw people over today?...IF WE ALL DO THIS, I GUARANTEE ILL SEE EVERYONE AT ST. PETERS GATES IN THE END MAKING NOISE! JUICE! (thats my rehash, long story, but im making a backheanded point-a little tongue and cheek action-to anyone who has worked for the company) p.s. i HIGHLY encourage anyone to either further enhance this report of mine or try and honestly refute it-i dare you to try to give an honest rebuttal to it!!!!, ill go on the record in saying its IMPOSSIBLE! have a great one, ---Easy Ed