customer service representative

call center supervisor

human resources generalist

center manager

bilingual customer service associate

AllianceOne

I'm going to try and give an objective overview of my experience in sales (mostly automotive, some recruitment [which is sales-like, but not in the way a lot of people think when they think sales] and transitioning to solar within the month). 

Pros: 
First and foremost, the money. It doesn't matter what type of product you sell, if you hone your craft you will be in the top 10% of earners in your community within a relatively short span of time and little financial investment. 

That being said, I'm not purely money motivated. What really drives me is waking each and every day, knowing I get the pleasure of meeting people and learning how whatever product or service I have to offer can solve their, and/or their friend's/family's, problems.

The connections I make day in and day out are beautiful; I get to hear about people's lives, their wins and their struggles - in a way, I collect stories. 

Another fun part for me is the mental jousting that comes along with negotiating a deal. Dancing around with the customer/client and digging in to uncover what is merely smokescreen and what true objections are present so that I can attempt to overcome them (sometimes I can - sometimes I fall short - sometimes my product falls short of what they need). But, the challenge of taking every person in front of me as far as I possibly can in the process is incredibly exciting. 

Cons:
Time - if you want to find success, you know, that $250k+ annual earnings everyone drools over when they're looking over job postings, you're going to put in a LOT of time and struggle at a (more than likely) much lower hourly pay rate than most of your peers at first. 

The work you do isnt hard in the way that a roofer in July's job is hard, but it can be mentally grueling; just when you think you've got it figured out and have a good month or two (I see this all the time in automotive) ego kicks in and you stop training and learning. All of a sudden that $12k check turns into three back to back $2500 checks - forget about closing the deal in front of you, you can barely close the door on your way out of the house. You will question everything you ever thought you knew and it can absolutely break you. On the flip side of that, if you can make it through those times, learn from them and move on, you will find a new level of confidence in every area of your life and no one will ever be able to tell you what you're worth ever again.

The final qualm I have with sales is the way that management is promoted and hired. This isn't really something to worry about as a newbie, but something to be aware of as time passes. What I've found is that open management positions are typically filled based on performance in the previous role. I'm going to use car sales as an example because it's where the bulk -5 years in sales and finance - of my experience is. Every dealership I've ever interacted with has a tendency to promote from within (do they always? Nah definitely not - but, they're certainly good at holding onto producers who aren't rocking the boat). This may seem like a strong positive, and sometimes it works out great! The problem? Not every good salesperson is capable of managing and coaching other people. There's a LOT of ego in management - these people were, afterall, the top performers for several years in a row. Is that inherently bad? Maybe? I'm not sure. What I do know is that it can create this perfect petri dish of an environment for someone to be targeted as a "bad salesperson" when they are just new and haven't been coached based on their learning style and individual strengths. 

The fix for you going in? Find somewhere that is willing to ACTUALLY train you. You CAN learn by being tossed in the deep end with the sharks, but you'll improve your chances of success drastically and shorten your learning curve, if you find somewhere that has a training program (that, for the love of God isn't just dated Grant Cardone pre-recorded nonsense they paid too much money for) and is willing to invest in your success with them. Take their training, apply it each and every day, hone in on your craft, learn how to apply your personal spin on things over time and embrace the results. The biggest thing that will benefit you, though is time and repetition. Dedicate a certain amount of each day to training and roll play (it's awkward, so WHAT! It's not nearly as awkward as being with a customer and fumbling through a presentation because you weren't as ready as you thought you were, or as awkward as going home at the end of a long day trying to explain to your two year old why you spent the whole day away from them and couldn't sell anything.) Apply that training to your calls emails and appointments for the day. Take notes. Ask your manager how you could have done better or how they would have handled it. Take notes of their response. Rinse repeat. 

Conclusion:
I love sales! Every job that isn't your own scalable venture requires you to trade your time for money, so I figure why not trade it for 3x as much money as most people? Every job has a certain level of Bs you've got to deal with, and if the above problems sounds like something you can work with, then I say give it a go! What's the worst that could happen - you spend two years building up a strong set of skills that transfer to basically every industry ever, meet some of the weirdest most interesting people you've ever met, build your resume and don't immediately go into college debt? The upside on this trade far outweighs the risk, especially at your age.



The Eglinton, Toronto Branch is nothing to write home about. The level of discrimination and segregation is extremely high. Working with Scotia Bank Collections under AllianceOne made me experience first hand discrimination. 

First of all, the supervisors are never helpful and only speak to individuals they like, so, when you are recruited as a new agent you are left at their mercy and will only pray you are liked so you can be properly guided on the job- This is specific to the MORNING SHIFT SUPERVISORS.

Secondly,  there is no level of control over the supervisors, most times they make a lot of noise, speak rudely to agents and even customers and are highly unprofessional even during work hours WITH NO ONE TO CONTROL THEM. I really hope the head office will send a mystery shopper to watch this and confirm.

Advise to Management

Please pay close attention to those you appoint as Supervisors. Let them know that discrimination at work place will never bring out the best in an employee, instead it reduces their self worth and never brings good results.

There should be focus on professionalism between supervisors and agents and new agents should be properly guided. 

There is a particular Supervisor in the morning shift who nobody ever wants to work with because of her HAUGHTINESS and HARSHNESS to agents and people around her.  So she has very few people working with her. Please look properly into this, ask questions anonymously from agents around and work on this.

This is not very good for your image and branding.

By far the most unprofessional place i worked at. As a collections agent my overall experiance was bad. After a two week of a very insufficient training which you can not take any picture of the powerpoint presentations to make practice nor get the presentetion itself but can take notes on your notebook. ( Why i can't take the ppt presentations while i can write down the whole thing? Isn't that both illogical and time consuming?)  Anyway even the during the training the management made visits to class and told that the training teaches basically nothing compared to what you learn on the floor actively doing the job. But you get no realtime supervisions nor regular coaching when you go on the floor. Only other agents who have some compassion and  get that you are struggling would try to assist and help you out as much as they can ( they have their job to do as well)  but that's pretty much it.  All the supervisors say that you can ask them about anything anytime but when you do  they bounce you off one  another. Not willing to answer as they are busy doing their 'job' on thier laptops. Oh and there is the occasional shout-outs on the floor by NAME about the afterwork/ lunch/ break times of agents. The whole place is like a jungle. There are sinister snakes, roaring bears, silent birds, hunters and preys ( Some agents taking other agent's high amouth payment arrangements when  they bump into them on the collections system to earn a higher commission etc. you can picture the competative environment. Making people work on minimum wage making them needy for those commissions thus do such things as stealing other people's commission money happens) 
Overall conclusion: do not work here unless you are really desperate. It's a job that requires a lot in return of the minimum.

Allianceone has been my employer 23 years and at this time our local site is closing, therefore my employment will terminate.   I have been successful and have maintained targets as required and would recommend this company for future employment if they were still in the area.  Respect for co-workers is highly stressed and implemented.   Compliance guidelines are regularly updated in accordance with government and company policies.   Allianceone has an open-air policy enabling employees to reach out to upper management when needed

Certain people are chosen because of favouritism from what I noticed, hr was no help at the time I was there, and not much room for growth. To be very frank as well, for a big company like this they should be paying more than minimum wage WITHOUT including the commission. You can only get commission if you meet the criteria. Taking a day off for personal issues was also a task in itself as well. Join if you need a steady job and can work under pressure.

Pros: Steady, Monday- Friday, paid training provided

Cons: Benefits come out from your pay if you want it, your pay was 2x a month on specific days, favouritism, and paid parking is more than your pay per hour

What is the best part of working at the company?
interesting work around car financing and related topics like optional insurance

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
the supervisors have an superiority complex saying to others  they are better than everyone else ( something a racist would say or a toxic misogynist ) 



What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
unsupportive, training was poor because all we did was take extra long lunches and discuss things that were not work related very much

A typical day involves solving clients query with entire satisfaction, offering financial advice, and meeting compliance issues. I learned how to manage client relationships, resolve issues under pressure, and upsell financial products effectively. Management is generally supportive but target-driven. The workplace culture promotes teamwork, diversity, and continuous learning. The hardest part is balancing service quality with sales expectations. The most enjoyable part is helping clients achieve their financial goals and building long-term trust.

The environment is good. Coworkers and supes are usually very supportive. There is micromanagement sometimes from the higher ups but not too much. They are very accommodating if you genuine health issues. HR is not in Canada so be aware that all your requests are going to US side. Promotions are really slow. Pays minimum wage with some bonus. Really easy job tbh but very minimal growth. It was a nice step in my journey but if you are looking for better pay, more challenges, some actual growth and not be stagnant, then this is not it.

Working for AllianceOne is not just an 8 to 5 job. Yes, with the nature of the business is always associated with "always on a deadline". Regardless of its nature, it is fun! There is an open door policy that makes it easier for the employees to discuss things with the management. Employees are friendly and willing to help you out if anyone is having difficulty with their system or simply chat.

Very toxic, the managers are incredibly toxic. One of the managers literally called underperforming agents "deadweight". They don't view you as human. There is no AUX code for bathrooms! You have to use your break time in order for you to go to the bathroom. Very unrealistic expectations in regards to performance and customer reviews, but they pay you minimum wage! the director is one of the most toxic people I've ever met, and the new campaign manager is even worse. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Customer service representative 7 salaries reported	$17.83 per hour
Call center supervisor 2 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Human resources generalist 1 salary reported	$57,500 per year
Center manager 1 salary reported	$24.23 per hour
Bilingual customer service associate 1 salary reported	$17.70 per hour

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