ACT Marketing and The Cobra Group

ilovemybrick

Has anyone worked for ACT marketing?
They are part of the Cobra group and the cobra group have a bad reputation online, anyone have experience, particularly with ACT Direct?

jnoonan

Had an interview in dunlaoghaire, unless you are a great salesman and dont want a stable income go for it. Cheers guys:)

claytho

yeah this is a hard job but if your a sales man it might be for you.it seems the reason theres all different names is because they promote with in, it explains this on the xr website as the developin process where new starts get to go on and own there own marketing company XR seem to be doing really well and employ alot of people. I to have had an interview with them. and being a sales person . it appeals to me.anymore imformation would be helpfull............

lizzyxox08

If you are a good sales person then possibly you can make money with them, however it is door to door, in any kind of weather no exceptions, you must have a positive attitude all day every day, if you dont make a sale, (which can be likely, lets be realistic about it) then you dont make a penny, however if you question this fact, you are told if you use the systems correctly then you will be grand! you must pay for your own petrol money every day regardless of whether you are driving or not, eg if sum1 else is driving you chip in by at least a fiver every day !! add that to your lunch money every day, and it adds up to a lot... i am honestly not exaggareting here! from my experience in one of these, all these companies say that have great 'opportunities' rope you in very easy, make you think your their top guy! in reality you are only a number!!!

kippy

Those names for the company sound like something that those clowns in the apprentice would come up with for team names.

Clearpreso

Ha, very true RE the names, the Spartan one is surely the most absurd of all!

scooby2791

The reason there is a few different names is because they are all individual companies working from the same office building. They each do door to door marketing and events marketing for bigger companies. Working for these companies you essentially get what you put in. The harder you work the more money you earn, the quicker you get promoted etc..

Give it a go, not many people can stick it out but the rewards are very very impressive.

scooby2791

Dudess wrote: »

These have been around for years in Dublin, Cork and possibly Galway. They're constantly advertising several positions on Jobs.ie. Even with the recession, the number of jobs (and I use the term loosely) hasn't decreased. What I've heard about them (and I'm open to correction) is: pay is solely commission, the material you're given to sell is stuffed animals (hence their recruitment pitch during the boom to marketing grads that Warner Bros and Disney are among their clients :pac:) and other kiddie stuff, or make-up (by Victoria Jackson who has worked on S&TC and Desperate Housewives - SURE she has... ). It's door to door sales - imagine waking someone up coming up to Christmas on a Saturday morning to sell them stuffed toys? I was that person - I was very nice to him but dear Jesus... not on a Saturday morning coming up to Christmas (hangover potential upped)! :eek:
You may be expected to go to other towns to sell - and who foots the travel and food expenses? Not the company! :pac:
The work day begins at about 7am and could finish 12 or more hours later. Imagine those conditions on commission only! :eek:
The one in Cork can be heard at 7-ish with banging dance music and the workers droning all these mantras.
Too Scientology for me. Avoid, I'd say - although no harm giving it a bash either, but expect Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross type experiences. That said, the Victoria Jackson make-up is nicely packaged - I may be tempted... :pac:
Actually a girl did try to sell me some when I was working as a receptionist and I had to fill out a form which was so obviously printed off someone's PC at home. It ain't gonna be getting itself headed paper what with all the name changes and such. The website for one of the Cork incarnations which I found a couple of years ago was like a kid's project too.

Not too sure where your getting your information from but that is not what goes on in ACT Marketing or any marketing company under The Appco Group. You are not given 'stuffed animals' or and perfume to sell. They do Door2Door residential marketing and events marketing, in different divisions. They have energy, security, charity and pay tv divisions.
You don't start at 7am either, about 11am is regular start time til 8-830pm, albeit the first 2+ hours would be in the office learning how to build a business etc.
Nothing wrong with being on commission, no reason to be afraid of it or try use it to scare people. It works for people who are motivated, you can either work hard and earn serious money or do **** all and earn nothing, IMO a fair way to be paid.
You work in various area's relatively close to your base office and your crew leader brings you out to the territory, occasionally you would be asked to chip in about 5euro for petrol the odd time.

Anyone who is motivated and has self belief can really make it in this business, give it a shot if you think you would be able for it and willing to put in alot of work to reap the incredible rewards.

kippy

scooby2791 wrote: »

Not too sure where your getting your information from but that is not what goes on in ACT Marketing or any marketing company under The Appco Group. You are not given 'stuffed animals' or and perfume to sell. They do Door2Door residential marketing and events marketing, in different divisions. They have energy, security, charity and pay tv divisions.
You don't start at 7am either, about 11am is regular start time til 8-830pm, albeit the first 2+ hours would be in the office learning how to build a business etc.
Nothing wrong with being on commission, no reason to be afraid of it or try use it to scare people. It works for people who are motivated, you can either work hard and earn serious money or do **** all and earn nothing, IMO a fair way to be paid.
You work in various area's relatively close to your base office and your crew leader brings you out to the territory, occasionally you would be asked to chip in about 5euro for petrol the odd time.

Anyone who is motivated and has self belief can really make it in this business, give it a shot if you think you would be able for it and willing to put in alot of work to reap the incredible rewards.

Are you speaking from the perspective of someone who is currently working there, has worked there in the past or who has a vested interest in the success of the company?

scooby2791

kippy wrote: »

Are you speaking from the perspective of someone who is currently working there, has worked there in the past or who has a vested interest in the success of the company?

Work for a company under them at the moment. To be honest I was skeptical at first about it, thought it was just door to door sales etc. Been there about 3weeks, I have seen firsthand how the business works, was at a huge conference today listening to people who started where I did and now own several companies etc over the course of 2-3years.

They are always looking for new recruits because of how the business works, companies always need customers so thats how marketing companies flourish basically. No experience required or anything, they train you up and then its pretty much up to you if you want to progress, how etc etc

kippy

scooby2791 wrote: »

Work for a company under them at the moment. To be honest I was skeptical at first about it, thought it was just door to door sales etc. Been there about 3weeks, I have seen firsthand how the business works, was at a huge conference today listening to people who started where I did and now own several companies etc over the course of 2-3years.

They are always looking for new recruits because of how the business works, companies always need customers so thats how marketing companies flourish basically. No experience required or anything, they train you up and then its pretty much up to you if you want to progress, how etc etc

Cheers for clarifying.

leggo

scooby2791 wrote: »

Work for a company under them at the moment. To be honest I was skeptical at first about it, thought it was just door to door sales etc. Been there about 3weeks, I have seen firsthand how the business works, was at a huge conference today listening to people who started where I did and now own several companies etc over the course of 2-3years.

They are always looking for new recruits because of how the business works, companies always need customers so thats how marketing companies flourish basically. No experience required or anything, they train you up and then its pretty much up to you if you want to progress, how etc etc

They pay those people to give those 'success stories' speeches. Google 'Cobra Group scam' if you wish. Think about it...why would an industry try so hard to convince you of its legitimacy if it was...a legitimate industry?!? Did that conference not strike you as very...brainwash-y, with the loud music, crazy lights and constant positive re-enforcement messages on screen (all while the employees are encouraged to fervently chant the name of their company. I'm not lying here)

Was talking to Prime Time a while back and they were stunned by some of the info I gave them. Unfortunately we lost touch when I lost my phone but I hope that there is some kind of full-scale investigation done into these soon.

hoody

I went through an interview with a company that was under the Cobra umbrella, the name of the company was Elite Marketing and they were based in Athlone. At that time (roughly 3 months ago) they were involved in selling Eircom Phonewatch systems, both door to door and at stands in shopping centres.

They made no bones about being part of the Cobra group, indeed there was Cobra literature everywhere. 3 of us went for the interview and we all got the job, which would have been commission based and involved petrol costs etc. To be honest, the system didn't seem like the hardest sell in the world, and I think (never verified this) that they had a discounted price. I never started the job as I had other interviews lined up at the time.

I would hazard a guess that any job like this would only work for those salespeople with skin like a rhino and the ability to make plenty of sales quickly. They did mention some stuff in the interview about "own your own company" and all that but in my case, the only real reason I went along was to get some interview practice. I would not like to be relying on it as a means of income.

Knowing how hard the job is, I always give any door to door salesperson a couple of minutes of my time. It costs nothing and can make a genuine difference in their day.

lizzyxox08

scooby2791 wrote: »

Not too sure where your getting your information from but that is not what goes on in ACT Marketing or any marketing company under The Appco Group. You are not given 'stuffed animals' or and perfume to sell. They do Door2Door residential marketing and events marketing, in different divisions. They have energy, security, charity and pay tv divisions.
You don't start at 7am either, about 11am is regular start time til 8-830pm, albeit the first 2+ hours would be in the office learning how to build a business etc.
Nothing wrong with being on commission, no reason to be afraid of it or try use it to scare people. It works for people who are motivated, you can either work hard and earn serious money or do **** all and earn nothing, IMO a fair way to be paid.
You work in various area's relatively close to your base office and your crew leader brings you out to the territory, occasionally you would be asked to chip in about 5euro for petrol the odd time.

Anyone who is motivated and has self belief can really make it in this business, give it a shot if you think you would be able for it and willing to put in alot of work to reap the incredible rewards.

I remember coming on to these types of threads back a few months ago, cuz i was curious about the marketing company i was working for (the same type of companies that this thread is about) and reading the comments and thinking two things :
First thought was, oh god all these people have such bad comments about the company i 'work for'
Second thought : these people are all people who just got 'negged' out and didnt believe in the opportunity. oh i can prove them wrong... etc...

because thats what the managers will tell you about people that left..
' oh they obviously didnt believe in the opportunity so thats why they left.. what they didnt tell you is that these people left because they barely had a penny left in their pockets cuz all their money was more or less spent on working being in the job.. by this i mean lunch money, petrol money...

and i know you said oh you dont have to pay for petrol, only to have to chip in a 5r an odd time.. do you know why that is... because you are only there three weeks! thats what happens wioth new people! they ease you into it, and pretty soon you will have to chip in, your territory changes every few weeks so at sum stage or another you are gonna be travelling further than 5 mins in the car.. if you think of it this way.. sum1 has to pay it.. and the person thats driving the car is not gonna foot the bill everytime!

I know you will be reading this and thinking oh shes just being negative about the business! she doesnt believe in the opportunity... trust me i was thinking the exact same about it!!

but the truth is they are just glorifying door knocking! and they will justify that by telling you oh nobody wants to stay in the field, its what you can do after the field, when you make it to manangement and your earning this amount of money!!! etc etc etc

Eoin

Just to remind everyone of what's in the forum charter:

eoin wrote: »

We caution posters to use accurate and truthful language when describing organisations. Making unfounded allegations is a risky business and may lead to potential legal action against boards.ie. In short, do not let emotion and personal bad experiences rule your head.

This warning applies in particular, but is not limited, to organisations such as marketing companies (which later turn out to involve commission only door-to-door sales) and recruitment agencies.

As limited information is available on the internet concerning these orgnisations, the boards.ie would prefer to keep discussion active, rather than banning it outright. However, if posters repeatedly fail to heed this warning, the moderator team will implement a complete ban on discussion of this type.

Please be very careful about the language you use to describe agencies like this - we'd rather keep the threads open, but if people continue to use libellous terms then we'll have to be much stricter.

Dudess

scooby2791 wrote: »

Not too sure where your getting your information from but that is not what goes on in ACT Marketing or any marketing company under The Appco Group. You are not given 'stuffed animals' or and perfume to sell.

Well it's possibly a different organisation I'm referring to so, because stuffed toys and make-up are definitely the products flogged by the company I'm familiar with.

Nothing wrong with being on commission, no reason to be afraid of it or try use it to scare people. It works for people who are motivated, you can either work hard and earn serious money or do **** all and earn nothing, IMO a fair way to be paid.

But solely on commission is only a way to live temporarily - and obviously anyone whose job has that condition attached is going to work their ass off, they're hardly going to do **** all.

Anyone who is motivated and has self belief can really make it in this business, give it a shot if you think you would be able for it and willing to put in alot of work to reap the incredible rewards.

Agreed. No harm trying it.

aidan24326

scooby2791 wrote: »

Not too sure where your getting your information from but that is not what goes on in ACT Marketing or any marketing company under The Appco Group. You are not given 'stuffed animals' or and perfume to sell. They do Door2Door residential marketing and events marketing, in different divisions. They have energy, security, charity and pay tv divisions.
You don't start at 7am either, about 11am is regular start time til 8-830pm, albeit the first 2+ hours would be in the office learning how to build a business etc.
Nothing wrong with being on commission, no reason to be afraid of it or try use it to scare people. It works for people who are motivated, you can either work hard and earn serious money or do **** all and earn nothing, IMO a fair way to be paid.
You work in various area's relatively close to your base office and your crew leader brings you out to the territory, occasionally you would be asked to chip in about 5euro for petrol the odd time.

Anyone who is motivated and has self belief can really make it in this business, give it a shot if you think you would be able for it and willing to put in alot of work to reap the incredible rewards.

You've only been there 3 weeks. If you're enjoying it and making money good for you, but be wary, and don't for a second buy too much into the 'you'll have your own business and make loads of money' line. Because almost no-one who joins these companies ever gets there, not even close. They'll tell you that's because those other people who failed just couldn't cut it in sales, but in reality it seems that many of those who persevere and chase the dream they're being fed end up broke and near soul-destroyed. (and I did work for one these companies for a short time so I have first hand experience of what they're about).


To anyone thinking of doing this job I'd say if you've got balls of steel, a brass neck and you're the sort of gifted spoofer who could sell sand to the Arabs, then this might be the job for you. Otherwise avoid like the plague.

Otis Driftwood

scooby2791 wrote: »

Work for a company under them at the moment.

In what capacity can I ask?

scooby2791 wrote: »

Been there about 3weeks

Now call me a cynic but every single thread that has ever been started on this forum has been nothing but horror stories yet you expect us to swallow that you have been there only 3 weeks and are singing its praises,come on now,do you really think people are that naive?

scooby2791 wrote: »

was at a huge conference today listening to people who started where I did and now own several companies etc over the course of 2-3years.

Do you have links to where this conference was held?Id presume that a huge conference would have alot of advertising done for it,online and otherwise.Also,these guys that now own several companies.What kind of companies are they?

TBH I call shenanigans on your posts.If it looks like a duck,walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,invariably it is a duck.

I could be wrong and if I am I will hold my hands up but your posts sound more shill like than a very shill like thing.

fg10291

Posted a cv on jobs.ie and within 15mins got a call from clearwater offering me fantastic exciting prospects and exciting earning potential, spent 5 mins trying to get information on the job from her but she was reluctant to divulge ( interestingly she called from an 051 prefix which is odd considering the address ), told her to get lost. Two days later get a call about exciting prospects and excellent earning potential from XR Marketing ( sister company ) told him to take a hike.

scooby2791

nedtheshed wrote: »

In what capacity can I ask?



Now call me a cynic but every single thread that has ever been started on this forum has been nothing but horror stories yet you expect us to swallow that you have been there only 3 weeks and are singing its praises,come on now,do you really think people are that naive?



Do you have links to where this conference was held?Id presume that a huge conference would have alot of advertising done for it,online and otherwise.Also,these guys that now own several companies.What kind of companies are they?

TBH I call shenanigans on your posts.If it looks like a duck,walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,invariably it is a duck.

I could be wrong and if I am I will hold my hands up but your posts sound more shill like than a very shill like thing.

Was an FR, now I'm a leader, in which I bring out people who just started the job and train them up, they in turn become part of my team.

In the company over a month now, still love it as much as I did when I started.

Call shenanigans all you want, no skin off my nose TBH, just giving the naysayers a slightly more in depth view of the company, up to you to believe it or not.

The conference was called the 'Rising Star Rally', which is the Appco Group rally held in Ireland. Its for all those under the Appco Group umbrella, not for the general public. It is where speeches are given, awards dished out and then drinks afterwards in the hotel bar where you network with other owners.

There is the website:

http://www.appcogroup.com/

Regardless of how you judge or view it, or think what I'm saying is shenanigans I will still be enjoying the job and have the same view and opinion of it. Whether its all BS or not I'm still making very very good money so it will always be worthwhile

micdug

scooby2791 wrote: »

Was an FR, now I'm a leader, in which I bring out people who just started the job and train them up, they in turn become part of my team.

In the company over a month now, still love it as much as I did when I started.

Call shenanigans all you want, no skin off my nose TBH, just giving the naysayers a slightly more in depth view of the company, up to you to believe it or not.

The conference was called the 'Rising Star Rally', which is the Appco Group rally held in Ireland. Its for all those under the Appco Group umbrella, not for the general public. It is where speeches are given, awards dished out and then drinks afterwards in the hotel bar where you network with other owners.

There is the website:

http://www.appcogroup.com/

Regardless of how you judge or view it, or think what I'm saying is shenanigans I will still be enjoying the job and have the same view and opinion of it. Whether its all BS or not I'm still making very very good money so it will always be worthwhile

1 Month and you're already a Team Lead!! Well done. BTW - when they say owner they mean Francisee. An owner would actually own something wheras sending a few lads out to sell teddy bears as part of a francise scheme does not.

Anyway, great website. I particularily loved how they describe their talented employees (i.e. You) on the site....
Delivery of over one million Human Commercials™ globally every day

I have to say though, you have to admire a company with such a brutally cynical Modus operandi. As the great showman P.T. Barnum would say "there is a sucker born every minute" and if you can exploit those numbers there is plenty of cash to be made....

scooby2791

micdug wrote: »

1 Month and you're already a Team Lead!! Well done. BTW - when they say owner they mean Francisee. An owner would actually own something wheras sending a few lads out to sell teddy bears as part of a francise scheme does not.

Anyway, great website. I particularily loved how they describe their talented employees (i.e. You) on the site....
Delivery of over one million Human Commercials™ globally every day

I have to say though, you have to admire a company with such a brutally cynical Modus operandi. As the great showman P.T. Barnum would say "there is a sucker born every minute" and if you can exploit those numbers there is plenty of cash to be made....

Oh a sarcastic reply! How hilarious. No, it is actually an owner. A franchisee opens up under the same name whereas an owner sets up there own company under their own name and trading rights. By that you have to register your company. 'Sending out a few lads to sell teddy bears' - sheer brilliance. Your level of pure ignorance is incredible, but hey ignorance is bliss right? So I'll leave you with your opinion and I'll continue to enjoy my job and the vast sums of money I have been earning.

micdug

scooby2791 wrote: »

Oh a sarcastic reply! How hilarious. No, it is actually an owner. A franchisee opens up under the same name whereas an owner sets up there own company under their own name and trading rights. By that you have to register your company. 'Sending out a few lads to sell teddy bears' - sheer brilliance. Your level of pure ignorance is incredible, but hey ignorance is bliss right? So I'll leave you with your opinion and I'll continue to enjoy my job and the vast sums of money I have been earning.

Not as funny as claiming the "Vast sums of Money I have been earning" after a mere 4 weeks!!! Pull the other one. ! To be fair Franchise is probably too nice a word. Multi Level Marketing would be far closer to fact. I'd let it slide except you are clearly trying to convince people that MLM is not a scam that preys off the vunerable. In order for you to make "Vast sums of Money" you have to convince others to join. For those that might actually believe this guy have a read of this site: http://www.mlmwatch.org/01General/10lies.html

leggo

scooby2791 wrote: »

Oh a sarcastic reply! How hilarious. No, it is actually an owner. A franchisee opens up under the same name whereas an owner sets up there own company under their own name and trading rights. By that you have to register your company. 'Sending out a few lads to sell teddy bears' - sheer brilliance. Your level of pure ignorance is incredible, but hey ignorance is bliss right? So I'll leave you with your opinion and I'll continue to enjoy my job and the vast sums of money I have been earning.

With respect mate, the reason they don't all operate under the same name is because it'd be easy to black-list 'Appco Group' as an umbrella branch but people don't see the warning signs if it's called '(Apprentice Team Name) Marketing'.

The job teaches you great sales skills...you'll take them with you for life. So it's worth doing for a couple of weeks.

But it also sets you up for failure: have you registered as self-employed with the tax office yet as you should legally be doing? (They encourage this promising that you can go tax free for your first year as a sole trader)

Yep, in doing so, now you can't sign on the dole if you decide to leave. So now you're in the position where, if you don't work with them, there are very few other jobs out there for you to go to. If you don't convince yourself that this job is the best thing ever, you're going to have to admit that you're ****ed. Harsh, but true.

This aspect is where it bears similarities to a pyramid scheme and will hopefully, once exposed on a national level, be made illegal in the near future.

Cuddlesworth

scooby2791 wrote: »

Oh a sarcastic reply! How hilarious. No, it is actually an owner. A franchisee opens up under the same name whereas an owner sets up there own company under their own name and trading rights. By that you have to register your company. 'Sending out a few lads to sell teddy bears' - sheer brilliance. Your level of pure ignorance is incredible, but hey ignorance is bliss right? So I'll leave you with your opinion and I'll continue to enjoy my job and the vast sums of money I have been earning.

If you have set up a separate company then why would you need to register with them? Surely it becomes a matter of buying a product off a wholesaler.

My Dad used to do sales training years ago. One of the things he thought the people in his course was how not to be scammed by the above outfits. Another was not to have a conscience if you want to make big money.

dudara

Enough - thread closed

dudara