Another one bites the dust

[russell]

iow and appointments not that good down to advertising but self gens are good

[russell]

welcome pagboy how about a first post or input into the forum ;D

[stuartdotpotato]

Yeah, I left ,never got so much as a thankyou! My FSM was one of the newest and pretty vacant he was too.
They owe me over 800 quid wiv no signs of paying up.
There are people on here who claim to have run businesses and been directors and the such.Let me tell you all they are liars if they are happy to be working for Hillarys.Busy fools!!.My God are you having the urine extracted? Happy now to be earning a much better living in another industry.Still like to take a look now and again,just to see how things are going.Old habits die hard!!Hope the polo shirts and caps are of good quality ;D and the SAM device is really working to improve your sales . Regards potato

[Bear]

stuartdotpotato said:

Yeah, I left ,never got so much as a thankyou! My FSM was one of the newest and pretty vacant he was too.
They owe me over 800 quid wiv no signs of paying up.
There are people on here who claim to have run businesses and been directors and the such.Let me tell you all they are liars if they are happy to be working for Hillarys.Busy fools!!.My God are you having the urine extracted? Happy now to be earning a much better living in another industry.Still like to take a look now and again,just to see how things are going.Old habits die hard!!Hope the polo shirts and caps are of good quality ;D and the SAM device is really working to improve your sales . Regards potato

Hi ! Were you the one who tried to do the County Court case against Hillarys?
Did you ever have a Contract?

Thanks for coming back, we know they are a heartless shower of thieves at Colwick, with little or no respect for sales/fitting staff.
If you died on the job doing a fit, you would get your commission docked for the trouble caused, and the client would get a massive discount.--AND the fitter sent to finish it would have to scratch for a %-age , thats who we work for.

Good Luck

Bear

[stuartdotpotato]

No I do not do court cases.Too time consuming,there are more ways to skin a cat!!Since I left I have learnt an awful lot about how to deal with the colwick muppets.Unfortunately they are not the only problem.There are agents that have been brainwashed as much as the FSM,s and will gladly go squealing to H/O with any information that they can glean in the vain hope that they can gain brownie points.However they are easy to spot.Watch out for them at your next "team" meeting,they are the ones nodding in agreement with the FSM,s(they just can't help themselves) ;D But do remember this.Hillary's DO NOT want sales professionals,they want empty heads that will do things their way, parrot fashion,that way they can pay less.£250,000 sales makes £36,700 gross commission, minus costs....who's having a larf??

[JoY]

stuartdotpotato said:

Yeah, I left ,never got so much as a thankyou! My FSM was one of the newest and pretty vacant he was too.
They owe me over 800 quid wiv no signs of paying up.
There are people on here who claim to have run businesses and been directors and the such.Let me tell you all they are liars if they are happy to be working for Hillarys.Busy fools!!.My God are you having the urine extracted? Happy now to be earning a much better living in another industry.Still like to take a look now and again,just to see how things are going.Old habits die hard!!Hope the polo shirts and caps are of good quality ;D and the SAM device is really working to improve your sales . Regards potato

________

You are the one to try the small claims court then!!

You have nothing to lose if you are no longer with Hillarys. Go for the lowest amount of £299, and it will only cost you £30 to take them to court, which you will get back if you win.

Then, it will be a test case for Hillarys, and we can all claim our money back, and you can claim the rest of your £800 owing.

The good thing is...... you can also ask for interest on the debt, and claim back loss of earnings if you have to attend court.

www.moneyclaim.gov.uk



It's illegal to take money back from a self-employed person once it's been earnt, even without a contract.
Just dig out your commission statemant where it shows the debits, and that should be proof.

It's a bit sad that we are all scared (me included) of losing our jobs by just claiming money that is rightfully ours.

PS

[blindsfitter]

mellisa said:

Doggy

I think we need to put things in perspective. Yes there are disgruntled advisors and you will hear more of this on a site such as this because that's what it is here for. By far the majority of the FSMs do a cracking job and work incredibly hard for you and the company.

On the positive side, I use this site to get informed of your issues and suggestions. I genuinely use the information I receive here to get changes made for you. I really want every advisor to be happy and hungry to attend Hillarys leads because you feel happy and confident that you can generate a large order from it.

I do not want a bullying culture I want a consultative approach where you feel your FSM has your best interest at heart and is supporting you as well as coaching you. I want every change we make to improve the service to you and the customer, otherwise it doesn't work.

Be wary of the "grass is greener" statements from advisors who have left. I have looked into the other options for advisors and the alternatives require a large investment from you, you are generally tied in most cases to a supplier and reality is you make less money (but at greater risk). If you are really thinking of leaving, talk to me or your FSM to see what we can do to improve things for you.

kr

Mellisa

"CHAPTER TWO"-- IN THE LITANY OF BROKEN HILLARY PROMISES.
THE ABOVE CAME FROM MELISSA BUNYAN FORMER SALES DIRECTOR WHO DISAPPEARED IN A FLASH SHORTLY AFTER POSTING THIS EMAIL

PLAINLY HER FINAL LINE "SEEING WHAT WE CAN DO TO IMPROVE THINGS FOR YOU" AND THE "FACT THAT SHE USES THIS SITE TO MONITOR THINGS" WAS ENOUGH TO GET HER SACKED--HOWEVER WELL OR ILL-INTENTIONED HER ATTEMPTS WERE.
I MET HER AND THOUGHT SHE WAS OK AND HAD AN UPHILL STRUGGLE.

HOW RIGHT I WAS!!

WATCH OUT SOON FOR "CHAPTER 3" IN THIS SERIES OF HILLARYS PROMISES AND UNDERTAKINGS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN AND NEVER DID.

Blindsfitter

[owl]

b11nds said:

Well after seven and half years of building a business, and customer base for a company a firmly believed in i have now called it a day and terminated my agency (does this mean i cant log on any more).
Nearly eight years ago i saw an ad and became an part time agent for Hillary's, my own number was advertised in the local paper and i answered every call professionally and even took calls on holiday in France. I built up my area from one that was doing about £1500 a week with two agents to one that is doing £6-8K a week with just me full time with up to two fitters. I don't have any customer complaints on file (as far as i am aware) i always followed the Hillary's doctrine, I paid for my own sign writing, I had polo shirts printed years before Hillary's, I traveled miles out of area (142 to be precise) to help my FSM sort out a customer complaint, I trained any one who asked me to help them, I went around the area with my FSM selling the benefits of SAM and all in all I was a bloody good agent.

So why leave?

1. Hillary's have taken agents on around me and supplied them with my business, my customers my income!
2. Hillary's are becoming a very arrogant company and now tell us rather than sell us the message.
3. My income has dropped by £8k this year yet i turned over £60k more for Hillary's. How, they have got rid of third stage bonus with no consultation no discussion no apology.
4. The senior management will not listen, in my previous life I was a sales and marketing manager/director and in developing and growing a £5million business into an £8million business I listened every day to the key people around me THOSE DOING THE JOB! The sales guys, the engineers and most of all the customers. Hillary's should learn from the mistakes of M&S before its too late.
5. The product i believed in for years is reducing in quality, the wooden Venetians are a joke, the wood weave is beyond a joke and if we carry on selling at the lowest common denominator PRICE we will become a joke.
6. The dictatorial methodology employed by Hillary's at this moment in time is beyond belief. I am self employed which means i choose how, when and where i work. Hillary's have stretched the term self employed that it is now so thin as to be unrecognizable. I don't like being told i must work so many leads a day, i must sell so much or else on each lead.
7. But the final straw came when I had to face a very irate customer who had just paid over £850.00 for vertical blinds who had just had her friend call around to tell her she had some blinds fitted by me but had only paid £198.00. The first customer could not or would not understand how the price was arrived at and despite me telling her over and over again about pricing and promotions she stood up and called me a ****ing con-man. In fact the second customers blind were Manhattan Peach which in truth were a better quality than the lace willow ones the other customer had.

Marketing if you read this let me give you some advice, Hillary's are the biggest blind brand in this country, you are renowned for quality and service. The average customer will pay for quality and service. Until you started this ridiculous 3 for £99 you had the message about right although the 50% off was wearing thin. All you have succeeded in doing is alienating the existing quality and service customer and confusing the hell out of any new customer. When we go back to sell them the extra roller blind in the new year you tell me how we explain the fact that the roller will be the same price or more than the 3 blinds she had for Xmas.

So what now for Hillary's, Mr Ritson if you are to grasp this nettle and turn the company around you could do worse than to email me and others like me (the really good agents who actually give a d**n about the job and the customers) and arrange a meeting where we sit down gloves off and really talk. You are in control of 800+ little business empires, some agents i grant you are problematic ( i have met some) but there are a awful lot of us who could possibly teach you a little about the coal face issues of running a blind company.
I fully appreciate you are beholding to the city and the bank and they in reality don't care about the day to day running of the company at our level, but please remember WITHOUT US THERE IS NO COMPANY!!!!!


And as for me, well I am off into the sunset to maybe practice what i preach. I leave Hillary's with 3500 customers who they possibly would not have if i did not do my job properly. [glow=red,2,300]Hillary's remember this you only make the blinds and the lead WE SELL THE BLOODY THINGS[/glow]

So finally I bid you all adios, I shall miss the 12 minutes waiting for the phone to be answered so i can raise a dor on another blind, I shall miss the driving from one end of my area to the next in one day because no one at the call centre has a map or thinks to book leads with a bit of thought. I shall miss the SAM system crashing on me five times a day and losing all the measurements. I shall miss Kirk the driver the font of all wisdom (if you need to know whats going on ask your van driver)
I shall miss my FSM Paul Stothard who has been a really good person to work with, if he did not return to my area i would have left years ago. Hillary's look after this guy he is an asset to the company. (you can send me £50 now Paul ;D)
I wont miss the pointless sales meetings listening to the doctrine as per Hillary's, I wont miss the lack of leads (and therefore losing me money) because someone cocks up my advertising. And finally I wont miss trying to explain the 101 different pricing promotions that Hillary's have on this month.


GOODBYE ALL

[royt]

did you need two fitters to fit 6-8k a week mate, maybe that was your problem, if you aint selling cheap shite and don't walk in the door with the sale samples stuck to your forehead you can easily sell and fit 6k of blinds a week (from 20 leads)... that makes £882 a week.....i haven't a clue what other business can get you that return from an outlay of a grand tops

most of the problem with the people that moan on here is about having no leads and therefore not earning much money, all Hillarys do is get us through the door...its up to us from then on.

I know I would rather 14.69% of 7k than 50%of a grand....work the maths out everyone stop sitting there moaning about how hard life is and get on with helping yourselves...............

[dibsdobs]

royt said:

I know I would rather 14.69% of 7k than 50%of a grand....work the maths out everyone stop sitting there moaning about how hard life is and get on with helping yourselves...............

Where did those figures come from?

[dorblindfitter]

royt said:

did you need two fitters to fit 6-8k a week mate, maybe that was your problem, if you aint selling cheap shite and don't walk in the door with the sale samples stuck to your forehead you can easily sell and fit 6k of blinds a week (from 20 leads)... that makes £882 a week.....i haven't a clue what other business can get you that return from an outlay of a grand tops

most of the problem with the people that moan on here is about having no leads and therefore not earning much money, all Hillarys do is get us through the door...its up to us from then on.

I know I would rather 14.69% of 7k than 50%of a grand....work the maths out everyone stop sitting there moaning about how hard life is and get on with helping yourselves...............

I suppose your still getting plenty of leads then? that why your happy. At the end of the day its numbers mate. Your a number, The percentage of leads you get, the part time agent put in your area while you were on holiday to cope with the volume of business you have created. The competition from the local independent guy selling arena blinds at half the price you do. The 1 in 3 dors you have to replace for sod all. Yer we have a choice and so will you when faced with adversity when it happens.

[blindmansam]

dorblindfitter said:

royt said:

did you need two fitters to fit 6-8k a week mate, maybe that was your problem, if you aint selling cheap shite and don't walk in the door with the sale samples stuck to your forehead you can easily sell and fit 6k of blinds a week (from 20 leads)... that makes £882 a week.....i haven't a clue what other business can get you that return from an outlay of a grand tops

most of the problem with the people that moan on here is about having no leads and therefore not earning much money, all Hillarys do is get us through the door...its up to us from then on.

I know I would rather 14.69% of 7k than 50%of a grand....work the maths out everyone stop sitting there moaning about how hard life is and get on with helping yourselves...............

I suppose your still getting plenty of leads then? that why your happy. At the end of the day its numbers mate. Your a number, The percentage of leads you get, the part time agent put in your area while you were on holiday to cope with the volume of business you have created. The competition from the local independent guy selling arena blinds at half the price you do. The 1 in 3 dors you have to replace for sod all. Yer we have a choice and so will you when faced with adversity when it happens.

SOUND advice there!

[russell]

dorblindfitter said:

royt said:

did you need two fitters to fit 6-8k a week mate, maybe that was your problem, if you aint selling cheap shite and don't walk in the door with the sale samples stuck to your forehead you can easily sell and fit 6k of blinds a week (from 20 leads)... that makes £882 a week.....i haven't a clue what other business can get you that return from an outlay of a grand tops

most of the problem with the people that moan on here is about having no leads and therefore not earning much money, all Hillarys do is get us through the door...its up to us from then on.

I know I would rather 14.69% of 7k than 50%of a grand....work the maths out everyone stop sitting there moaning about how hard life is and get on with helping yourselves...............

I suppose your still getting plenty of leads then? that why your happy. At the end of the day its numbers mate. Your a number, The percentage of leads you get, the part time agent put in your area while you were on holiday to cope with the volume of business you have created. The competition from the local independent guy selling arena blinds at half the price you do. The 1 in 3 dors you have to replace for sod all. Yer we have a choice and so will you when faced with adversity when it happens.

Anybody half decent at their job wont be affected so much,think about it Hillary's know who can sell and convert these people are rewarded as specialists and will be looked after.

In the main with the odd exception the only people who go down the slippery slide are poor converters,negative moaners ,or duel traders which too be honest in a sales environment serves them all right.

Any company's first and foremost objective is profitability most people that have left were deadwood anyway who wont move forward with the times eg SAM so they go elsewhere too a blind company 10 years behind Hillary's .So they pay more commission but the leads are few and long term these firms will die off .

I challenge anybody thats set up their own blind company to prove they earn more than a Hillary's specialist or large adviser if you can I may join you......wont hold my breath though

[dorblindfitter]

russell said:

dorblindfitter said:

I suppose your still getting plenty of leads then? that why your happy. At the end of the day its numbers mate. Your a number, The percentage of leads you get, the part time agent put in your area while you were on holiday to cope with the volume of business you have created. The competition from the local independent guy selling arena blinds at half the price you do. The 1 in 3 dors you have to replace for sod all. Yer we have a choice and so will you when faced with adversity when it happens.

Anybody half decent at their job wont be affected so much,think about it Hillary's know who can sell and convert these people are rewarded as specialists and will be looked after.

In the main with the odd exception the only people who go down the slippery slide are poor converters,negative moaners ,or duel traders which too be honest in a sales environment serves them all right.

Any company's first and foremost objective is profitability most people that have left were deadwood anyway who wont move forward with the times eg SAM so they go elsewhere too a blind company 10 years behind Hillary's .So they pay more commission but the leads are few and long term these firms will die off .

I challenge anybody thats set up their own blind company to prove they earn more than a Hillary's specialist or large adviser if you can I may join you......wont hold my breath though

I can tell you this for a fact. I am a qualified salesman, ex roof Specialist, worked 12 hours a day 5 days a week, 1/2 day Saturday. It wasnt all ways like that though. It was a better job part time . As a full timer with Hillarys they've got you where they like you . Held to ransom if you dont work the hours they will take on a part timer that will.
Well fact is this fortunes are not made over night when you set up any new business. But i believe i built up a good reputation in my area to see it be taken away and given to some one else just because the Fsm wanted his bonus while i was away on holiday.If i wanted to build sand castles I would have got a job selling sand to the Arabs. At the end of the day you have to look at the exit figures of agents and Fsm leaving the company. Yes the Hillarys brand is BIG . But like any dinasaur its only a matter of time before it becomes extinct ;D

Oh and yes i was fully decent and not half.

[dibsdobs]

russell said:

dorblindfitter said:

I suppose your still getting plenty of leads then? that why your happy. At the end of the day its numbers mate. Your a number, The percentage of leads you get, the part time agent put in your area while you were on holiday to cope with the volume of business you have created. The competition from the local independent guy selling arena blinds at half the price you do. The 1 in 3 dors you have to replace for sod all. Yer we have a choice and so will you when faced with adversity when it happens.

Anybody half decent at their job wont be affected so much,think about it Hillary's know who can sell and convert these people are rewarded as specialists and will be looked after.

In the main with the odd exception the only people who go down the slippery slide are poor converters,negative moaners ,or duel traders which too be honest in a sales environment serves them all right.

Any company's first and foremost objective is profitability most people that have left were deadwood anyway who wont move forward with the times eg SAM so they go elsewhere too a blind company 10 years behind Hillary's .So they pay more commission but the leads are few and long term these firms will die off .

I challenge anybody thats set up their own blind company to prove they earn more than a Hillary's specialist or large adviser if you can I may join you......wont hold my breath though

Thats a little rich, coming from someone who probably has no other advisor on his island, and next to no competition. (not meant as an insult)

What is the "slippery slope"? Where does it lead?

"but the leads are few and long term these firms will die off ."
How do you know this?

"Deadwood" will always come and go, what is alarming me is the increasing numbers of advisor's leaving that are clearly not "deadwood" (despite the name calling).

These are the very people that Hillary's should be nurturing and building theirs and ultimately our success on. These are the very people that can, do, and quite possibly will make a success of going on their own, or are welcomed with open arms by the competition. I know, I have some in my area.

The Hillary's advisor package needs to improve, if we are to get out of this....new advisor....trained advisor....good advisor....great advisor....where's he gone advisor...new advisor....cycle!

Bring back the "ladder of opportunity" and look after and listen to the ones that make it to the top! Or they will drift away. They should not be "left to it" or managed the same as new advisors.

Whilst Hillary's are good at and ahead of the field in some things (not quite 10 years though) they are lagging behind in others. Anyone who gets the trade magazines, or has done a little research, can not seriously say Hillary's are in the for front of blind innovation or product choice.

However, that said, I for one am still successfully working with them. As frustrated as some of you at the incoherent decisions that get made sometimes, that literally costs them and us money, both short term and long.

Maybe I could earn more with someone else, or on my own, its a bit naive to think otherwise, but right now I am earning enough here. So I will stay. Hoping the mechanics of our lot, will improve.

The other options will always be open to us, if it becomes un"bear"able (sorry could not resist that one).