I found BluMarc Inc. on craigslist and other job sites like monster and indeed. They seemed fishy but I was desperate so I sent my resume and got offered a interview. I spent hours googling BluMarc but found nothing. BluMarc scam, BluMarc scheme, Blumarc anything. Couldn't find anything bad. Anyways the first interview was with the head honcho. It was like ten minutes long and he says they deal with marketing and advertising for fortune 500 companies. riiiight....Supposedly did well and got asked to come back for a second interview. This all happened right after another. Just hours apart from each other.
Interview 2. Met with someone else and he was really nice. This interview was longer and we went over the levels of oppurtunity. Basically it was account exec, then trainer, then assistant manager, finally manager. After some probing he finally reveals its door to door sales. Fine, I'm hungry and trying to make anything work. Says they'll call me if the want me to start. So they call me that same day and to tell me that I made the cut. woo h*o.
First day. Me and someone else starting out the same day are taken into a small room with another guy and just shoots the s* with us. Finding out who we are and who he is. Looking back on it now, I think he was lying to me the whole time by telling me his personal story that reflected off of mine to build a better raport with me. These guys are good. Then we go to a large room. I think they called it an impact room or some crap.
Before we go in, we hear hootin and hollering and clapping. I open the door and people are cheering for me and they are formed in a semi circle with some guy in the middle. He says let's introduce me and that other new guy. everyone is like yay hooray. I'm just like wtf the whole time. He makes us introduce ourselves and he continues with some general inspiration/motivational talk. I gotta admit, it was some good s*. All of a sudden some yells, "hey guys!", and the whole room responds "HEY WHAT". "Who wants a meeting?" The room responds with something i can't recall like YEA or something. Someone comes out and starts talking about sales techniques and what was working for them. It was informative but the way they went about it was just really...weird..? Let's say different.
Then another "hey guys!", "HEY WHAT", and some other stuff was said and now the are people breaking off from the large semi circle to form multiple small circles. I get ushered into one of the circles and at this point I have no f*g idea what is going on or what is going to happen next. Looking back on it now, they were careful to seperate the other new guy and me and my attempts at trying to talk to him were carefully intercepted with people coming to introduce themselves. Usually attractive girls. This was the one thing I enjoyed about the place!
Anyways, I get into the car with the person that interviewed me the second time and go like 30 minutes away somewhere and start doing cold calls to businesses. Just going to random spots to sell quill office supplies. wow. The guy I was with was a great salesman and just seemed like a nice guy in general but he had a veil up most of the time and I couldn't really see who he was on a personal level. Sometimes he'd let it down but then he'd quickly cover it back back. I am telling you, these guys are f*g good.
To be honest, I learned a lot about working there for that short time. Mainly on manipulating the crap out of people and selling stuff to people that hate you. It really helped me a lot in that sense because getting rejected is no big deal after trying to push Quill office supplies. I actually learned some great sales techniques although they seem a little shady.
What really bothers me about this place is that after more research, although I couldn't find anything conclusive, I've come to the conclusion that they are part of MLM Cydcor/DS Max. They have the same training in place with the same mind manipulation techniques. It really is a work of art and to see it in action was invaluable. I had this guy mentoring me and trying to get me into that state of mind while trying to teach me to get the clients into that impulse state of mind to buy office supplies. At the same time, the head honchos were using the same techniques on him! It really is amazing and to see it like that was a blessing in disguise.
It is possible to make money but at what expense? You sell office supplies and your pay is 100% commission. You move up the ladder by mind f* the new people and then you eat off their commission. Then those guys become leaders and you move up to assistant manager. The cycle continues until you somehow make it to manager or beyond. And say you do make money. How can you live your life knowing that you are controlling the minds of the weak, desperate, and hungry? It's like tricking a underage teenager to having sex with you. They're so vulnerable and to take advantage of that is just wrong. However, it's not illegal (this MLM). Really should be. There's no ethics and morals. Do or say anything to get a sale and do or say anything to get someone to join your team.
Any questions or skepticism I had about this was met with, "pay your dues and you can make it to manager and open your own branch. You can make millions! The manager just went car shopping for a Benz, Mercedes, etc.!" "Just deal with the pain now and in time you will see that it's all worth it!" BluMarc doesn't just sell office supplies, they sell false hopes and dreams.
Keep your eyes peeled for companies that use these tactics. They are somehow affiliated with Cydcor/DS max. These guys are just smart and keep changing names. They also ranked 25 in best places to work in NJ but researching some others on that list were also MLMs. I think that whole nj best place to work has go to be some kind of bull s*, too. Who knows.
This is a modified pyramid scheme / MLM / scam. The reason this is a scam is that you are promised: good pay (80,000 - $110,000), a chance for rapid advancement, and a great work envirnoment. What you really get is poor pay (minimum wage when you account for the insane 10 - 12 hours a day plus Saturday morning), no advancement past the first stage which isn't really a stage, and shitty work environment where you are abused but expected to wear a smile and be part of the team.
You are a W4 worker. You are on 100% commission. You have to drive your own car and pay for your own gas. You use your own cell phone. Nothing is reimbursed. There are no benefits whatsoever.
You do direct sales going door to door, selling products and services. You walk down the street in your territory, knocking on every door and pitching (either office supplies, Verizon wireline services, etc.). Yes you do work with fortune 500 companies (Quill which is a part of Staples and Verizon), but it's not glamorous at all. You have 0 contact with these companies, unless you count calling customer support when things go wrong with an order contact.
The pay I was promised was 80k to 110k. However, I quickly realized that this was not possible. I was making less than $1000 dollars per week, even with the so called bonuses and retention. That is less than 50k a year ... and a lot less considering gas and car wear due to driving around all day. That being said I am good at direct sales and I was closing every opportunity ... there weren't many opportunities however.
You are expected to work from 8am to 6pm minimum. But often you come in early at 7:00 am and usually you get to leave the office at 7pm. So you are really working 10 - 12 hour days. You are also "encouraged" to come in on Saturday morning. And by encouraged, I mean you will be working half the Saturdays at least. You are also "encouraged" to attend Thursday social functions. And by encouraged, I mean you better do it if you want to have any chance of moving up.
The way you move up is by starting to hire and train other people - level 2. You get to level 2 very fast which is encouraging, after less than 1 month. The issue is that once you do that you have even less time to sell yourself, so you salary goes down (because you are interviewing people and training people as a major part of your day). You don't earn anything from the hiring people or any money they make. But you need to build a big team to move to the next level - level 3, where you earn a meager base salary.
At first hiring people was awesome, but I quickly realized that my salary was dipping as a result. Also, most people you hire will leave for the reasons I am writing here. Only the most desparate will stay. You are looking for desparate people who have no other options (limited education, bad credit, no experience, bad references - because they dont check references), yet can pass background check ... that is your sweet spot.
At level three they claim they might match your health insurance although not for sure.
At level four, which is really really hard / impossible to get to (most of my colleagues were going on their 2nd year in level 2 even though we were told we can get to level 4 in 1 year) you are supposedly made a manager, given your own office, and you run the show.
This is a great model for the people who own this small business (they try to make it out like they are big, that is not true at all. It is a mom and pop operation. Literally mom and pop, the owner brings in her child to the office and he crawls around and plays on the carpet). They have 0 risk. They don't pay salaries (except to the so call assistant managers, a level which no one seems to reach for some reason), and they get a piece of what you make. THey have no expenses whatsoever.
I don't know how they got their 2015 best places to work designation (these things can be bought actually), but it is not a good place to work. You are expected, like in many MLM organizations to be constantly smiling, peppy, and excited. You are part of the team. The problem is that you make minimum wage (when you factor in the hours you are working and poor pay), with no benefits, and very little chance of advancement.
I am not kidding about the minimum wage and this was extremely disheartening. Even if you are desparate as I was, you are much better off working somewhere else, anywhere else. Even a restaurante or retail store is better because you'll probably make as much, if not more, and not be stressed out. And then you can keep looking for a real sales position.
BluMarc, Inc. Reviews
I found BluMarc Inc. on craigslist and other job sites like monster and indeed. They seemed fishy but I was desperate so I sent my resume and got offered a interview. I spent hours googling BluMarc but found nothing. BluMarc scam, BluMarc scheme, Blumarc anything. Couldn't find anything bad. Anyways the first interview was with the head honcho. It was like ten minutes long and he says they deal with marketing and advertising for fortune 500 companies. riiiight....Supposedly did well and got asked to come back for a second interview. This all happened right after another. Just hours apart from each other.
Interview 2. Met with someone else and he was really nice. This interview was longer and we went over the levels of oppurtunity. Basically it was account exec, then trainer, then assistant manager, finally manager. After some probing he finally reveals its door to door sales. Fine, I'm hungry and trying to make anything work. Says they'll call me if the want me to start. So they call me that same day and to tell me that I made the cut. woo h*o.
First day. Me and someone else starting out the same day are taken into a small room with another guy and just shoots the s* with us. Finding out who we are and who he is. Looking back on it now, I think he was lying to me the whole time by telling me his personal story that reflected off of mine to build a better raport with me. These guys are good. Then we go to a large room. I think they called it an impact room or some crap.
Before we go in, we hear hootin and hollering and clapping. I open the door and people are cheering for me and they are formed in a semi circle with some guy in the middle. He says let's introduce me and that other new guy. everyone is like yay hooray. I'm just like wtf the whole time. He makes us introduce ourselves and he continues with some general inspiration/motivational talk. I gotta admit, it was some good s*. All of a sudden some yells, "hey guys!", and the whole room responds "HEY WHAT". "Who wants a meeting?" The room responds with something i can't recall like YEA or something. Someone comes out and starts talking about sales techniques and what was working for them. It was informative but the way they went about it was just really...weird..? Let's say different.
Then another "hey guys!", "HEY WHAT", and some other stuff was said and now the are people breaking off from the large semi circle to form multiple small circles. I get ushered into one of the circles and at this point I have no f*g idea what is going on or what is going to happen next. Looking back on it now, they were careful to seperate the other new guy and me and my attempts at trying to talk to him were carefully intercepted with people coming to introduce themselves. Usually attractive girls. This was the one thing I enjoyed about the place!
Anyways, I get into the car with the person that interviewed me the second time and go like 30 minutes away somewhere and start doing cold calls to businesses. Just going to random spots to sell quill office supplies. wow. The guy I was with was a great salesman and just seemed like a nice guy in general but he had a veil up most of the time and I couldn't really see who he was on a personal level. Sometimes he'd let it down but then he'd quickly cover it back back. I am telling you, these guys are f*g good.
To be honest, I learned a lot about working there for that short time. Mainly on manipulating the crap out of people and selling stuff to people that hate you. It really helped me a lot in that sense because getting rejected is no big deal after trying to push Quill office supplies. I actually learned some great sales techniques although they seem a little shady.
What really bothers me about this place is that after more research, although I couldn't find anything conclusive, I've come to the conclusion that they are part of MLM Cydcor/DS Max. They have the same training in place with the same mind manipulation techniques. It really is a work of art and to see it in action was invaluable. I had this guy mentoring me and trying to get me into that state of mind while trying to teach me to get the clients into that impulse state of mind to buy office supplies. At the same time, the head honchos were using the same techniques on him! It really is amazing and to see it like that was a blessing in disguise.
It is possible to make money but at what expense? You sell office supplies and your pay is 100% commission. You move up the ladder by mind f* the new people and then you eat off their commission. Then those guys become leaders and you move up to assistant manager. The cycle continues until you somehow make it to manager or beyond. And say you do make money. How can you live your life knowing that you are controlling the minds of the weak, desperate, and hungry? It's like tricking a underage teenager to having sex with you. They're so vulnerable and to take advantage of that is just wrong. However, it's not illegal (this MLM). Really should be. There's no ethics and morals. Do or say anything to get a sale and do or say anything to get someone to join your team.
Any questions or skepticism I had about this was met with, "pay your dues and you can make it to manager and open your own branch. You can make millions! The manager just went car shopping for a Benz, Mercedes, etc.!" "Just deal with the pain now and in time you will see that it's all worth it!" BluMarc doesn't just sell office supplies, they sell false hopes and dreams.
Keep your eyes peeled for companies that use these tactics. They are somehow affiliated with Cydcor/DS max. These guys are just smart and keep changing names. They also ranked 25 in best places to work in NJ but researching some others on that list were also MLMs. I think that whole nj best place to work has go to be some kind of bull s*, too. Who knows.
This is a modified pyramid scheme / MLM / scam. The reason this is a scam is that you are promised: good pay (80,000 - $110,000), a chance for rapid advancement, and a great work envirnoment. What you really get is poor pay (minimum wage when you account for the insane 10 - 12 hours a day plus Saturday morning), no advancement past the first stage which isn't really a stage, and shitty work environment where you are abused but expected to wear a smile and be part of the team.
You are a W4 worker. You are on 100% commission. You have to drive your own car and pay for your own gas. You use your own cell phone. Nothing is reimbursed. There are no benefits whatsoever.
You do direct sales going door to door, selling products and services. You walk down the street in your territory, knocking on every door and pitching (either office supplies, Verizon wireline services, etc.). Yes you do work with fortune 500 companies (Quill which is a part of Staples and Verizon), but it's not glamorous at all. You have 0 contact with these companies, unless you count calling customer support when things go wrong with an order contact.
The pay I was promised was 80k to 110k. However, I quickly realized that this was not possible. I was making less than $1000 dollars per week, even with the so called bonuses and retention. That is less than 50k a year ... and a lot less considering gas and car wear due to driving around all day. That being said I am good at direct sales and I was closing every opportunity ... there weren't many opportunities however.
You are expected to work from 8am to 6pm minimum. But often you come in early at 7:00 am and usually you get to leave the office at 7pm. So you are really working 10 - 12 hour days. You are also "encouraged" to come in on Saturday morning. And by encouraged, I mean you will be working half the Saturdays at least. You are also "encouraged" to attend Thursday social functions. And by encouraged, I mean you better do it if you want to have any chance of moving up.
The way you move up is by starting to hire and train other people - level 2. You get to level 2 very fast which is encouraging, after less than 1 month. The issue is that once you do that you have even less time to sell yourself, so you salary goes down (because you are interviewing people and training people as a major part of your day). You don't earn anything from the hiring people or any money they make. But you need to build a big team to move to the next level - level 3, where you earn a meager base salary.
At first hiring people was awesome, but I quickly realized that my salary was dipping as a result. Also, most people you hire will leave for the reasons I am writing here. Only the most desparate will stay. You are looking for desparate people who have no other options (limited education, bad credit, no experience, bad references - because they dont check references), yet can pass background check ... that is your sweet spot.
At level three they claim they might match your health insurance although not for sure.
At level four, which is really really hard / impossible to get to (most of my colleagues were going on their 2nd year in level 2 even though we were told we can get to level 4 in 1 year) you are supposedly made a manager, given your own office, and you run the show.
This is a great model for the people who own this small business (they try to make it out like they are big, that is not true at all. It is a mom and pop operation. Literally mom and pop, the owner brings in her child to the office and he crawls around and plays on the carpet). They have 0 risk. They don't pay salaries (except to the so call assistant managers, a level which no one seems to reach for some reason), and they get a piece of what you make. THey have no expenses whatsoever.
I don't know how they got their 2015 best places to work designation (these things can be bought actually), but it is not a good place to work. You are expected, like in many MLM organizations to be constantly smiling, peppy, and excited. You are part of the team. The problem is that you make minimum wage (when you factor in the hours you are working and poor pay), with no benefits, and very little chance of advancement.
I am not kidding about the minimum wage and this was extremely disheartening. Even if you are desparate as I was, you are much better off working somewhere else, anywhere else. Even a restaurante or retail store is better because you'll probably make as much, if not more, and not be stressed out. And then you can keep looking for a real sales position.