5 replies to this topic

[Chris Miller]

Anyone else get a call from proforma recently? Obviously these guys are looking for new sales reps / franchise owners like everyone else is but the lady that just called us had the NERVE to ask us how much we were doing in sales!!!!!

Wowsers... I guess that's one way to narrow down your prospects. Just call all the distributors and find out if they're selling at least $x to know whether or not they are worth pursuing further.

I am shocked.... very unprofessional in my opinion.

Thoughts?

[PromoteYouMe]

I too have been called a few times by a recruiter at Proforma, I have been in the industry for over 20 years and worked as a VP of Sales involved in recruiting, I have to tell you from my personal experience in communicating with the Proforma person that called me, she is the ABSOLUTELY WORSE person you can have in that role, she made out that their company is the best and that they provide every service flawlessly, oh really? Fulfillment is your strong point, you offer that service all internally at a warehouse owned by Proforma, that is able to handle multi-million dollar fulfillment programs? I don't think so. I have been approached by many distributors about acquiring my company and I tell them this, the only way I will be interested is if my employees remain employees and get healthcare benefits and 401K which we currently provide, why would I want to convert my company to an independent contractor status in California where the taxes are high and send my orders over to a processing center to split the profit 50/50, 10% of sales still works out to be 40-50% of profit. It may be fine for a small mom & pop operation but not an established promotional marketing agency selling 2 million dollars plus. It's funny I mentioned how much we sell and that we are only interested in keeping the employee status with benefits and then she basically hung up on me. WHAT? are you crazy! for a multi- million dollar in sales distributor, you are not going to work a deal out with me? Obviously their bread and butter is acquiring mom & pops at $250,000 in sales.

[PromoteYouMe]

got this today via email, a recruiting email blast... The respectable and professional way to recruit a distributor is to call them directly as an owner, not blast then entire industry looking for table scraps...

Good morning,
I am excited to announce that my New Owner Development Team and I are coming to a city near you in 2012! During the first 8 weeks of the year, we will be visiting:

• Las Vegas, Nevada
  
• Providence, Rhode Island
  
• Orlando, Florida
  
• Los Angeles, California
  
• Atlanta, Georgia
  
• Houston, Texas
  
• Dallas, Texas
  
• Cleveland, Ohio
  
• Chicago, Illinois
  
• Toronto, Canada

Please accept this personal invitation, from me to you, to join us at one of these nationwide locations as I would love to have the opportunity to learn about you and your business. What are you doing well? Where do you want to improve? I would also look forward to discussing with you the many tools within the Proforma business system that has helped our 750 current members grow their existing book of businesses.
At Proforma we keep it simple. We are here to help you get 4 things:

• More Sales
  
• More Profits
  
• More Security & Control
  
• More Fun & Free Time

If you’re interested in getting more sales, profits, security and fun, then this is your opportunity! Simply reply to this email and I will be happy to see which location works best for you and your schedule.
I look forward to talking with you soon.
Dream Big!
Greg

Proforma Worldwide Support Center
Greg Muzzillo Founder
8800 East Pleasant Valley Road • Independence, Ohio 44131
ph 216.520.8400 x2279 • free 800.825.1525 • fax 216.520.8474
greg1@proforma.com • www.onlyproforma.com

[royster13]

You do not have to like how they operate......What to you is "offensive" may not bother others...Just like in politics and/or religion, there always seems to be differences of opinion as to what is right or wrong......Great to live in a country that allows you freedom of choice.....

[AdmanGR]

PromoteYouMe, on 22 December 2011 - 11:37 AM, said:

I have been approached by many distributors about acquiring my company and I tell them this, the only way I will be interested is if my employees remain employees and get healthcare benefits and 401K which we currently provide, why would I want to convert my company to an independent contractor status in California where the taxes are high and send my orders over to a processing center to split the profit 50/50, 10% of sales still works out to be 40-50% of profit. It may be fine for a small mom & pop operation but not an established promotional marketing agency selling 2 million dollars plus. It's funny I mentioned how much we sell and that we are only interested in keeping the employee status with benefits and then she basically hung up on me. WHAT? are you crazy! for a multi- million dollar in sales distributor, you are not going to work a deal out with me? Obviously their bread and butter is acquiring mom & pops at $250,000 in sales.

Why?, Perhaps, so you could reduce employees and keep more for yourself, increase your buying power many fold, reduce product liability issues, the list goes on what the majors can offer to those that are looking for something different..that's why. Many of the "majors" would be interested in a $2 million package of business. My distributor just acquired a $7 million CA distributor - reasons - who knows? Proforma is the last place that I would go ( boilerplate franchise agreement) - but their sales figures speak for themselves. Being too aggressive may lose them one deal out of five, but they get the other four...that's why they are BIG.

[margie@kapcoadv.com]

I cannot answer for the recuiter's behavior, since I was not there. But, I can say that our experience with Proforma has been very positive overall. Each distributor's business model is going to be a little bit different. For us, the partnership works. Have we had issues? Yes! But the positives have far outweighed the negatives.

Chris, I am sorry you were offended by the recruiter. You are correct in stating that the person who makes those calls ought to be pretty darn respectful when reaching out to prospects.