Stenograph Employee Reviews for District Sales Manager

"The best court reporting technology available; Senior Sales Management stuck in 20th century."

What do you like about working at Stenograph?

"The software and writers they have created are, what I believe, to be the most innovative, state-of-the-art court reporting software and writers available today. They routinely solicit feedback on how to improve the efficiency and user-friendliness of their products from their customers. I also enjoyed educating customers on how Stengraph's products could make a substantial difference in their productivity."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"If you are considering working in the outside sales force at Stenograph, I would encourage you to proceed with caution. Stenograph has some truly wonderful people in the company, and the product development team is stellar. However, the senior sales management will leave you extremely frustrated in the long run. If you decide to go for an interview for a District Sales Manager (Outside Sales), please keep in mind the following: Be sure to ask how about the CRM tools they provide. As of December 2009 when I left, an incredible amount of redundancy is needed to keep up with the day-to-day administrative duties because they have not invested in a modern CRM database, neither they will not support supply nor support smart phones (i.e.Blackberry, Palm,or Droid phones). The Navision database is not a true CRM solution, leaving you no way to organize your territory usingit. In addition, there is no Outlook integration, such as ACT, Gold Mine,or Prophet. What that means to you is there is no easy way to access and organize customer data throughout your work day. Plan on spending your evenings, updating the company database (i.e. Navision) manually, or to be reprimanded for not keeping it up-to-date. In regard to the Regional Manager you report to, this has been the most frustrating part of my employment with Stenograph. The person I reported to obviously does not have any experience managing and mentoring sales people. With limited skill in his toolkit, he has all the finesse of a thug. What's worse is that he seems to operate with impunity in his attempts to humiliate people publicly at company training and court reporting association events. Senior sales management have a similar leadership style, so they are oblivious to how unproductive this is and how it brings down morale. I realize that if you're seriously thinking taking a job as a District Sales Manager, I haven't given you much encouragement here, but at least you'll go into it with your eyes open. And who knows maybe things will change. I really loved my job at Stenograph. The technology they offer reporters is in a league of its own, and I really enjoyed many of the customers I worked with and served. Cheers!"

What don't you like about working at Stenograph?

"Unfortunately, that standard of excellence is not reflected in the people that manage their sales force. One individual in particular doesn't have a clue to how to inspire, motivate and mentor those under his charge. This attitude is reflected in the good old boys' club mentality of the senior management that believes badgering and public humiliation is the best way to motivate people. In addition, any attempt by the sales force to challenge the inefficiency of the status quo and improve on the outmoded sales administration tools is met with great resistance and excuses of why things cannot change. Stenograph had no clear strategy for training new people. The two, one week intensive weeks of training are delivered in a force-feeding manner is supposed to prepare you for everything you will need to know in the field, but is fragmented, inconsistent, and falls short of preparing new reps for day-to-day responsibilities."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Stenograph stands apart from its competitors in the quality of its CAT software and writer products. Unfortunately, the senior sales leadership is stuck in 20th century training methods and sales technology they provide for their sales force. They have no documented standard of procedures, so you left early on your own to figure out who to call when you need for direction or information is urgent. In addition there are no clear guidelines for how the inside sales staff and DSMs should work together to leverage the power of working in tandum towards mutual sales goals, so if you don't mesh well the person your assigned to, you're out of luck. If you want to attract and retain new sales talent, it's time for the status quo to change. This is no time for the leadership at Stenograph to rest on the laurels of their technology's success --past or present. I hope the president, VP of Sales, and the Regional Managers will accept my challenge to give serious thought into how to train and equip their sales people. Last and not least, if you're going to hire professional salespeople, without a courtreporting background, to be District Sales Manager (DSM), why not also consider hiring Regional Sales Managers (RSM)outside the company. A RSM needs to be held to a higher standard and accountable for what they actually provide the DSMs under their charge. A candidate for this position should only be considered from within Stenograph if they have a tract record of leadership and inspiring other DSMs. Otherwise, find someone outside the company that has the sales experience and mentoring skills needed to bring out the best of your sales force. This alone will have a profound effect on what you will get out of your DSMs."

"If it is not broke, fix it before the competition does."

What do you like about working at Stenograph?

"Good attempt to provide the market with cutting edge technology."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Maintain financial independance."

What don't you like about working at Stenograph?

"Absolutely no job security whatsoever."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Don't cut the sales force when business is down - they are your most valuable and hard to find asset."