Royal Canin Confusion

Royal Canin seems to have a strategy du jour. Either the marketing team is being micromanaged by leadership, they are incompetent, or both. The tools that they provide to the sales team are juvenile. I would challenge the marketing team to up their game and quit making decisions like they are sorority girls planning to make the next mixer "fabulous". Do you do any market research to test your assumptions? Are you held accountable for your poor forecasting? I am sure the new "GI Cube" and "Coffee Sleeves" will solve all the problems. Do you recognize how lame your efforts are? Perhaps your budgets have been cut so dramatically that you have no other choice but to just make an effort but really folks, your credibility is suffering.

 

Let's not forget the brilliant strategy of offering a $20 plastic shelf to incentivize customers to convert to Royal Canin. How could anyone possibly pass up such an amazing offer? Oh yea, then the shelves were out of stock. Regionals were telling their reps to just beg customers to place one in the clinic long enough to snap a photo then you can trash it. Can you say "Checking the Box"?

 

I agree that the GI racks were a joke. All the KPI's this year were just mindless activities. None moved the business. Don't just blame marketing, sales management has to sign off on this crap.

 

All great points!

Also don't forget that we launched a new product with the major POD being cheaper than the alternative. When in fact it WASN'T cheaper!! People need to be held accountable in St. Charles.

 

Management is already working on their presentations for the national sales meeting. Seventy percent of the time will be spent telling us what a phenomenal team they have and how lucky we all are. Ten percent will be spent on the Mars religion, aka 5 principals, and the remaining 20% excuses on why we did not make the numbers or solve the problems discussed at the last national meeting. Austin should be fun!

 

Why complain? 20-25 hour work week most of the time. I get to pick the babies up from preschool almost everyday. Just grin, bear it, and enjoy the benefits.

 

Sounds like a bad work ethic to me. I put a solid effort in every day and I expect more from management. We need to have the guts to challenge these so called "leaders" in Austin and that includes our lazy regionals. Don't let them get by with their BS excuses. Hold them accountable. Make them uncomfortable. After all the decisions that they make affect our careers. This ain't no game.

 

very few people work for royal canin for more than a few years. there are some old timers but most get a couple years experience and move on to something better. pay sucks here but this is animal health and many of us used to get paid by the hour. granted you could teach a primate how to do this job in a couple of days so there is that. now that i think about it maybe we are paid too much. LOL #millionsofjobopeningsfor companiesthatsuckless

 

I like the honest post above, 20-25 hour days, etc. Let’s face it, if you’re working 50-60 hours a week you are uber-excited and passionate about your job and are probably a new college grad loving the $60k a year plus car. Nothing wrong with that. I collect my paycheck, take my hypertension meds and try not to worry about the next pay cut / buyout / layoff, but I know it’s coming.

Stay in the industry awhile and for most of us it becomes a chore to stay passionate. Crap managers, senseless meetings, demanding customers, meaningless goals, empty promises. If a job is just a means to an end for you, this can be a great industry as the honest poster said. Set your own hours, great pay (for what we do), pleasant customer base for the most part. As a rep once told me, “best part time job I’ve ever had”, and he was 20 years with the same company. Just be aware, change is constant and you may soon find yourself vying for a position that sticks you behind a desk that involves crap pay, micromanagement and no freedom.

 

pay does suck, especially with so few making bonus in the past several years. rc sales good for new grads or former vet staff that are used to being paid by the hour. job market is strong. good time to move on.

 

I was at RC less than 2 years...came from pharma and couldn’t believe how incompetent every layer of the business was. Sure, I met some great people and almost all of them are gone now.

I agree the job is great for vet techs and new graduates. Otherwise you will be overqualified for the position. The money certainly sucks. My total comp is over 2x what it was at RC...and I don’t report to scum bags any more.

Good luck!

 

There are some nice folks here. Some sharp people too. I will say that turnover is a symptom of what many have already stated. Modest earning potential. Little opportunity for personal development and advancement. Poorly trained line managers. Short term mentality from our rock star wannabe executive staff. Get some experience and move on. The longer you stay, the more comfortable you get with working for a half ass company and settling. I have been in HR with a number of firms and this one wins the prize for bad culture and high turnover. Five principals? Funny.

 

What amuses me is the constant, common theme with 95% of the posts on this site - I hate my job, my manager blows, the company is stupid, etc. And it’s like this across the board, animal and human side. How about sitting at a desk in a cube with not a window in sight from
8-5, taking 30-40 sales calls a day and answering 150 emails, all with a manager literally looking over your shoulder? Oh, and being on 24 hour call rotating weekends and mandatory weekends at the end of lean quarters. 5 years of this between stints in outside sales gives me a little perspective most of you don’t have.

Maybe shit isn’t perfect in your world, but it could be immensely worse. Try to see the glass half full. Flex schedule, company car or allowance, autonomy, great pay - really, for the job it’s pound for pound better than about anything out there. So maybe you don’t think you’re getting a good enough car allowance, or you’re commission structure sucks, or your manager is a misguided prick. In the whole scheme of things, these excuses really don’t matter much. Change how you look at your gripes and take positive action, or move on.

 

Great that the Royal C discovered segmenting customers even if it is three decades late. Next step; Rightsizing. Hopefully most reductions can be done through attrition.

 

... lots more PODS than cheaper. Try less greasy, and more palatable. If your selling just in cost you got to step up your game.

 

You clearly missed the point.

Of course there are more PODs. But when a product is launched to the field with incorrect information your DMs look dumb when called out on the cost not being cheaper.

 

This post makes a couple decent point but has its flaws.

No - you don't have to pretend something is good when you can do better. I agree not to come here and bitch without doing something but the "it could be worse" line is a bullshit line of conformity.

I say leave. The pay is sucky - you all know that. The product line is nearing maturity...the company has problems with strategy and execution (this is critical) and the turnover is a symptom of the problem.

At the end of the day, you make mediocre money and you aren't advancing your careers or skill sets.

I say move on and good luck.

 

Now that you left the RC, stop loathing it. After working a few reputed companies and hearing from others working in other companies, situation is very similar.

Every company gives you some freedom to develop yourself, use it rather than bitching.

I have seen RC going through the changes, good and tough, but it always has done better than the year before. I also seen good and not so good managers, just like in any company. No exceptions. Still RC progressed.

Those who did not like RC and left, good! I hate to deal with the negativity.

 

Define sales management.

 

Mars needs a solid direction with respect towards the sales positions. There’s a bit of scattered directions and strategy in and outside of pet, really need to get things in order.