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Abstrakt Marketing Group

I worked at Abstrakt for two years and I can confidently say I would not recommend it to anyone; employee or customer. The owner and investors are so obsessed and addicted to "growth", they are willing to put anyone working with their pipeline department through the wringer. Since I started I have watched Abstrakt lie obscenely to employees and customers alike on a daily basis. Despite whatever fantastic wordplay they come up with for their pitches, the appointments set by Abstrakt are mostly awful and they are well aware of it. I was moved around between almost TEN managers in my time, and every one of them told their teams to set anything and everything they could. It may not be the best opportunity, but that's up to the client to overcome; at least that is what every manager I've worked with has recited to me. I have seen too many clients become frustrated after never receiving the amazing results they've been promised, but they are offered nothing but even more empty promises. As an SDR I was often encouraged to quickly replace any companies ending their contract, so we could use the data we gathered for them to give to their competitors. This isn't a company secret, it's just how Abstrakt works. Either pay them for their services indefinitely or they will fight against you.
It is supposedly company policy that every employee starts out as a PSR (unless you get lucky). The position of PSR is the worst job I've ever held, full stop. You are representing somewhere between 4 to 6 of these unhappy clients, personally. You will quickly be advised to cold call from both of your monitors to allow you to keep up with the dial expectations. You will be asked to work over lunches, and come in early and to stay late for meetings and to catch up on dials you fell behind on BECAUSE of those meetings. You will be expected to stay late for huddles every day. They will lie to your face about this, but working overtime for free has ALWAYS been the expectation. You will also be held responsible for a weekly meeting with your manager to present your metrics and have written out plans on how you intend to get ahead on all of them, (there are around 5 per client, so 20-30 in total every week).
The pay at Abstrakt is higher than some other jobs, but the work load is outrageously heavier. Abstrakt knows how bad the role is so, instead of raising the salary of these employees, they instead force a fake culture of fun over everything. Half-baked games, repetitive competitions, cheap events, and a stellar video team that makes the company look great from afar. 
One of the most frustrating flaws is their refusal to be upfront with their employees. The drivel they teach you to use on the cold calls is the same nonsense they regurgitate at their staff on why you need to be doing better, constantly. Smart money says they will reply to this review about how transparent they think they are and how some people just aren't "cut out" for the role. The company is hypocritical and wholly dishonest to its very core. This has caused some employees to rise through the ranks while dozens more burn out, are shackled with impossible clients, and with managers that don't actually care about their success. It is so wildly inconsistent, and never stays the same for longer than a month. Unless you get lucky and can hold onto some easy clients, your goals are almost always out of reach. This is why Abstrakt has so much "growth": they're selling magic beans to their clients, but PSRs are the ones held responsible for the beanstalk to appear. So now you have to set anything you can because they promised the client the moon and the stars.
Best of luck if you decide to work with this company. The consistent lies, the unbelievably high expectations, the lack of communication and support, the cheerleaders they call managers yelling for you to grind more every day, the back-stabbing and betrayal of client trust, the listening to Scott Scully blather on about his success every month, and the demand that you pretend to love every bit of it is enough to make me nauseous just thinking about it.

A typical day at work would be a morning huddle at 8am.  Where with your sales group, you identify what needs to be done and boost morale. Then you are set to start your 135 dials, call leads, schedule appointments etc. They break it up into four, two hour work blocks. 10 minute breaks in between with a half-hour lunch-break at noon. You have a mandatory huddle after every break and after lunch. Rap music is almost always blaring, sometimes to loud to the point of interfering with calls. There is usually some odd game like trivia, or tossing a ball into a game for a prize at least daily. Occasionally they will offer incentives like your group being able to leave early. If your team won a company challenge or task. They have raffles, games, basketball court, rap music playing and beer on fridays. However I feel that those are meant to both keep the environment “hip” but also to distract. Mainly from the stress of the immense workload and to try and make it feel less like work. I also think it’s important to note they don’t offer commission so this is their stopgap. For as stressful and work intensive it is. I do feel as though that much exposure to so many different marketing and sales tactics and responsibilities. Provides a extremely useful opportunity to really grasp a lot of sides to marketing & sales. Pipeline management, cold calls, lead development, B2B sales, closing, lead management, salesforce and more. It’s such a immense amount of responsibility and things to do. Yet does give you a feel for everything. The management is nice on the lower levels, your team leader is usually younger. They are nice and know what you’re going through and don't overstep bounds. On the other hand, they also don’t always feel like the most responsible person. Due to them being young they typically aren’t totally invested in you or work all the time. The upper management could care less about the average employee. All they care about is numbers and if you are able to match what they want. If not they view everyone as easily replaceable. The culture is good, but I feel as though its so heavily geared towards younger adults. It almost gives off a wannabe wolf of wall street office vibe. Beer on fridays and the ability to blast rap all day certainly is fun at times. It does make it a fun atmosphere but it gets old quickly. The company wants to make you feel included but when you see the turnover rate. It feels like a very forced and fake enthusiasm. The hardest part of the job is the 135 cold calls, making the required amount of daily appointments and closing sales. What makes it harder is the lackluster leads, you can see people have been calling them for years. Then on top, it’s basically just luck if you find a business in need of your service. You call and call and call but you could still run into not a single person with a issue that needs fixing. So it feels unfair when people also look into and call your leads in your pipeline. Since theres no way to gurantee you’re the only one speaking to them. As well as everyone having access to the same leads. It can drive you crazy calling over and over only to get no where, yet someone can get 4 appointments in one day off sheer luck. The most enjoyable part of the job were the special events like charity work or the quarterly analysis. 

When active job seekers begin any career search, the selection and decision to be successful falls on the job searcher. Ultimately you own your success and failures. The same can be said about a potential career at Abstrakt Marketing Group. From day one, you are immersed into a culture never experienced before. Abstrakt is not a life preserver job but a group of people that work hard, have fun and get the job done. The environment is filled with flat screen televisions throughout the building, large projection screen on the sales floor, motivational adult drink cart Fridays. This is just some of the fun stuff happening at the Abstrakt work environment and this doesn’t even scratch the surface. If you work at Abstrakt, you are challenged more than any career stop and recognized for that hard work as well, Abstrakt employees are not just numbers, you are family and the company treats you as such and most importantly the leaders manage you as adults. Let’s face it, how many people drag them to work every day hating their environment? You won’t get a YES answer at Abstrakt. Working for a St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Business Journal recognized #1 company is something to be proud of and has its perks. This company does not hire a transient work force, if you are not interested in working hard and changing your life, you probably won’t like AMG.

Pros: 
Amazing Culture, Sales Academy Speaker Series, Competitive Salaries, Opportunities for Advancement, Comparable Benefit Total Rewards Offerings, 3% Dollar for Dollar IRA Match, Convenient Location, Standard Business Hours, Recognition Programs, Open Door Policy, Degreed Leadership Team, Opportunity for Success and Learning, Continuous Improvement Training Philosophy, Small Company Feel/Larger Organization Directives, Growth Philosophy, Vacation Day One, Company Mid Year Picnic, Company Christmas Parties, Pay for Performance Incentives, Club Abstrakt Meeting Space, Free Parking, No Weekend Work, Fun Fridays, Incentive Vouchers for Lumiere Casino, Unique Employee E-Market, Drink Cart on Fridays, Themed Activities, Sports Tickets, Snack Days, Sports Activities such as Fantasy Football and Survivor Series, Cardio Boot Camp, Run Club, Biggest Loser Competition,  

Cons:
There are no real Cons to point to; unless you keep concerns to yourself. All levels of management are available and open to address your concerns before becoming actual problems. If you have a Con on your list, you own it. Be a change manager and remove the negativity.  Sometimes with growth you will need to be patient waiting for a promotion but over 50% of our work force are now promoted into new positions with the company.

If you want to get into cold calling. I would start with a door-to-door sales job instead. I say this because you are looking for a job to become a sales professional you have a better bet starting door-to-door then going to inside sales but avoid Abstrakt when doing so. 

Here they do not provide sales specific training or cold calling specific training from an outside resource. Currently they purchased access to a training platform that covers training from everything from excel to courses based on hiring employees. However in this platform they do have sales training but most of it is contrary to how you are supposed to do your job. The reason I say that is because there is a quality department that can get you written up if you do not stay confined within a calling structure. Also you get written up if you cannot meet the monthly goals, which makes sense but really doesn't if there is a specific way you have to do and say things over the phone.

**If AI could do sales calls like a human being. Abstrakt would be the first company to implement that**

In addition, managers do not get lunch breaks and you have 5 weekly homework assignments that you create to present to your managers during said "lunch break". They are usually things that you need to work on for your job and even if you are a high performer you can get put on PiP for not completing this presentation. 

The weirdest part about working here is you are salaried but have to accrue PTO. No vacation hours/days until your 1st paycheck at which point you get almost half a days worth for 2 weeks work which comes out to 2 weeks after a years works but even then you are only allowed to carry over more than 40 hours to the following year. Mind you this is not  "not per-year" so you cannot have more than 40 hours starting January 1st in any given year. They claim that it is to protect the company which really means protecting the partner's profits. This the employees at this company would benefit greatly by changing to hourly pay.

Also you are currently salaried but you have a strict set of hours to work within. That is 7:45 to 5:00pm. However the HR documents you sign say 8:00am but your manager will say to the contrary. I say 7:45 because each morning you gather together like a religious cult and do activities. Usually the require people from each sales team to volunteer, I use that term loosely, to participate. It is terrible.

Also most people that work here are straight out of college. When you go to the office for your 1st interview, you will understand that fact.

Almost everyone starts in the SDR role cold calling which is great because it gives you a good understanding of what is done for the clients from hands on experience. There are so many paths for advancement as long as you show true effort in your current role. They definitely incentivize "the grind". 
They are big on celebrating employees and clients in their successes which is great because everyone needs a little affirmation every now and then. However, they sometimes take it to a point of requirement which can lead to employees getting shouted out for the wrong behaviors. It is somewhat of a participation award mentality. 
The culture that is talked about is a lot of forced celebrations, like above, along with loud music and games. It can be fun, but also feel immature like we are in college. I like the competitive mentality they bring but I can tell it isn't for everyone. Part of the culture is the stress on accountability which leads to heavy micromanagement. Every minute is accounted for and bucketed for a job responsibility. If you aren't following this you, hear about it from your manager. You also have strict metrics to hit and follow. If you miss, you hear about that, too. 
I would say the hardest part of the job is the amount of change that happens. You definitely have to be adaptable to be happy here. Policies, pay docs, procedures, softwares, and job responsibilities  change regularly. The communication of these changes could be better. Sometimes it's a big announcement and rollout, but a lot of times, things change and you don't find out until it's effecting you in some way. 

All in all, if you put in the effort, you'll be very successful and grow up within the company. Some employees love and thrive on the above things and can make this a lifelong career while some don't and make it an opportunity to learn new skills and build their resumes. Either way, you will learn A LOT and it will lead to better opportunities in some way. 

I started at Abstrakt 18 months ago. One of the things I appreciate most about Abstrakt is how they've helped develop me as an individual. I initially worked in healthcare prior to taking position and thought it was a going to be a difficult transition.

Playing the Sales Development Representative role was overwhelming at first, but I received constant support and training from both my coworkers and higher ups. The position itself helped me become more confident with decision making and communicating with others.

When I started at this Abstrakt, their was a reoccurring theme I heard many times, "Abstrakt is a place with tons of opportunity for growth." This is something I was initially hesitant to believe when I first started due to previous job experience at different companies. I wanted to see it to believe it. I'm very proud to say that I was promoted into a position I love after 6 months. Three of my coworkers that started with me were promoted within their first 4 months, and the other five were promoted or received a generous raise within their first year.

Everyone at this company is going to do everything possible to get you promoted into a position you enjoy as soon as possible. Really, what it comes down to is mastering the Sales Development Representative role first and then learning more about more positions at the company. Over 95% of the people at this company started in the SDR role. The reason for this is because it not only teaches you account management skills, but also introduces you to the different parts of our organization. This makes it easier to identify what parts of the company you'll fall in love with. Everyone at this company has an open door policy so scheduling time to shadow positions is very easy.

I would recommend this position to anyone that is looking for the same opportunity I was almost 2 years ago. An opportunity for growth.

I've been working at Abstrakt Marketing Group for 5 years. Never in my life would I have imagined working at a company where everyone is so passionate, driven, and excited to come to work everyday. It is awe-inspiring to be a part of an organization that values the "why" in what we do so highly, which makes coming to work every day super easy because I know that there is a reason behind everything we do. There are so many facets of that statement too, from professionally to personally. First, why our process and why our work matters. People may think "oh it's just one phone call." or "it's just one social media post" and go on their merry way. But when you put the tangible "why" behind something so simple it becomes so much more important. One dial could change the face of one of our client's businesses. One social media post could reach the right person at the right time. Secondly, the personal. Everyone here I believe is motivated to progress in their careers, but they also know that what they do in their work leads to better overall life satisfaction. If you talked to anyone here, I guarantee that they would be able to tangibly tie one aspect of their position that has led them to achieve something in their personal life, like buying a house, or finally being able to be confident to ask someone to dinner based on communication skills they've learned here. If you can find the why behind everything you do, down to the tiniest possible thing, the day to day tasks turn into the most important things you can think of, and Abstrakt continues to foster that environment of the "why" every single day. Not only everything mentioned above, but they also have taken incredibly good care of us during the craziness of this year. I felt extremely secure in my position. I love being surrounded by equally as motivated people who know their "why", and want to keep moving forward in life, with both their careers and personal lives! 

I started my career at Abstrakt on the notion that everyone starts as a PSR and will be promoted after the mandatory 90 days. PSR = cold calling 135 strangers every single day, being graded on a majority of your calls by multiple people. The role itself shouldn’t be difficult but with the scripts you have to use, and the constant interruptions from mandatory meetings, and the non stop hovering “training” received by several people on a daily basis this role is pretty stressful. 

Abstrakt is not diverse by any means, being a minority myself that was the first thing I noticed when walking through. It’s a white male dominated company with very few Asians, African Americans, LGBTQ or any other race. There is also an issue of females dropping like flies there due to most team managers being 20 something year old males.

 All managers say that they started out as PSR’s and that it’s rewarding to learn that role to be promoted but for several of us who applied for other positions (secretary, website design, social media) this role doesn’t benefit us at all. 

Spoiler alert - if you don’t perform above the required metrics each month (it’s not easy to do) you will be written up and not allowed to be promoted until you do, so 90 rays turns into half a year if you are trying to get out of the PSR role unless you get easy clients and are in love with cold calling. 

Another negative is you will probably never get lunch. Your hour break where you’re unpaid is interrupted 9 times out of 10 with pointless training or meetings. It’s very easy to get burnt out while in this role and good luck having an outside life since you’re expected to arrive early and leave late to show your dedication.

I obtained an entry level partner sales position here with very little experience after school. Not only did Abstrakt prepare me for my role with excellent training, they also allowed me to built a career and earn three substantial promotions. I have peers who work at other marketing firms and many good friends who are in sales at other organizations, and all of them envy Abstrakt's culture and growth. This place literally never stops growing. I've read some other reviews here that mention the hard work, phone calls, and meetings as if those aspects of sales are unique or bad some how. There are very clear expectations for the jobs here and you receive non-stop training the entire time. The managers help you every step of the way and most of the managers and directors started as an entry level person so they know exactly what you're going through and learning every day. I was told from day one that if I used the information and training I received and worked hard, I would be successful here. It's true! This company is loaded with very talented people and inspiring leaders who lead by example. The reason this place grows so successfully is because the people here love working here, they all work hard and passionately, and there's always opportunity for promotions and progressions as we grow. Of course you have to work hard and grind when you start, but that's the same with any job anywhere! What separates Abstrakt from everywhere else I've worked is the fact that your hard work and daily grind will get you to new opportunities quickly! I have the career I dreamed about since college and Abstrakt is what got me here. 

Pros

Abstrakt is an amazing company to work for. They have so many growth opportunities and offer so many different job positions company wide. There is a reason why they win best places to work, year after year. The culture here at Abstrakt is unlike any other, from having incentives, winning prizes just for being here, and sometimes by participating in easy games/easy contest to forming close bonds with your fellow teammates. They also offer a monthly FREE kick off breakfast for the whole company to enjoy on the first weekday of each month. There are also so many company events throughout each year. You never want to miss one because they are a blast! The Leadership team does an amazing job keeping the company informed in upcoming plans/goals and truly cares to try to please everyone in the company which is never an easy task. Abstrakt has a ton of diversity and inclusions. Also they offer work from home opportunities based on your job performance. Who wouldn't love that! Also their offices are always so clean and well kept up with, and no to mention the amazing and FREE coffee. They also offer so many different ways to get lunch, snacks, drinks, etc. delivered or already in the spaces conveniently when you need them.

Cons

There are not any that I can think of at the moment but when/if there are ever any cons the company always addresses them and comes up with the best solution that benefits the whole company, this includes the company, it's employees and it's clients.

Advice to Management

Reminder - Please make sure to always shoutout / show appreciation for your behind the scene departments who are not always noticed but are working hard to keep clients happy with videos or websites or working hard to keep your employees happy and equipped with whatever they need to keep working efficiently.

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