merchandising specialist

merchandiser

merchandising associate

sales

territory representative

BDS Connected Solution, LLC.

There's so much to say about Apollo. I've been with them almost half a year now as an assembler. Although my title is assembler, I also audit Office Depot stores and merchandise various retail stores from time to time for Apollo.

Let's start with the cons. The pay can be a lot better. Especially for me who has a lot of responsibilities. I'm constantly telling myself "I don't get paid enough for this." Assembling is fun but can be hard on the body. You get paid by the piece which can be good or bad. Recently we had to build these desks for Office Depot that took about an hour each and only paid $10 each. C'mon Apollo. That's insulting. Once in a while they have us do something called "cooler swaps" which everyone HATES. Why? They are very labor intensive and pay only a measly $36. Cooler swaps are when you have to go some store and install and merchandise a refrigerator of pet food (you know the ones you see at a grocery store in the pet aisle). That's definitely a 2-person job also. 

Ok now to the pros. I've been with this job half a year so obviously it's not all bad. Like I already said, assembling can be fun and fulfilling. It's really nice to see how happy customers get when you finish building their furniture. Plus they almost always tip. I've gotten $50-$60 tips before. Not too shabby. Mileage pay can be better but it depends on how you strategize your schedule. You get paid full mileage in between jobs so if you plan your jobs right, you can some good money from just driving alone. For jobs that are very far, I can request full mileage pay and they've never said no to me which is nice. That's another thing, my district manager and coordinator are some of the nicest people I've ever worked with. They're extremely accomodating and are always telling me how much they appreciate me. Honestly, they'd probably freak out if I ever left, I'm one assembly technician that covers a very large area. They need me. 

Overall the work is pretty easy but some days are rough. You can negotiate with your manager/coordinator on pay rates and you can refuse jobs if you really don't want to do it. But the absolute best thing for me is the flexibility since I'm a computer science student. This definitely aint a career for me. But I really want to stress that YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY VARY. I see a lot of Apollo workers saying they get very little work, but here in southern California I'm getting a TON of work. I was actually overwhelmed with how much work there was that I had to convince them to hire another person to help me out. So it does seem like I'm in the minority here. 

Was promised a quick onboard-But from the get go, was a LONG process-Since there is no local office, everything is done online, from training to Skyping to scheduling.  Just getting a drug test scheduled was a major cluster!  The online classes didn't operate correctly and their IT solution was to go to a library OR borrow a friends computer (same OS on both!).  Once hired it took a long time to get trained and once trained was expected to start scheduling jobs immediately.  Product was sitting in back stockrooms in some stores for a year, many displays had wires just hanging from them and the PMT's lay everything on you that hasn't been done or isn't working!  You do a lot of background work before even hitting your first store and pay for time put in doesn't match up.  Sadly, for being a company that handles electronic displays for Target, Best Buy, etc they aren't very tech savvy!  But you will have to be to get anything accomplished in your stores.  Lots of broken displays, products and non-working displays you will be expected to repair.  Money is okay, but at the end of it, the reality is, it doesn't match up to actual hours put in!  Very complicated process for scheduling jobs and you will be tracked via your phone because the GPS must be on while working and you will be using PLENTY of data of your phone while in stores.  Make sure you have unlimited and no slow down after hitting a certain mark!  Pay for travel is also minimal and doing the stores covers wide areas, so you end up at one store one day (NO MILEAGE) and another store on another day (again NO MILEAGE!).  If you could schedule them on the same day, you might get mileage, but good luck with that!  Lots of travel!  Be prepared to be macking out the GAS!  When reaching out for support, half of the team that had been part of the onboarding have left the company and are unreachable.  Turnover is HIGH!  If you need money quickly, be prepared to wait!  The people are nice enough, just lots of pressure to get the back log of work dealt with!  Very sad!   Just SO DISAPPOINTED!  Wish their process was more cohesive and better organized!  The people are nice enough, but things didn't add up to anything near what was promised coming aboard!  I lasted 6 months and had to call it quits, my car couldn't keep making runs that are not compensated, along with hours on the road.  It sounds good going in, but the reality is, a young company trying to come in out of the weeds with too complicated of a process!  Maybe things will improve in time!

Since I have started working at BDS Marketing, it has been a great maturing experience for me as an employee and as an individual. Because my role includes me managing myself and my time appropriately, this has cause me to grow and trim off my bad habits that had forms over the years. This has gotten me to the point where I am happy with myself as an associate, and confident that I am ready for the next step. BDS has also made it apparent to me that they are noticing and appreciate my hard work by always recognizing what I do on our team conference calls, as well as informing our client what I have done to continually go the extra mile.
My typical day at work includes visiting a minimum of five retail stores a day and spending at least an hour in each. While I am in those stores I am spending time building relationships, training on our products, and also finding out if products are or are not selling and why. As I continue to visit these locations, I continue to build solutions and arm the associates and managers with ways to overcome these objections. Besides the store visits, I also have a minimum of two conference calls a week, sometimes more depending on what goals need to be met. I also conduct Territory, District, and Store level trainings where I present the product of Jawbone's choosing, and train on it as well as helping them to understand how our products can fit into many different lifestyles. After each store visit or training event, I am to fill out a report attached with photos from each location involving feedback, visit highlights, display photos, issues that are in the process of being resolved, and who we were able to contact within the store.

The hardest part about my job is having co-workers that are all in different states. This definitely takes away some of the associate camaraderie that occurs when physically in contact every day. Because we all feel this way while we are in the field, we do take time out of our days to reach out to each other and nurture those relationships and get each other through rough days.

The most enjoyable part about my job is essentially getting paid to make friends! Because I cover a specific territory and am visiting the same 150 stores each month, you get to know the managers and the associates. I love being able to not only get to know my city better, but also be able to call in a favor in almost any part of your town in a time crunch with the associates and managers that you have relationships with.

I am incredibly impressed with the culture at BDS Connect Solutions, particularly their outstanding commitment to work-life balance. It's truly a cornerstone of their philosophy, and it makes a profound difference in the daily experience of employees.

Unlike many companies, BDS Connect Solutions doesn't just talk about work-life balance; they actively foster an environment where employees can genuinely maintain a healthy equilibrium between their professional responsibilities and personal lives. This commitment creates a remarkably positive, supportive, and understanding workplace.

I've personally found that this approach isn't merely a perk; it's a strategic advantage that benefits everyone. When employees feel respected and supported in their personal lives, they are undeniably happier, more engaged, and ultimately more productive. This positive cycle leads to a workforce that is not only willing to work harder but also genuinely cares deeply about the success of BDS Connect Solutions.

Beyond this, I must highlight the ample opportunities for advancement and promotion within the company. I've had the privilege of experiencing this firsthand more than once, which speaks volumes about BDS Connect Solutions' dedication to nurturing talent from within. This is strongly supported by a management and leadership team that genuinely cares about the success of each individual employee, investing in their growth and providing the resources needed to thrive.

The result is a highly dedicated and motivated team that is invested in achieving collective goals, fostering innovation, and consistently delivering high-quality results. It's clear that BDS Connect Solutions understands that a well-rested, content, and growing employee is a highly effective one, and this deeply contributes to the overall strength and success of our team. I highly recommend BDS Connect Solutions as an employer that truly values its people."

Visit RSA's (Retail Service Associates) and train them on the clients products, ensure product placement within location is 100%. Meet your hour goals which only includes the time spent inside locations, Drive time doesn't count. 

I networked a lot. I've met some great people in other companies who are still cheering me on all though I'm no longer with BDS. I learned a lot about the tech world, how it operates and what the expectations are.

It's true what they say, people don't quit jobs, they quit management and this is why I left. Poor communication all around. Mostly by email. After a while you just stop calling and sending messages. I would send an email about something and then be asked "Did you send me an email? What day did you send?" When I would call I would get a text "I'll call back later" that rarely was the case. My favorite emails were when management would tell me something I was doing was a "RedFlag" when I've been doing the same thing for the past two years and never heard a word from anyone. In the end communication was a big factor in me leaving. 

Hardest part of the job aside from speaking to someone was the driving/vehicle maintenance and meeting the ridiculous metrics set forth by someone who has never done the job. I still fail to understand having leaders who have no idea what the day to day is for these territory agents. As for my vehicle, I now have to get an oil change every 2k miles. I added over 60k miles in two years and went through 4 tires. Houston traffic combined with the ridiculous amount of construction really killed my spirit everyday. 

Spending time with the RSAs, making friends and attending events was the best part of the job. So many people knew I was leaving and begged me to stay but at the end of the day I've got to do what makes me happy. Work/Life balance was so out of wack. I dedicated way to much time to this company, so much so I was writing reports at 3 and 4 am. I was sleeping in my car before stores open or during my lunch break and I was always so exhausted. Not all programs at BDS are the same and not all territory positions are the same. I had a huge area to cover, the expectations sometimes were just unrealistic.

A week in the life of a BDSer is interesting. You do a lot of similar work, but it changes often and you deal with a lot of very different jobs and people. 
You get to set your own schedule- as long as the work gets done, they're happy. Most jobs have a one or two week 'project time', which gives you a lot of leeway in scheduling.  You drive a lot, but you are compensated a small amount for mileage and a moderate amount for time. The pay is slightly above most merchandising jobs, but the skill set is significantly higher then most, so I do not believe the pay is equivalent to the job skills needed.  Unfortunately, the company hires a lot of people who have no idea what they're doing, and the rest of us wind up dealing with the aftermath.  They also claim to love promoting from within, but often choose someone with a college degree and no related experience instead of someone who has experience in the field. 
The company often has last minute changes to schedules and added work, most merch companies give you at least two weeks schedule-out for projects, this one, you're lucky to have three days and frequently have jobs dropped mid-week that are urgent.  The people who choose the work we do also have started choosing work that is outside of our job description- i.e. dealing with extremely heavy items when the initial job description listed 40lbs.  
I feel like the field team and field managers are not respected, even though we are the lifeblood of the company. 
The job is rarely boring. If you enjoy doing different things, finding out how things work and fixing them, this is a fun job.  You have to have moderate people skills, but you don't have to be customer focused like regular retail work.
The work is also very sporadic, with some weeks getting under 15 hours and some over 40.
They do not offer any form of benefits, PTO, or sick time for part time reps, and most field reps are kept part time.  They do have discount programs with a lot of major companies.
They have a major problem with retaining field team and field management.

A typical day at work.

1. Clock in, log into email and check for any updates or areas of focus or training.

2. Check inventory for new products that need to be put out for display.

3. Check current display models make sure they are clean, functional, priced correctly and ready for customer interaction and sales demos.

4. Gather any customer feedback on Toshiba branded products from sales staff and customers. Typically I would have a questionnaire and record the response. 

5. Train sales team on the features and benefits of  any Toshiba branded technology. 

6. Take pictures of any new competitors displays that are in the store to report back.

7. The last thing would be to report back to BDS all of the info that I had obtained they would then compile all marketing data from all Best Buy stores and send it in to Toshiba.

What I Learned.

Having a brand representative at a store can have a big impact on sales, All of the data I collected from sales associates and customers was also a learning experience. (inside the minds of buyers and sellers has always been interesting) 

Management

I did have a manager but he was located in San Antonio. We communicated via conference calls on Thursdays for 1 hour and email any other time. 

Co- workers 

I didn't meet any coworkers face to face from BDS we communicated only one hour on conference Thursdays. The Best Buy employees were a great team of people. 

The hardest part of the job 

At the end of the day having to input in all the data that I collected.
(only because it had to be done that night after 10 hour shift and it took a minimum of 1 hour to input) 

Not having someone onsite with you was also a challenge at first.

Most enjoyable 

I really liked to see the store numbers climb for Toshiba I felt such a sense of accomplishment also interacting with a great group of people (Best Buy associates)

The work was great, merchandising is my favorite job I have ever had.  I moonlighted here whilst working for their main competitor "full-time" to truly be full time.  I was a Team Lead, leading a crew of 2-3 others.

Management was Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, I loved some managers, and loathed talking to others.  I only ever met a manager once, and the company was CSA and IONsmart before becoming Apollo. They were an extremely disorganized company when I worked for them.  I will address this issue later.

My co-workers were hand-picked by me, because of favors/accepting difficult jobs I did for the company/management, so they were good.

The hardest part of the job was getting work.  I had to respond to emails first to get the work.  As I previously mentioned, I accepted difficult work no one else accepted, and asked for management to run work lists by me first so I could pick the work I wanted to do with the crew I selected, and they approved because I proved to be a go-to person.

They then went through management lay-offs, likely due to poor workers they employed, because much of what I did was fix mistakes.  And I did that.  A lot.  They laid off all the good managers, and I soon found myself on the bottom floor after being one of the top Team Leads.  One week they took a job from me with no notice, after I had given work to another person for my main job, and told me my pay was being reduced from 14/hr to 9/hr, I told them to get a life and lose my number, as they would never keep me for that low money for the work I give them.

I left Apollo, and then left my main company shortly after because they were reducing my hours and benefits even more than they hacked them years before.  With all that said, the two companies merged, and maybe they fixed their ways, but I doubt it.  My rating is for Apollo during the time I worked for them.

Apollo is a penny pinching company that does not give annual reviews, COL increases or raises to field employees. No holiday pay for field reps only holiday pay for office people. No vacation accrual for field reps, only vacation accrual for office people. For field reps to actually use sick time they must be scheduled on a project, then call last minute and leave the team short handed because if you call the day before the rep is removed  from schedule and then denied the use of sick time saying they do not see you on the schedule. They do not pay out sick time even if you have not used it all year and ask to use sick time around the holidays.Apollo sometimes will offer a project but on the condition you take an hourly pay cut. If you don't like it you do not have to accept the job and they will pull in an unfamiliar temp instead. Work is never consistent or steady. Managers are constantly changing and it seems everything is a big secret as far as upcoming projects. Although they have thousands of employees, they post jobs at minimum wage for hire, instead of working the people already experienced and on the payroll at a buck or two over minimum. They require field employees to absorb the cost of travelling the first 60 miles,$34.80, ( .58 x 60), calling it your commute before they start to reimburse mileage, (although a 60 mile daily commute for minimum wage is ridiculous), but take that off the top of your daily earnings when the location is 30 or more miles from home.Lets say you only work 4 hrs that day, (4 x 13 = 52.00), subtract 34.80 out of pocket to travel, you get 17.20. Divide that by the 4 hrs worked = $ 4.30/hr, far, far less than minimum wage. Apollo sees nothing wrong with this and actually calls this their policy. I find this unacceptable. What do you think?

The only good thing was the flexibility for working at local worksites, but the lack of hours because the priority projects were given to the long time employees and the ones just beginning get the short-end of the stick and only minimal projects to complete. Eventually, the part timers or new employees get laid off; the boss says no work available, but lies because there is always a constant amount of work to be completed. There is a high turn over rate and mostly from the part-timers.  The CEO does a great job at saying there is much work available just to get you to say yes you are interested, but then turns you over to a supervisor who fails to give you the work. Then the HR department keeps messing up on your W2/W4 forms and doesn't pay you the proper pay scale agreed upon. Finally, lack of proper education: All training is provided online via premade videos and slideshows, but that is easy to them but not to the actual users who need actual hands-on training which is not offered. Example: a video might show a project that to them can be completed in 15 minutes or less (because their scenery is all prepared), but in reality the project takes 2 hours. Then they get mad and wonder why you went over the 15 minute completion time, but don't take into consideration - clean up, finding the appropriate projects, documentation, instructions, tools, and other factors. I would not recommend this unless you are a professional. 

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