sales representative

designer

sales manager

production clerk

regional sales manager

Closet World

Like others I’ve read and also others I’ve worked with, I went through training with Closet World and was very excited about the description of the work and the compensation for it, but it feels like I was led astray to chase after a pipe dream because of what actually happened. The training portion was exciting because they paid for room and board during the week of training and the managers were setting high expectations for pay in the very beginning. It seemed like a company that cared about its employees and clients but it really is just this corporation that heavily relies on verbiage to manipulate and drain not only their clients but their employees as well. I am speaking for Closet World and Closets by Design because the training is exactly the same. I’m not sure about how they directly treat the installers but we were told that we weren’t allowed to talk to them and to “not acknowledge them” and it made me question the respect they had for their employees. When I was trained, I was told that each sale is potentially about $500 and we could easily make 4-10 sales a month which could cover most people’s basic necessities and them some. I was also informed of this “amazing” new employee bonus that if I reached an amount of sales (12) that was absolutely “attainable” (it was not even possible logistically) that it would be an extra $1k. I had a higher than average closing rate in the first month and it still was not enough to reach the bonus. These types of shady competitions would happen several times in order to motivate the designers to sell more but would only be paid out in gas cards to people who actually sold. It was actually when the last “incentive” like this was announced that I felt the gravity of how little they’re actually paying me. Once I finally did the math for my own life, I realized that I would never be making enough money from appointments to pay for the goals I had in mind while getting this job or even basic necessities. They tell you that most sales take a couple hours and the clients will most likely buy. My first 3 sales did buy but it took me 6 hours for the first 2. The were several clients where I’ve had to come back several times for them to still be unsure. While this is not the doing of the company, they do understand the rate in which people buy and weren’t being transparent about how many times you could potentially have to go back and what for. I’ve had a client that needed something that I was briefly trained on for a single day and I had to spend almost an hour of mine and my client’s time on hold with the managers because no one could answer my design questions promptly or clearly. The amount of time, money, and gas invested in following up with clients is a complete loss when at that point you are visiting clients that aren’t interested repeatedly and spending money out of pocket to see them or call them. I am constantly told that the money that I spend on the clients will be paid back to me in commission, but after two months of working there, I Literally cannot afford to wait for the commission to be paid out. I’ve read other reviews the whole time working here and have considered the other things previous employees have said, and it’s true. It does take a second for the commission, and I understand that. What I did not understand, was the exact job description, how it did not line up, exactly how much unpaid work I would be doing, and how little I would get paid in the beginning. In the position description it states that this job is fun and creative and flexible, but I would say that this job is the opposite of all of that. It could be considered flexible if we weren’t completely at the mercy of random people every day, but that’s what the case was. They told me during the interviewing process specifically that we were to be working locally and “not crossing any bridges” but I’ve driven an hour away several times and so have my coworkers. I would understand if this was made clear during the hiring process, but the District Manager told me this contradicting information himself. The only fun portion was being able to meet so many different people and learn briefly about their lives (even the managers) but they think of you as a robot because you are working and/or trying to sell them something. The “creative“ aspect is the fact that you get to use a ruler and draw what they teach you to draw within their closet rules. To them, the creative aspect was probably referring to the designers creativity in lies and fabricated connections built with the client. They guilt the designers by putting the responsibility of the sales on them but telling them that marketing already did all the work for the sale, which it didn’t, and that we needed to manipulate better. They do a great job of mentioning during training that they spend millions on marketing and approximately $600 on each client, but a horrible job of mentioning how much they will take care of you if you don’t make full sales (barely, and after the initial training period you will be making nothing). They frame everything like the power is in the hands of the designer and the client but it really isn’t. The client “incentives” on the flyers they spend so much money on have been going on for years and the clients know that already too. The clients know that the managers can lower the price if they want to and it is up to the designer to lie to the client and manipulate them into thinking that they need to purchase at the higher price today. To my understanding this would be a better company if they spent a fraction of their marketing budget on an actual wage for their designers (the people who talk to all of their clients[money] and carry all of their contracts[money]…) They would also save a lot of hassle and struggle for the clients and designers if they did anything digitally like everything else is in the 21st century, but they don’t. I’m convinced it’s more of a legal logistical issue because almost every client I’ve had under the age of 80 years old asked for a 3D rendering and expected designs within 10-20 minutes. I have no idea how carrying pounds of papers just to have the same line drawings is more efficient. I had to tell clients over and over that simply this is “just how we work” and deal with their frustrations over something I’m frustrated over as well. It was actually embarrassing to have to advocate for this company and it’s ancient ways. It’s bittersweet to me because I liked the managers as people but they clearly only care about sales and it showed. I really wanted to give this job a chance but the endless calls intruding into my personal life and the less than minimum wage combined with the pounds and pounds of papers and displays to constantly carry around with me was overwhelming from the beginning. I already had enough on my plate, but only figuratively because I was not able to pay for food AND rent while working there. I will update this in a month if the commission that finally comes in is anything significant enough to change my mind but even still, it’s about the company practices as well. 

A great place to get your foot in the trade if you have little to no experience in carpentry. The job is suitable for handy individual who enjoys problem solving and detail oriented work. The learning curve is high for beginners, but the reward is relative to the difficulty. Solving each challenge will build character and confidence. The pay and benefit is tremendously attractive for newcomers because of overtime. There is plenty of work to go around for individuals whose willing. The work is very easy for helpers.

However, company does not provide proper training to aptly prepare helpers to become apprentice installers. Only those who truely enjoy the craft will find the rite of passage to learn and survive as an apprentice. From this point onwards, the path to success is a treacherous one. With each job completed, one is expected to take on bigger jobs and heavier loads (relative to pay). Jobs not finished the same day is frown upon. Jobs completed the same day can sometimes correlates to getting home near midnight. Without proper rest individual are also susceptible to work injury. 

Work life balance with high pay is possible, but only reserved for individual with high points in mental acuity, strength, and agility. Those without these traits need to be responsible for maintaining their own sense of wellbeing physically and mentally, and be able to set work boundaries with the company as a means to work long term.

Personally, I loved the job but could not endure the work load in the end. I worked with great people. I installed closets for kind and generous clients. Im very proud of my work. Even though at times I felt the job was demanding more than I am able, Im very thankful for the opportunity theyve given me.
I would recommend this job to a friend.

I cannot believe I fell for this opportunity. The red flags were all over the place, but I and many others have fallen for the "Designer" position. The customer service representatives who are supposed to be there to help you have had a history of being rude and nasty. But after many complaints they seem to have gotten it together a bit.

Dont get me started on management, there is a poison in that company thats hard to describe, but anyone who has encountered this place will understand what I mean. They pretend to be nice to you and then you realize sooner than later that it was all a front because there is no respect for designers even though we are the reason why any of them get a check. Meanwhile, we have to spend all of our own personal money on gas only to end up with a very low commision. Its very hard to make it unless you have a nice savings account in the first place. 

After all was said and done, one of the managers told me you need to have a nice amount in your savings account to do this job. My question to him was, how was I supposed to know that. No one ever mentions that at all during the entire time and by the time you get wise to whats happening you've spent all of your own money and are left to go find a "real" job. I worked my tail off on one closet in particular spending hours designing and re-designing, etc... only to find my commission was going to be a measely $50. And on top of that said client cancelled and no one even told me. I was expecting to get paid on it. I was making more on unemployment.

I would still highly reccommend this place however, but only to my worst enemy or an ex boyfriend.

This was not what I expected. My title was Designer, but I felt more like a door to door salesman. Got paid minimum wage for training.. which was okay. I made more money in training than I did in the other 2 months I worked there. They call the hours "flexible" but they are anything but flexible. They expect you to have open availability and give your availability for the entire month weeks ahead of time. Then you don't find out if you have an appointment until 7pm the night before. Sometimes 2 appointments in 1 day... sometimes NO appointments for several days in a row. So I could not plan anything for those days since you don't find out until the night before. My next 2 paychecks were around $200. It was a huge waste of time and energy. Also, be prepared to carry heavy loads of supplies and spend 4-6 hours in someone's home without them even buying anything. And if you are sick the night before an appointment... be prepared to jump through several hoops to let anyone know to cover it. Oh... and the harassing phone calls at 6am if you didn't confirm your appointments. Even time consuming phone calls from management on days off or days without appointments. They will call at anytime and expect you to answer and dedicate 30 minutes or more to answering questions and giving your "sales pitch" without being paid for you time. If you are a pushy salesperson... maybe this is a job for you. Not a good fit for me with a busy family.

Set a class starts out with quite a few people. And in the end you might have one or two left.
You are bribed for the first four months and it feels good because you have money coming in.  But then after that you're on your own.  They run big special so that people want you to design a lot of things. And if you're not careful you'll spend your whole day there.  So you have to learn to read between the lines.

It seems to be this new or this sales platform is used widely see any. H I S world Home improvement services.

You're ushered in like cattle. They love it if you're producing. But if you're not you don't get the time a day.

You have to call in to get questions. Answered the system we work on are uses from the nineteen nineties.

We have to wait for a pay checks and sometimes we don't get one.
They call in and say we don't get one. They research and a week later you get it.

Or if your past your four months if they're backed up in the warehouse and the installation date is far out, you don't get paid for that for 2 to 3 months.

It's flexible you can write your own hours.
You get one day of training for a pantries, One day of training for offices, One day of training for garages.  It's a week-long class for each one, but most of the time you're talking about the paperwork. And not really about how to design. And if you've never done this for a living, it's not easy to catch on one of the girls in the class cried..

What is the best part of working at the company?
You will get menacing calls from your manager 7 days a week. You will never have peace even on a day off.  You will be hounded to produce sales even when the client is incapable of making the deal happen.  Most frustrating company I have ever worked for. The designing is fun. The clients are great, it's the company that is the problem. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Incessant phone calls from corporate.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Not much of a culture except for the monthly sales meetings in Whittier which are mandatory.  You'll be fed. You'll be treated like a child.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Leave for your first appt at 10 am. Measure design sell project in one visit. Run to your next assignment at 12 noon.  If one minute late your mgr will call you to scold you.  At noon, measure, design space, attempt a sale, Scramble to your next appt at 3.  Get home . Send all paperwork to corporate via email (often 10 pages on your sales)  eat dinner. Check your computer at 6 pm for the assignment the following day. Answer all calls from corporate in between all this.  Not for those who have run their own business.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Designing for clients. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Managers are ALWAYS busy. They make it seem like it’s a chore to talk to you. Not one of the management team every responded to my emails. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work days vary, some days you aren’t working. So makes easier work/home life balance. However, the managers are not easy to communicate with. It’s not the ideal job if you have a lot going on, you have to spend a lot of your time at home doing paperwork. It’s endless! They should be more ahead in a of the times and put more updated tools, so the designers can work more effectively. It’s super old school. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Wait till 6 pm every night to get your schedule. Scheduled anywhere from 10am-5pm. Some drive times take 25-60 min. Each way. The compensation does not work with current gas prices. I feel overall if you can make it if work hard. You will be one of a handful of people who make six figures. But you have to have support it other income the first four months. It’s a good role for a highly organized person who does not mind having an office in your car and home.

Working as home improvement designer /sales is fun, you get to visit client's home and see different project and need and come up with the design client would like and work with their need, discuss the color and other options, how functioning the design would help them to improve their living life.
I enjoy talk to client and help them to build their dream closet, office, pantry and garage, and more. during the job.

Sometimes it takes more than 2 trips to get the job right, but once the project is completely and client send me the picture after installed, it is full of joy and sense of great connection to our community.

Work home mostly and follow up with clients by email and phone calls and text massage, the hardest part of the job is, the. company would not release the client's meeting schedule until the 7pm the evening before your next day's lead and there are high rate of cancellations or no show that makes the designer has hard time to managing their schedule and hard to make income. Lack of leads to provide to designer as well.

Appointment are scheduled by call center. No mileage nor hourly is paid. If the client doesn't purchase anything you lost on you gas, wear and tear, food, time and everything in between. Now, if they do buy it's good money, however, you gotta wake at least 2-3months before you see your commission for the sale. You get hired as a sales person instead of a designer. If you don't sell $15,000 a weak,you are no good for the company. It's tough, the majority of appointments are just curious people. The closets are very expensive in the thousands or tens of thousands. I designed a sold many big projects. My biggest was A project for $38,000 2walk in closets and a garage set up. I received 8% commission in 3hrs. Good money, but they just buy! If they don't buy in month, you don't get paid; now you're a month behind. I would do if you have money saved up or someone paying for your car, gas and food. Conclusion: I loved to work for Closet World. This job drained my savings.

Loved my job - was selling real well at first and then the economy changed which made sells more difficult.  Was difficult to get a hold of manager with questions from the very beginning but as sales became more difficult, so did getting any help.  Wasn't paid on time a  lot of the time.  I understand we are just coming out of the pandemic but the organization as a whole was disorganized.  Had to call in the sales and try to get a discount from the managers for the customer's benefit but that was a game.  Some managers gave better discounts than others so you never knew if this was the best deal for the customer.  They did provide great training but you  have to drive so many miles in a month and you aren't really compensated for it.  Other closet design companies use 3-D computer drawings with their bids.  We had to sit down and manually draw the schematics of the closet and the new proposed drawing and we are expected to do the sale that very day -- some people like to think about things or compare bids and that doesn't sit real well with management.  A real let down in the end.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales representative 71 salaries reported	$4,000 per month
Designer 48 salaries reported	$4,354 per month
Sales manager 10 salaries reported	$101,750 per year
Production clerk 1 salary reported	$18.75 per hour
Regional sales manager 8 salaries reported	$156,875 per year

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