Marcus Evans / THG review: Scam 119

Hi,

I have received a job offer in Thg in their offices in Montreal. I am really interested by their offer and i would really like to join them. Could you tell me more about the HR policies. It is written on the contract that they are providing only one day's notice. Could you tell me if i can be fired like this or if they are ready to give some time to their new sales executive to adapt to the process. Moreover, what is the average of deals that you can hope per month?
Do you really think i can do money if I work for them because actually they provide good career evolutions and it is the purpose?
What do you mean by they treat the secretaries like ###?
I would be pleased if you could answer to me

Marc

i completely agree with you, as a staff with them at the moment and all you said is very true.100% true.

I would like to share with you my experience at THG in London.

What this person is saying about this company is absolutely true. I worked in their London office last year. When I was hired I was told that only the best stay and if you are good you can make so much money. I received a week training and was sent to the sales floor. First impression something was fishy because on a 20 people sales floor only 3 were here for more than a year. It says a lot for a 25 years old company.

During the recrutment process and the training we were told that we have to talk only to MD's or CEO's of companies making minimum £30 millions/ €50 millions and close the deal within the day. Ok this is a challenge and they are giving you 3 month probation period because as they said it is the time you need to close your first deal. However after only 2 weeks on the sales floor the monday evening I was called to be said to take my staff and get off the building. The reason was that I wasn't fitting in the job and I wasn't performing enough. What? After only 2 weeks? Knowing that during that period only 1 out of the 12 people who started at the same time as me made a deal.

OK I know that it is a sales job and that you have to perform. If after 3 month I would haven't made a deal I would have understood but after 2 weeks and knowing the nature of the task I can't accept the fact that it is a question of performance. Knowing that I left a job where I was making £24000 pa + commissions to join this company.

But later I met one of my former colleagues and told me what do you think? Most of the people are here to do some lead sourcing for the senior member of the floor. It's funny but during this 2 weeks when I wasn't performing I qualified 2 very good contacts who asked me to call them back later in the month but I guess that these 2 contacts weren't lost for everybody.

If you are about to accept a job at marcus evans as the whole group is managed the same way as THG, good luck

I worked at the London office in 2002, it was the same deal then.

Take the training then leave.

I can't believe they are still in business!

Hi C,

I agree with you as i have went through training with them and fired after a day on the floor.

It puzzled me as they embraced me during the 2 interviews and training and praised my successful potential in their fast elevating oppertunity enviornmrnt.
After the training i was sick for 1 day and couldnt even walk to make it to work.i was diagnosed with gasritis .The lining of my stomach is damaged and i couldnt eat or walk as i was in severe pain. i was admited to the hospital and had a doctors note. I had long and loud burps all though the day so how the hell could i talk to customers or my trainer like that.
i went back to work the next day and they called me into the back room and told me that the other 2 condidate who trained with me was a better fit for the job.
i asked them why and they said that i dont have any body language and i was sick for 1 day.

Body language?
what does body language have to do with talking on the phone and besides i have an excellent work history and allways consistent making 20 plus sales per day in other jobs.

They promissed me a successful future with their company and assured me i was fit for the job and they will give me the necessary training to advance at their company.
for this reason i put off my college application and spend all the money i had from the previous job on travelling expenses and professional attire. This in all cost me over $300.
they did not give me any notice or warning. How could they judge my future performance based on the first day on the floor which my trainer even told me i did very well and i asked for the chance to make my first legitemate call.

i have allways done well in communications and customer relations as i have done hospitality courses, social services, bartending and other customer relations jobs.

They literally build up my hopes and then pushed me off the cliff.
i was depending on my paycheck to pay my rent and because of their dishonesty im gonna be evicted from my appartment.
marcus evans really walked over my career, goals and expectations like it was nothing but ###.
I want to bring marcus evans down like they did me. Thay should pay for their undelivered promisses and for crushing my career as the course i had planned on applying for at George Brown is now closed.

Ill give my email address on here so anyone who have been beaten down by marcus evan can contact me so we can work together to bring them down.

Ashantilongislant@yahoo.com you can call me tiffany.

dont be intimidated by these companies cause the law applies to them and they have an obligation to follow it just like us. Please contact me.
Thank you!

Jacob:

"6.) When the prospect does not bite, the 'Director of Operations' will call him/her back (Without your knowledge)
Director of Ops will say, 'Lets strike a deal, you pay $40, 000 instead of $65, 000 & bring 3 people w/ you to the Summit. You can also bring a floater(Person who does not engage in one-on-one meetings...We'll also accomadate 1 person for the subsequent Summit...Give us a list of the 10-15 Vendors you'd like to meet & we will assign a Sales rep to personally make sure to call all of them...And even if we get 6 out of 15 at the Summit..Thats 6 face to face meetings w/ your targets that you wouldn't get in 2 years...Now, $40, 000 is a small price to pay for that? Right? Especially in terms of ROI? How much will 1 deal make your company? Prospect says, '100-250K.' Director of Ops, 'ROI is there, right?' Propsect, 'Right!'"

I lost many deals because of this sort of deal and I worked in one of the company's more "formidable" European offices. Bad Bad Idea! I should have known they were just using expats like me, but I desperately needed a job. Anyway, our GM basically told me there was some complications in the deal and less than 24 hours later, I saw my lead on his desk attached to a contract.

"10.) Theron burraway, CEO (United States) checks everybody's e-mail(Outgoing/Incoming) Also, he has a cat's eye view to your computer screen whenever he wants from the luxury of his office, home, blackberry...etc...VM's are checked(Cleaned out) by the Sales Managers"

Your office had allowed Sales Execs. their own computers? Where I worked, we had 15 people (at one point) working on various Summits and 3 computers. We were assigned time to use the computers, unless you were sending out decisions. But managers often offered to send the decisions out for the newbies- you catch my drift!

They are not nice people.

###ing ###... marcus evans are the most dishonest ### aroun..

dont buy anything from them... theyir conferences and summits are all ###

Does any one know what the basic salary is for a sales executive just starting?

$1000 per month was what they paid in the Toronto office as a base salary. It was also taxed and paid out at the end of the month. Commission was on top of that, and that always changed...I worked in the Defense division and was pretty good at it, made my way to Assistant Sales manager and then got ###ed like everyone else in the company.

STAY AWAY FROM M.E.

I have worked out of the Chicago office. The GM is horrible in demoralizing. There intent is to break you down to nothing. You come in with high hopes only to be filled with lies. They put college students in position of management and brainwasshed to adhere to lies form the GM John Ksar. Keep your college grads out of the brainwashing that Marcus Evans do on your young people. They are used in bed by those in authority with the young minds beleiving they could and would move to the top. I was working under a Ed whose in DA he is a psycopath and a paranoid vinditive parasite, BEWARE! The Feds should look into the company and its practices of plantation and sexual harassment that excists there

Chitown

Chi Town

Does any one know what the annual salary is for a sales person in the UK working at THG. Also does any one have an idea to the average commission earnings on top of the basic.

Many thanks

ed giangrosso is a psychopath and paranoid beware I use to work there RUN!

If you are looking for ed giangrosso he's working management in the chicago office. He use to work in the Prague office for Marcus evans they're probably many complaints there in Prague against him he's not to be trusted little do the gm ksar know that ed is trying to take his job i overheard this when i worked there a year ago! They lie to the C levelexecutives that we have complimentary spots and waiving the $1950 registration fee everyone gets comp they take your credit card info be careful

chi

Bitter former employees exist at every company. If you spend enough time on the internet, I am sure you could find bitter tirades from former employees at every company. The only difference is that Marcus Evans isn't spending millions to keep the information buried in the latter pages of search engines.

As you can see by the illiteracy of these posts, you are not dealing with the world's best and brightest minds. Sales is cut-throat. You can either sell or you can't. If Marcus Evans' product was so bad, then how have they stayed in business so long working with the largest, most reputable companies in the world? Spend some time reading their testimonials pages and you will see that high level executives ARE gaining value from their events. Seriously people, stop blaming others for your inadequacies and failures and start looking to improve yourselves so you aren't forced to spend sleepless nights plotting revenge and making libelous claims against a good company.

I agree with some posts and with Jim Ryan.

It is indeed a cut-throat environment. I've been here 5 years, and hit senior titles in 3 divisions. So you can deduct I've chosen to start over 3 times. And I would do it again. I consider myself to be pretty good at what I do, but in no way am the best.

Some of the posts admitted that this is one of the best training available. I agree. It is an everyday challenge, and obviously reaching CEOs all day asn't for everyone.

Also, I've been to over many summits. They are awesome. If I was on the other end of the phone, that would be my gig. As for complimentary spots, they are offered in exchange for the delegates attendance. M.E. made this decision years ago. Delegates that don't show up do pay the cancellation fee, which is what we used to charge up front. Anyone smart enough would agree that it is fair. Marcus Evans pays for the event, room food etc up front, so it's normal to recover those costs if the delegate leaves an empty seat... And Solution Providers expect these people to be in attendance the second they access the scheduler to take their meetings...

As for THG, come on people. This is corporate hospitality to major sports events. Sports are universally expected. Executives host or they don't. Find what they want go from there.

On the other hand, there are many ways to achieve success.

So when I read posts like Carlo's stating that conferences are free, THG doesn't book venues and treat secretaries like crap... I don't know what you smoked or sniffed before coming to work. I do understand your frustration, but that's it. Based on what you wrote, I wouldn't even hire you in another company.

Shelkan. You sound honest so I won't discredit what you're saying, however if a manager tells you you're not performing after 2 weeks, chances are either you aren't doing anything at your desk or it was about something else. That sounds fishy. I;ve seen people who were brutal on the phone but

In everyone's defense, some of the managers are rough people. I've seen stories like this happen elsewhere too, and you can read about it in any newspaper on any day. There is only one thing I agree with. There are some people that I would "gladly push down the stairs if I had the opportunity". No names necessary. Just a point.

Tiffany Bailey's story gave me the willies. If you don't have a full understanding of the labor laws in your area, you better have a solid spine. Whoever sent you packing was obviously a master of being an a-hole.

But that's all. I've met some of the best people working here and through other offices. I have made 1000s of contacts in other organizations. I have learned to fear no one. I have learned the end-to-end process of research to the close. I have closed sales in all my divisions and closed sales for others.

At the end of the day, if you believe in yourself and believe in your product, there is nothing to stop you.

Yep Carlo is back!

Now, you have seen (in the posts from APM and Jim) the kind of attitude a truly slave of Marcus Evans can show. These two idiots above are a good example of what kind of people you will find in Marcus Evens.

Very aggressive small dogs, normally without any formal education and low IQ, and with the belief that "if you don't make it in marcus evans, you must be a looser". Ah ah, Can't believe how brainwashed you are guys!

Just to answer the questions from previous posts...

BASIC SALARY:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic salary in ME is always slightly short than the minimum salary allowed in any given state. In uk for istance the National Minimum Wage based on 37.5 hrs a week should be 933gbp amonth and hence 11200 yearly. Normally in ME you would get something around 850gbp (yep, that's gross) and you actually reach the minimum legal when selling 1 deal. If you don't sell anything in a given month, they will top up your wage till they reach the minimum, not for filantropy but just because otherwise it would be illegal.

COMMISSIONS:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The commission structure is divided in incremental steps, from 5% to 25% or something like that. They are totally unachivable for the following reasons:

1) CONFERENCE QUALITY:You won't be given any good conference at all if you don't complain and most certenly never at the beginning. On the other hand, managers will get 60 to 80 delegates conferences, you will have the crap ones (from 15 to 25 delegates)

2)HOW MANY PEOPLE ON THE SAME CONFERENCE? They will put on any given conference too many people to work on it. Hence your possible delegates will have to be divided in 2 or 3 (depending on how many collegues they put on it). If by any chance they see the conference is going well thanks to your hardwork they will immediately put one more sales ex on it. Just to give you some perspective: a decent conference company would put just 2 sales ex on a 80 to 100 delegates' conference (this way you can make money).

TOTAL EARNINGS: if you are lucky and very good, you might get £15.000 gross. In most other serious company such as Informa, Centaur or Terrapin, you would get 20k basic, and 30/35K the first year.
THE REASON WHY ME IS STILL IN BUSINESS IS THAT EXPLOIT EMPLOYEES. THE VERY KEY TO THEIR BUSINESS MODEL IS BASED ON UNDERPAY EMPLOYEES. The saved money make ME rich.

CAREER:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One thing has to be said, this employees exploiting machine is very well architectured.
From the website with the "corporate values" and how they will "value and reward success"...they don't certenly mean that "monetary" ah ah.
Let me get this straight: With ME you will not go very far with your career. One reason is that the company have virtually no hierachy. there's the god Marcus that you will never see (not even at the Christmas Parties), few MD (one per nation) and than managers and assistant managers, the rest is labour with no value to them.

CULTURE-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During my MBA they tought me that all values that affects the group dynamics within a given companies, ultimately would come from the top and the example they set. It's here that ME hit the lowest in my opinion.

No weakness are allowed, I saw a long standing excellent manager leaving because the MD won't give him half day holiday on the day he was splitting with his wife.
No women will be considered as Managers, I saw an MD saying out loud during a training to an outstanding female manager that women will not go far simply because they are not able to command.

Send your CV to other companies: Informa, Centaur, Terrapinn are good and you will be valued and paid.

Good luck
C

I made over $350K USD a year working at ME (and other "Biz Intel" groups) - It was most definitely worth my time and the effort to deal with some many mediocre idividuals. Hats off to all of you who tried and didn't succeed - it only made me more money...

Cheers!

Yes right ! ChaChing thanks so much for your enlighting opinion.
You are indeed another good example of the higly sophisticated and educated individuals that ME attracts...NOW...BACK ON THE PHONE!

ah ah, you cranck me up mate!

Hey I 100% agree to what Carol commented about Marcus Evans

I worked for Marcus Evans Conference Division in Kuala Lumpur for over one year, as a so called conference producer.

I have to say the management structure is fine but the managing team totally sucks... They give you a 30-day production duration to generate a theme, make research, develop program and invite the speakers, even if you are a totally ROOKIE who knows nothing about the related theme! Without a professional R&D team force, the program mostly turns as nothing but a copying and paste from the internet.

And for the customer, MONEY PAID iS NEVER BACK. They only allow the customer choose another event within one year, regardless if there is related topic of interest and customer's availability.

OOPs, finally, the Asia-Pacific HQ in Kuala Lumpur exprienced two big-scaled down-sizes in 2008 and 2009 and branches offices in countries closed one by one in the downturn.

Hey so called Marcus Evans APAC, why don't you go back to the sales floor and production floor to push your staff? Maybe APAC office relocating from Central Plaza to somewhere in Chow Kit is just a matter of time sooner or later.

Look at the fact what happened:
Bangkok Office (let's named so) closed
Manira Office (let's named so) closed
Jakata Office (let's named so) closed
Tokyo Office (let's named so) closed
Shanghai Office (let's named so) closed
Chengdu Office (let's named so) closed
Soeul Office (let's named so) closed

Hey buddies, why not let us have a bet on which office to close next? It is certainly 1000% more exciting than to guess whether Newcastle FC will come back to England Premier Division in 2010 or poor FC IPSWICH will reglate to England First Division next season...HAH

Do you think it is really feasible that the bananas MBC in Penang could sell the event to China Market well? Just a temp delaying of ME's exiting from China Market, which is surely the rising market for MICE industry!

Wish you all the best. I have to say I made a lot of friends in ME, though many left or sacked.

Last but not least, to Mr. Macus Evans, even though you hire Roy Keane as the new manager of Ipswich FC, but it will enjoy the same destiny of Macus Evans Company-- maybe in South Conference Division some day in future!

All of you on here complaing seem like you are still bitter that you could not cut it at Marcus Evans. If not, why would you be on here spending your precious time crying about it? The fact of the matter is that you cannot make everyone happy. This group represents a small minority of people who have ever worked at Marcus Evans. People who have positive experiences with a company rarely take the time to come on to a site liek this and share thier experiences, but people like YOU obviously come on here with an agenda.

Well guess what, Marcus Evans is thriving durring a down economy, providing a quality product and service to thousand's of companies each year and has a record rate of repeat business.

The claims you make are very serious and in almost every case untrue. Thanks for sharing though...

Here we go again...

Boooooriiiiiiinnnnngggggg...
Still with the old Marcus Evans belief, name it "if you don't make it in ME you are a looser" !

Come on man, let's face it, you are a not particularly inteligent guy, with no formal or informal education, raging on the phone day in day out, earning very little most of the months and getting some more twice an year. Saddly you can't even do your math otherwise you will realize that you are trapped in a ded-end job, working like a donkey for few bucks.

What you are not smart enough to realize is that, the simple fact that you are still in ME hoping for a good month or a good year, tells a lot about who you are...

Honestly I am just worried about Forigners and Graduates hoping for a good job and ending up working like donkeys in suite, being treated like ###, and earning less than in MacDonald.

If you are experiencing problems with Marcus Evans you can check this website: www.ACAS. org.uk
Contact them while you are still there or within 3 month from when you quit.

Fight back
Carlo

I didn't have a problem workin at ME until I got food poisoning, was off for 2 weeks and was sacked via text message by Ankhush...fair?

not just ex-employee bitterness here. This company is toxic and its name comes up so often on such forums. The bottom line is simple, they do not treat their employees properly. full stop.

I have worked with ME for two years and must say I enjoyed it most of the time and it helped me in my personal and career development. There were good colleagues and bad colleagues (and strange colleagues), good times and bad times- just like in any company and any job. The payment was ok but nothing special and after two years I was offered a better paid job with another company so I left.

I can understand that some people do have problems with the sales mentality of ME and I have to admit that I could not do that job one single day (obviously I was not working in a sales department). If you want to be a sales person you just have to have a certain mentality and personal character - but I am sure that counts for most sales jobs out there. One thing I can say though is that the summit product is a good product and about 75% of the clients were satisfied.

People reading this should always remember that the best thing to do is to make your own experience. Neither negatively or positively you should let yourself get influenced by what people are posting on the internet.

I was employed in a Sales Executive role at Marcus Evans in Barcelona, Spain for 6 months in 2002. An interesting experience, to say the least.

For the record, since then I have developed two successful business's employing staff and creating true professional and personal weath. In relation to Jim Ryan's comments listed on this blog, he does have a point! I have no ill feelings nor resentment towards ME Spain and in fact treat the whole eposide as a valuable learning curve.

That aside, I would not waste one cent (or pound or euro, depening on your country of origin) on a Marcus Evans event, product or service. The majority of the claims made in this blog are likely to be, in my opinion, correct and factual.

Unless you enjoy decieptful employment, enjoy lying and bullying and generally have no decency, my advise is look elsewhere for employment.

I was contacted by a Marcus Evans employee selling a "Summit". I must say this, the sales training is good. Talk about a guy not taking NO for an answer. He kept me on the phone for half an hour. The pitch was in fact very deceitful because I called some of the folks he name dropped claiming he had already spoken with. I asked them if they had indeed had a conversation with this individual and they all said no but had gotten inquiries from other business poeple all over the country asking the same question. Red Flag. I agree with everyone who says ME uses deceitful sales tactics because I experienced it and I believe everyone who says they have worked for ME before because they described this guys sales pitch to a T. It's a scam so watch out!

I work in Marcus Evans for 1 1/2 years in sales in the Summits Division. I'm not going to argue all the comments that have been made here, because I don’t know all these individuals personally. What I will say is that Marcus Evans is not a scam, it's a business. I've met a lot of people in this time extremely happy with the product that we provide and in the same time I’ve met a few not so happy...so what? If somebody can give me an example of a company which provides 100% satisfaction to each and every one of their clients and to each and every one of their employees I’ll be amazed. As long as more than 75% of the people I’ve met respect and appreciate what we do I’m happy with that.
In my job I haven’t lied or been disrespectful not once, although I came across a lot of not so polite people. So my advice to everybody here is to stop complaining, you waste your time, take the positive from whatever experience you had with Marcus Evans and move on.

Hi There,

I juz got a phone call for an Interview at Marcus Events/THG. Thought Id do some research on the company and found this Forum! Holy crap! Its seriously making me think twice if I should really bother with the interview.
Its for " European Events Coordinator" role. Any advice?

Many thanks!

Assuming that some of the complainers here dont have the skills, but still ME sups / managers does not have the right to steal their reps leads. As leaders, coaching is none stop until your reps are able to maximize their potential.

im 28 years of age and have been in sales since i was 19. This is something that I have definately learnt. If you are selling a product that you dont believe in you sir are not a salesman, you are a conman. If you have to lie to get the sale you are a conman not a salesman. If you dismiss ethics because you are succumbing to the sheep mentality as in everyone else in the company is doing it so its ok then your weak. If you dismiss your own personal ethics because of the lure of financial success then your taking the bait and you are selling out.

You still use all the psychological tools to sell a product you believe in. One that you know is a win for the client and for your company.

However believe me when you start to lie even once your selling out your integrity and ppl will see through you because you know what. You wont believe in yourself. INTEGRITY is the most important aspect of success and I would encourage anyone who is cheating clients and themselves to rethink what you are doing.

ciao

I'm here thinking about applying to Marcus Evans Group and I decided not to just look at the companys' website, with employee video testimonies mind you, but also see what the web has to say about them. I must say these comments posted here sound so familiar to something I've seen before; a movie actually.
It seems like this company is almost a text book copy of that in the movie Boiler room.
Anyone remember that film starring Ben Aflick, Giovanni Ribis, Van Diesel and Nia Long? Its based on the stock market but the internal business culture of what they are claiming with THG seems to be the exact same of the movie; which is based on a real life event. Great movie. Maybe all who have worked at THG and all who potentially want to should watch it for some insight.
I'm ripping up my application, life's too short to go swimming naked with the sharks!

I must say after just over two years of Pitching from the ME European HQ in London, I feel like i have been robbed off these years. Anyone who acctually comes on here to argue the ME cause must be crazy or beeing payed to do so. For those who dont know the pay structure has furture changed...

We were all given a paper in January-Feb stating: with this new structure all employee's are guarenteed 1000/month...me and (tho i was not surprised) very few people felt uneasy. Rightfully so, the pay scam which followed made me sick and made me feel like a farmer in the feudal age...where you are given a piece of land to work for food and house. not more. o yeah...transport. The new system which has now been implemented at least in europe goes like this...

For each month you do not make a deal ME will top up your 650 pound wage with 350 pound, this will then have to be payed back the following month if you make money. If you dont make any deals then they will top up that month as well and you will owe the company 700 pounds, to be deducted when you make money..its funny to right about it now but this is the case at the moment. They are getting away with this even tho the acctual top up is only 150 pounds as the other 200 has be added by law.

Conferences are way overpriced and the reason for that is that they make the best events in the industry, dont really know about that but i know that a day didnt go by without calling a company that has placed ME on a no call list. Pardon my complaints loyal and manipulated employees and those who are smart but unfortunate to need a visa to remain in the country (exploited) but all i want to say is that ME is a very good business man i.e he knows how to make money but just does not give thought to the employee's.

In order to avoid massive revolts, they make sure they hire foreigners who acctually learn the language as they work the phones and graduates who could not find jobs or when probed admit to taking the first job offered to them, I was one of those. So i guess one could say there are many who really are happy with what they get as the company offers jobs to the graduates from uk who find it hard to get a job due to visa needs, graduates who smoked and still smoke to much, those with a big mouth and a small brain.

Well done to those who make it there but everyday during smokebrakes discuss how to get out, to all those who knows after 20-50 interviews knows its as good as it gets. Hope you are all enjoying it with MR BIG in Nr 11.

Really as a sales executive you will learn not to take no for an answer and gain confidence on the phone, that is not credit to ME but the execs effort, and the 100 calls per day.

Do not consider this a diss, venting of frustration or anger, just a view from an ex employee.

Could someone please comment on " European Events Coordinator" role?
Thank you!