Hi, my name is Chris and I am writing here to explain to all people what the cobra company is all about, and how i managed to escape after only 2 weeks.
The Opportunity:
I had been working part time for 8 hours a week while studying my A Levels in the Colchester/Clacton area. After finishing college and getting a place at university i decided to take a year out so i could get some money for the next year. How great was it that when i saw online an advert for FHM (fun hard work = money) earning and i quote: "15, 000-25, 000 OTE"
The Ad also stated that i needed no experience. Now this should have started to ring the alarm bells, but i really needed some money, and this sounded perfect. I sent off my CV immediately and recieved a phone call the next day from a very bubbly woman that I was to attend an interview the next week.
Again, this should have raised some issues that it was all moving so fast but I had thought nothing of it at the time.
The First Interview:
I arrived on the first day suited and booted all ready to impress the managing director whom i was assured was "brilliant". Upon arriving at the office I noticed 3 others all waiting for an intervie the same as me, wow, rushed much?
I then went in for my interview, at which my managing director (to be named hereafter as MD) told me all about my previous experience. Having been involved with retail selling for over a year she commented on this and kept me distracted from learning anything about what i would be doing.
I got a phone call about 2 hours after my interview stating that I could come back for a second interview. Great! Except that it was the next day...
The Second Interview (Ob Day):
I arrived at the office early excited that i had made it to the second interview. (Little did i know at the time but so were about 80% of the people who sat a first interview, cunningly however not the same guys i saw sitting waiting for it)
I was told i would attend an observation of what the guys actually do on behalf of all these "huge" name companies that Cobra represents. I was taken into the field by two females, in their mid 20s who said they loved working for the company. I found out later that one had only been with the company for three months and was already a "Leader".
When we arrived at the field i began to ask questions about pay. This job was going to be based 100% on commision, and i had to make sure what i was getting into. No doubt though that the woman i was chatting with "turned negatives" and i was fairly satisfied. It was a fairly short Ob, and a saw the woman that would be my leader make 18 in ten minutes. Pretty impressive i thought at first.
The Final Interview: Upon arriving home from "Ob Day" I get my final interview with the MD. Again any negatives that i have, she uses the sales technique that is taught (for legal reasons i probably cannot disclose these techniques, but anyone that has been in the same boat as me will know how to "turn negs").
After I leave I get a phone call within half an hour telling me that I got the job and that I would need to turn up at the office for 12 the next day for training.
Training: 5 Hours of constant pitch practice, and then trained on all aspects of the product i was assigned to. I was told that the next day we would be going to London for a Regional morning meeting.
First Day: I got on the early train from my home in clacton and met the rest of the FR's (Field Representatives) in Colchester. We went to London, met some very rich men who would not stop shouting about how rich they were, then came back to the office. Collected some "merch" (the forms for applications) and headed back to the train station where we were selling for 6 hours.
It was 8pm, I had made 30 (wow 5 an hour), and i thought it was home time. But no, it was back to the office to "de-merch". And then back on the train to clacton. I left in the morning at 7am, and got back home at 10:30 pm. Not really a "short day". For more than 12 hours of work related activity I had netted 30, so about 2 an hour then?
False Prospects: Every morning a meeting took place with ludicrusly loud music to basically wake everyone who had had 5 hours sleep the night before.
In each meeting we had prospects of ownership, leadership and 6 figure salaries pounded into our heads. Then any "Bell-Ringers" (a term used by cobra as anyone making 50 a day, or 60 as a leader) were read out. Unless there were none of course, which invariably happened.
Over the course of the next 2 weeks i was so blinded by these false prospects and loud music that i had not at all noticed that only about 6 people i had made friends with inside the company had actually left! I am still in contact with one of them, and she quit. But i was led to believe by the MD that she was 'fired' because she was not making the company any money. It is seen within the corporation that you do not talk of anyone that has left, and any of it WILL be negative, and must be instantly "turned".
Suddenly however, on the train home after making 17 in one day, whilst spending 14 on travel and 3 on lunch (for about 10 hours work) I realised what was going on.
The 5 steps of a sale that you get taught right from the beginning, and the rules that you have to follow. That had been implied toward me from day one!
The phone call: introduction
the interview: presentation
second interview: short story with turning negs
final interview: turning negs and closing
trianing: rehash
The law of averages is applied every day, that the more people you ask that say no, the more likely you are to get a yes.it is also applied in the interview technique, Cobra KNOW that only 1 in 100 is going to make it to becoming an owner, and thats if they succeed.
Over 5000 offices have been opened over the past few years, but only a select few hundred remain open. Why?
Because Owners become bankrupt.
I was smart enough to keep my part time job while i worked for Cobra (although strictly speaking, i was self employed). The company knew i had a 2 week notice period, so i took one week sick then handed in my notice, which i retracted 2 days later.
Please, anyone who is reading this. Do not get involved with these guys.
You will end up spending all of your money and have absolutely no social life, i was still able to go out on weekends because my part time job was at weekends and allowed me to do so.
Anyone who is involved at the moment, get out of it. Now...
Chris
Clacton/Colchester
United Kingdom
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