Blue Buffalo Reviews

Pros

I love being able to work independently as a Pet Detective. I also love selling/promoting a product that I truely believe in. This makes it easier to sell and more believable when I give presentations. I'm in the military and needed some extra money, so the pay is incredible for a part time job, plus working weekends is exactly what I needed. I work Sat/Sun from 12-4, it's awesome. BB is a wonderful company that provides an amazing line of products for dogs and cats.

Cons

Only weekend work, so if you'd like something during the week you're out of luck. If you wanted to scam on hours you could because there is no one to ensure that you show up on time and leave on time. Not sure if this is a pro or con, but I'm a very discipline Sailor so they don't have to worry about me, I'm just throwing it in here.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire me as a manager. I'd be one of your best Demo Managers. I love people, I've managed MANY people in the Navy and I can sell this product like it's nobodies business!!!!

Pros

Meet some nice people and educate them on the importance of good nutrition for their pets.

Cons

NOTHING POSITIVE, JUST EVERYTHING NEGATIVE.

Advice to Senior Management

GET RID OF THE GESTAPO MANAGERS Institute channels of communication such as a phone number and HR dept. Give the pet detectives the raises they EARNED and pay them for the 3 hours a month doing reports, reading & answering e-mails. Pet detectives also have to supply printer paper & ink which the company should pay for.

Pros

Paid every week
Good pay - $11/hr
Set your own schedule
$20 rebate on pet food each month
Excellent product

Cons

You will be expected to approach the sale of pet food with the same intensity and precision that would only be reserved for a job in the military or law enforcement (no kidding). You will need to devote the same amount of time and energy for this 8-12 hrs/week part-time job as you would a full-time job. The regional manager here lives and breathes Blue pet food 24/7, 365 days a year, and you will be expected to do the same.

You will be required to engage every pet parent on a fairly intense emotional level in your sales presentation. Blue's "premiere performance" sales presentation is their method of selling pet parents expensive dog/cat food by subtly exploiting their feelings about their pets. However, it is carefully phrased as "honoring the bond" between the pet parent and their pet. Every minute aspect of your personality and sales presentation will be scrutinized to the nth degree - each word, facial expression, gesture - on a regular basis. You will be required to achieve 100% perfection in their "premiere performance" sales approach within a couple of months. You will be told frequently that "this job isn't for everyone", "this job is outside of the comfort zone for a lot of people", which I took to be an thinly veiled threat into pressuring me to either perfect their sales approach immediately or to quit. You will be given a laundry list of the things that are wrong with your sales presentation on a regular basis with no constructive criticism or positive feedback whatsoever. The response to asking if I had done anything right was laughter.

When I received a compliment from a customer in a store, the regional manager (who was in the store that day) shot back with "Ok, what is your relationship with her?" Did you guys set this up?". The assumption was that I couldn't have possibly received a compliment based soley on the merits of my sales presentation but that I had staged this "compliment" with a complete stranger in order to impress my boss.

From what I can tell, most pet detectives don't stick around for long. Whatever enjoyment you might receive from interacting with customers is quickly sucked out of you. I think most people get burned out fairly quickly by the incessant analysis of all aspects of their personality and sales presentation - i.e. having to continually justify their employment. As a result, there seems to always be a large number of openings for pet detectives.

Also, store managers at Petsmart or Petco may or may not like your sales approach or presence so you may also have to deal with criticism from them as well. (Petco is the worst in this regard).

Only take this job if you are extremely outgoing, like to engage total strangers on an deep emotional level, are comfortable with exploiting peoples' emotions to sell them dog/cat food, and are at ease with extreme examination of your personality and sales approach on a regular basis - with little or no positive feedback. You will have to justify your suitability for this job during every discussion of your job performance with your regional manager. Detailed knowledge of dog breeds and the behaviors inherent to each is also a necessity in order to determine the "specific needs" of each dog parent.

In summary, this is NOT a casual part-time job and is better suited for those with an extensive sales background.

No constructive criticism or positive feedback.

Regional manager sends a lot of communication via email and there is a fair amount of information to review in order to keep your product knowledge current. You are not compensated for this.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide constructive criticism to employees rather than an endless laundry list of shortcomings and mistakes. Frequent comments such as "this job isn't for everyone", "not everyone can do this", "we'll have to address your suitability for this job if your presentation skills don't improve fairly quickly", are not particularly helpful but are made only to pressure and intimidate new employees.

Insulting comments made by regional manager to a pet detective and customer when a pet detective has received a compliment from a store customer are completely unwarranted, unprofessional, and should not be tolerated.

Remember that this is a PART-TIME job and should be treated as such - employees shouldn't be required to make Blue pet food the center of their daily lives.

Job ads should be realistic. They should provide detail on the type of sales presentation a prospective employee will actually be required to master and clearly state that sales will be expected to increase in their assigned stores by a certain percentage within a given timeframe. Statements such as "true passion and love for animals - our number one requirement!', "do you enjoy talking to others about your animals?", are deceptive and misleading and give prospective employees the impression that this is a very laid back, casual part-time job which it is not.

Pros

4 hour shifts
Weekly pay check
$15 off Blue food each month
Great manager(s)
Different stores to work in
Meet all types of people
Flexible schedule
Doesn't interfere with FT job
Great pay!!
Not high-pressure sales
Great pet food

Cons

Slow foot traffic sometimes
Unfriendly staff sometimes
Occasional rude customer(s)
Would like a raise once a year

Advice to Senior Management

I have been with Blue for almost 4 years and it has been the best part-time job ever. I enjoy the BB managers and sales reps. I don't have anything bad to say:)

Pros

Being able to talk to pet parents about their pets, and everything that goes along with it! The best food of course, but also toys, what type of pets we have, sharing the bond between pet parents and our pets!

Cons

There are no real cons, some of the stores that we educate in are slow, which makes the shift a little slow, but still, you are always learning and in the down times, you can educate yourself on other pet foods and research.

Advice to Senior Management

Blue Buffalo has been great at understanding schedule changes, they are clear that this is a weekend job, every weekend, but are flexible if you need to work earlier or later in the day, ect.

Pros

Good products, better customers, fun

Cons

No proper channels for complaints of employees regarding their managers or handling of sensitive matters. No regard for person or fair treatment if one does speak up.

Advice to Senior Management

Create a checks and balance system for managers with upper mgmt. Too many with God complexes.

Pros

Good pay compared to retail pay in this area
Freedom to interact with customers in a natural way
Set your own work hours
No helicopter managers
Weekly paychecks
Fun company and good quality products

Cons

Work days are ONLY Friday Sat., or Sunday
No more than 12 hours of work per week
Good number of emails during the week from managers
Bonus program isn't that realistic
Home life doesn't seem to be a consideration to managers

Advice to Senior Management

Thanks for providing a good opportunity for part time work with quality pay and training. I would suggest you consider the employee's personal life when setting time off policies. Over all I'm very happy with this company. I highly recommend this as a part time job for someone looking for a second job or a weekend only job.

Pros

Good pay, 11.00$ and hour
Weekly checks

Cons

short hours, normally only 8 a week.
had several check over sites that made it take longer for me to get paid.
Store management at petsmart was very mean and critical, after letting Blue know about this issue, they did nothing.
Manager came to store and started an argument with the staff, making it harder to get along with others.
Store was very slow, sales suffered, and was pressured to sell more even though there was no one to sell to. (I made an average of 3 sales a shift, so six a week.)
Overall, Blue did not stand up for me, and let me be bullied while working at Petsmart for six months before I finialy quit.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to the work environment, even though it is not in your facilities.

Pros

-Decent compensation
-Getting to pet doggies all day
-Set your own schedule
-Pretty independent to find your own style of sales
-Free bag of dog or cat food monthly

Cons

-VERY few hours. I'm talking MAYBE 15 hours a week, at the most. More like 8 hours
-A lot of down-time to the point of mind-numbing boredness
-No benefits, no real chance for advancement
-They do a lot of communication via email and what-not and there is "homework" to keep up with the product knowledge, for which you're not really compensated.
-They do contests sometimes, but there's no bonus or incentive for sales

You're more like an independent contractor for them.

Pros

it is a good company

Cons

no growth potential from inside

Advice to Senior Management

look from within