Select Comfort Reviews

Pros

Well over paid for what you do. In all reality, you sit on your butt for a majority of your day, make a few (20 maybe) phone calls and rely mostly on walk in customers. Training is continual and well though out.

Cons

Sr. Management (district manager and above) changes too often. I had, in 4 years, three different Regional Managers, and 5 District Managers. They would rather hire from out side the company for open management positions. To prove my point, I quit in 2008 for a sales managers position at a large national gym. I was hired back to Select Comfort, by the Same regional manager to be a store manager, because "now you have management experience." Unfortunately, the commission structure changed 3 times while I was there, each time they told us it was"the same amount, just different." Not true, each time they made a change I lost on average $10k per year. I made more my 2nd year than I did my final year as a sales rep despite selling more units with a higher price per unit than my 2nd year.

Advice to Senior Management

Understand that you can be a sales company and increase sales, or a retail company. Pay your sales people well, and sales will go back up. While your stock has beat its pre recession price, your employees are not making what they did pre recession. I was granted lots of stock at $20 per share, but purchased a large amount at $.25 per share, thank you Mr McLaughlin, but now its time you take care of your employees.

Pros

Easy work, great environment, very relaxed atmosphere

Cons

Holiday hours, a lot of nights

Advice to Senior Management

Read emails

Pros

The products that Select Comfort offers (beds and accessories) are really fantastic and easy to sell, particularly once you own them yourself (the company offers a great employee discount to help you buy a bed and the accessories). The other sales professionals and store managers are generally easy to get along with.

Cons

Like most retail jobs it's easy to burn out on the hours and days off - it's company policy that you aren't supposed to have back-to-back days off (although some store managers will allow their employees to do this) and you will rarely get an entire weekend off. During the "blackout" period over the holidays - mid-November through New Year's - no one can take a weekend off at all.

Keep in mind that is is a commissioned sales job as well. Although you do make an hourly wage, there's no way to survive on that alone, so you have to be aggressive about making your monthly sales goal. If you're new to sales it tends to be a feast or famine situation (great sales one month and bad sales the next), so be prepared.

Advice to Senior Management

Corporate management doesn't seem to have a clear idea of how they want to position themselves in the market and seem to be trying every idea in the book, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but does tend to get frustrating for the staff since there are constant policy changes. The local market manager is really ineffective and doesn't know what he's doing. I didn't look to him for help with anything at all.

Pros

Small box store, team spirit, fun to work, meet people and change lives.

Cons

Manager centric. Good Manager, good store. Bad Manager, bad store inviornment.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to listen to your people.

Pros

Great place to work once you are alone.

Cons

Other employees are out to get you fired or to quit. Management is just a glorified salesperson. The managers nit pick the sweet hours for most sales. The managers get a hefty bonus if the stores goal is met were as the sales people doing the work get spit.... good luck

Advice to Senior Management

Stop calling yourselves management. I've been a a anger and I never made my employees do half of the stuff you do. And district manager is an idiot, no past experience in sales makes the dm a great position. NOT. Go get a job as a poop scooper cause your region hates you.

Pros

* good training
* great for person new to sales
* salary + commission
* reasonable hours
* full time easy workload

Cons

* very corporately managed little room for new ideas or customization in your store to target customers
* BORING... you just sit there most days
* slim chance of promotion within company
* have to work weekends of you will not hit goal

Advice to Senior Management

Hire the right person for the right job and hire from within based on true numbers and KPI's not who tells you what you want to hear.

the person who speaks her mind gets blackballed and the puppet with no experience gets to manage. this needs to change

Pros

Select Comfort provides a great product that is fairly priced. As an employee you feel great actually helping people.

For the most part its a really slow paced easy going job.

Cons

Let me start off by saying I missed my goal once and have never been written up, so I'm hardly a bad employee.

Pay isn't that great. Top Tier stores pickup the slack for smaller stores and make it very hard to obtain top tier commission. I have sold around $850,000 in 12 months and have made less than $50,000 while people selling less have made more, because its easier to have a huge month with a lower goal.

The company is greedy and just doesn't get it. Less than 25% of Managers and DMs are promoted from within. I was hired as a Manager and had to transfer because of my wife. The store I took over had solid employees with over 3 years experience and were not hired as Manager. Sad.

A lot of Managers are lazy and you end up doing some Manager work like inventory and cycle counts while they sell and have a goal that is half of yours. So if you want to work here be prepared to make people other than yourself a good amount of money.

Beyond that mall hours suck, you kick a lot of teens out in the summer, you do the same stuff over and over again. The biggest reason to work just hard enough so you don't get caught up in the bull of micro management. You can be a superstar one day and pissed on the next, and never question managements decisions even if its in a professional manner, because your instantly black balled.

Advice to Senior Management

I doubt they listen especially after the employee survey results they just released, which were pretty negative. Bill is a level headed good guy and Andy is the same. I have had 3 MSL in my time and they know less about the product and policies than a hourly employee. They try to sell when they do their visits and I actually had a customer tell my MSL that they should stick to paperwork, because they couldn't sell a thirsty man a free glass of water. Pretty funny.

If Bill reads this my advice is to promote from within, advertise our product, (no reason Tempurpedic shoud have bigger numbers) and give employees a bigger cut and make the pay scale fair.

A lot of companies care about their employees, trust their employees, and pay their employees a lot better than SC. This job is for beginners in the Sales field, if your here for a career you are an "order taker" look for a challenge and compensation somewhere else.

Pros

The product is really a great product to sell. It is nice to be able to help people who are having a difficult time sleeping and hear them after getting a good nights sleep. Everyday I see someone who comes in to tell me how happy they are that they got a Sleep Number bed.

You can make money at times. But not for long periods of time.

Cons

I will try to be brief. I have read the other reviewers and I can hear the frustration in their voices. I completely understand how they feel. Everyone who works here can see the potential this company has. The problem is they don't have the management chops to get it done.

I have experienced most of the things that other reviewers have experienced. I can tell you, that even though the others reviewers are frustrated, the points they are making are all true.

To me the most annoying part is the micro management philosophy the company lives by. They do not trust you to do anything on your own, there is a checklist for everything. I have to check off a box everyday that reminds me to turn the lights on. WOW, it's a good thing for that box or I might walk around in the dark all day! Now, I can understand using checklists for complicated procedures but to turn on the lights! The worst par,t is that my district manager will actually check that list, when he is here, and if the box is not checked he will take off points on our audit. (Or maybe he just checked the wrong box because it's so dark in here.)

I share that example in justification that this company really focuses on everyone covering their own behinds. No one wants to think. No one uses any creativity, because creativity gets you in trouble. The motto here is "do it the way you are told and don't use your own brain." Luckily I have avoided the write ups that I see other managers getting because I play the game. My recommendation is that you do the same.

The worst part is that it is stifling what this company could be doing. Every quarter Tempurpedic, our main competitor, comes out and reports record sales and record profits. While Select comfort reports mediocre to good numbers. The potential here is insane, it should be Select Comfort reporting record profits, but they can't get out of their own way.

Advice to Senior Management

It would be easy for me to sit here and blame everyone, but ultimately it comes down to the CEO. He is the one who is hiring the executive team lacking in real experience. He is the one allowing the cronyism to grow within the organization. I really like Bill and think he is a great guy. I have met him several times and he is always thoughtful and a great listener. But, how can he not see what is so obvious to everyone.

My advice Bill, get out into the stores. Talk to your managers and sales pros. Go by yourself without being accompanied by the district or regional manager. They are filtering reality from your view. You need to hear what is going on from the ground up. I promise you will be surprised.

Pros

Select Comfort makes a great product, the company continues to make great strides and the benefits are about average.

Cons

I think the number # 1 problem working for Select comfort at the SC plant and as an hourly employee from the production point of view is the level of respect shown by management, and the treatment towards hourly employees. Management has the idea that they can do what ever they want without any repercussions. Management often abuse their time off, leaving the employees and the plant unattended while the production employees are required to work long hrs. and many weekends. Opportunities for career advancements within the company is only seen at the managment levels and on a buddy buddy system.

Advice to Senior Management

My advice to Bill McLaughlin is to make some major changes in the management at this plant. We need a leader who requires his managers to really lead and also to hold them accountable for their actions.

Pros

If you kill yourself, ie... eat, sleep and breathe Select Comfort the money is good. I repeat you must live it!! Thats the only thing I can say in a positive note.

Cons

Crazy stressful, continued goal increase, 33% this month, so you are unable to reach the highest commission levels. Then if you achieve or exceed your goals and the store does not make goal you lose bonus! The low volume stores that continue to underperform are given small attainable goals, the stores with the best talent pick up their slack and are given ludricous goals to prevent them being able to make bonus! Constant pressure to make phone calls, gather as many leads as you can. Honesty cannot be utilized or you're declared a victim. Events are pushed but when you have one, your DM ignores your request. They want you to utilize chiropractors, massage therapist as " Cross Promotions", just take advantage of everybody! Morals do not exist. Constant pressure to use verbatim language, or a secret shooper may report you for not asking if you have a sleep partner, (example).

Advice to Senior Management

Bill McLaughlin I really like, I believe he is an honest real person. The ones he has below him I will withhold comments since I have nothing positive to say.