Background: I was working as a construction estimator and had found rather good success with it and quickly became among the top performers. As with any sales job, there are the ups and downs, but this started off with mostly ups (solid, preset leads. No cold calling, no D2D). However several decisions above my Directors head had begun to really affect the team. Installation quality and customer satisfaction had dropped significantly which in turn over time caused marketing and lead generation to begin to die off sharply. To prop things up, standards for leads were significantly dropped and unworkable, unquotable garbage came through. Any sale's Director will tell you that and building can be quoted for something, which is true to an extent, but not realistic to consistently convince people to part with tens of thousands unexpectedly while not addressing their main concern. Borderline unethical to push for that in my eyes.
Our Director kept insisting to flag leads that didn't meet standards and they would be removed from your numbers (which you are evaluated by monthly). This was done yet it always seemed to be a moving target despite the clear cut case way he would present it. One reason would be not enough pictures. On the next one I'd have 50+ photos going the extra 10 miles. Still not good enough. This lead me to professionally ask my Director to clearly state the standard we are being held to with these adjudications as the issue had been something bothering multiple team members as time went on.
His response was ” If you don't like it, fuckin quit!”
Well then, okay!
That night while looking at postings, I was ironically approached by a recruiter who had presented a very appealing opportunity to reenter my prior career field at a higher salary and position. After doing my due diligence, I accepted and it has been the best decision I've made. Me leaving my shit prior company cost them significant upfront and will have ripple affects as my clients realize I am no longer with the company.
My shit previous company considered $10/day per diem for food while traveling for company business. The rest you were on your own. My new company has actively yelled at me for eating fast food with my per diem to spend less money instead of exploring the cities and eating at real restaurants with the company card.
TL;DR: Director tells top performer to quit, recruiter for significantly better company picked me up within 24 hours.