The man pictured above is Eddie Sardinha. He manages a Hollywood, Florida-based "business" called TNG Worldwide, Inc. This "business" portrays itself as a legitimate marketing firm. In reality, TNG (formerly known as Niko-Laos; formerly known as The Niko Group) are a bunch of door-to-door salesman who will do anything, especially lie, to people to make a sale. I know this because for over a year I worked for them as an Account Manager.
Potential hires are lured into TNG under the assumption that they will earn big bucks in an exciting, fast-paced marketing firm and, after a year of hard work, eventually get to manage their own branch office. Nothing could be further from the truth. What you're really being hired to do is work for three weeks as a door-to-door salesman for minimum wage plus, if you're lucky, a tiny commission. After the three week "training" period is over, you work commission only; with no benefits and no expense account.
Sounds like a great job, huh? But wait, there's more. Since the job is commission only, employees have to make sales in order to earn money. Some employees are natural salesmen and don't have a problem making sales. Others find it a little difficult so they are encouraged to lie to potential customers to make their numbers. Lines like "This is a one day only offer" and "This is a free trial, you can cancel anytime" are used to entice people into signing up for things like AT&T home phone service and DIRECTV subscriptions. In reality, these special offers and free trials don't exist. They're just lines that employees are told to use to trick people. More than once, TNG employees have signed people up for "free" services that did not exist; services that they would eventually have to pay for.
These people are not the only ones being lied to. As I mentioned before, potential hires are lured into TNG under the assumption that they will eventually work their way up to running their own office. What really happens is that TNG's Account Managers wind up working hard to keep the office they are already working for afloat. If your hard work and effort is keeping Eddie's lights on, why would he want to see you go someplace else?
I'm a former employee who did everything they were supposed to do and only wound up getting frustrated by my former employer's constant lies and broken promises. If you're looking for a career in marketing, do not even consider working for TNG Worldwide, Inc.
I used to work for these guys when they were called Niko-Laos. I didn't have to do any door-to-door sales though. I used to have to drive to AT&T stores all over Broward and Dade County and stand around trying to sell landlines to people who couldn't care less. I finally quit when I found a better job.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head when you wrote "Potential hires are lured into TNG under the assumption that they will earn big bucks in an exciting, fast-paced marketing firm." The guy who interviewed me told me that I would be developing new ways to market their clients' products to consumers. Had he told be that I would be working a commission only retail job I would have walked out. I guess that's why he lied.