Vapour Marketing -Lazy management, unpaid workers, long hours- Winnipeg Manitoba Canada

I don’t normally pay any mind to the things posted on slam sites, but when I saw this review pop up in my search results, I had to say something. I worked at Vapour Marketing for 6 months in 2011 and it was one of the best work experiences I’ve ever had. I obviously can’t speak for the person that wrote the review but my time spent there was nothing but positive.

First of all, the job itself is ridiculously easy for anyone with a shred of sociability. You spend your day meeting with clients and discussing products and services that save them money. On top of that, you’re representing nationally recognized companies (Shaw and Moneris). I’m sorry, but if you can’t convince a business owner to save money by switching to a superior product from a company they know, then you probably aren’t cut out for any job let alone sales.

As for the office culture, it’s fantastic. The people that work there are motivated, energetic and fun to be around. New ideas are encouraged and opinions are valued. I always found myself learning something new or doing something different on a daily basis. Trust me, I work for a large investment firm now and I would love to see that type of diversity, encouragement and motivation injected into my workplace. It sounds like the original poster was just too cool to let anyone help them, which is probably why they failed.

In regards to the pay, I personally made really good money working there as did most of the other reps but there were obviously a few people that struggled as well. It all boils down to the individual. For someone who is confident, good with people, motivated, and organized, the pay structure is awesome because it affords them an opportunity to make a relatively large amount of money. For someone who doesn’t possess those qualities and who is just looking to collect a paycheck every week, they are going to fail. The technical aspects of the job can be learned (I had never done sales before), but attitude and mentality cannot.  

At the end of the day, the Winnipeg job market has very little to offer in the way of entry level, professional work experience. Outside of retail and serving, there aren’t a whole lot of opportunities out there and Vapour was one of the few companies that was willing to give me an opportunity to get my foot in the door. Not only does this type of work look great on a resume (it’s the main reason I was hired for my current position) but you learn a ton; not just about sales, but about training, how to lead people, how to think like successful people and ultimately how to market yourself. These things are invaluable in the business world and aren’t going to be learned by folding clothes or serving drinks. 

I just want to clear the air about the obsurd allegations that were made here about Vapour Marketing as I also worked there for approximately 8 months and thoroughly enjoyed by time with them. For starters, using the term "Unpaid Workers" is not only false, but completely ridiculous. Yes, the sales reps are paid solely on commissions but this is clearly stated throughout the interview process, not to mention the fact that the commission schedule they have in place is quite generous which was what kept me around. That, and the fact that the sales experience and training that I received were like none that you will get from any other kind of sales position. Secondly, you say that you were promised promotions which is humorous to me because either you are referring to pay, which is impossible given that pay is performance based which you knew, or you are referring to a promotion in terms of your title and responsibilities which you obviously woulnd't have given yourself an opportunity to receive given that you were only there for 3 weeks. Next, you call it a "SCAM" which makes no sense because you didn't give anything besides your time. And please don't confuse your time as labour because any time spent in the office would have been when receiving sales training, and any time spent selling is completely useless to the company unless you make sales, which you clearly didn't do, and is exactly why the pay structure is set up as being performance based. Fourth, to say that they target kids just out of high school or any other educational situation is, you guessed it, false. To make accusations about a company's recruitment process when you were not only unexposed to their methods, but also barely around long enough to receive a single paycheck, is just gutless. Don't speak on matters that you are uneducated on. Having worked there for nearly 8 months, I spent a lot of time with the hiring and recruitment process and can honestly say that there wasn't any specific demographic that was targeted. The people that we looked for were ANYONE who was personable and motivated which resulted in hiring several people ranging in age from 18-35 and education from high school to bachelor's degrees. I now have a great job with an internationally recognized company which I attribute to my time with Vapour Marketing as I was given valuable training in communications, sales, and management. I sincerely appreciate appreciate the skill sets that I acquired from having worked there and recommend that anyone looking for similar things, particularly people with little to no professional experience, which was my situation prior to working there, apply there. Oh and the owner of the company..... great guy. He and I are still very good friends and he also gave me a great reference for my current job.