Portrait Innovations Short and Sweet Employee Review Nationwide

It's been several years since I worked there, so I now have some perspective on my time at Portrait Innovations.  Basically this is an entry level job where they place expectations impossibly high and set you up for failure.  The whole success of this company is based on having part time and seasonal help so that salaries and benefits will not have to be paid year-round.  Instead of advertising that they need seasonal help, they advertise permanent positions with the likely possibility of advancement and bonuses.  Then they get really sneaky; because if you don't maintain a certain sales average per customer, you will get laid off after the busy season. 

They get customers in the door with these 10-12 dollar promotional deals and then expect the photographer to upsell that to $110 dollars.  Most people who plan on spending $10-15 for a product are not going to walk away with $100 worth of photographs.  High pressure all around.  The few employees who could maintain this average were the ones who gerrymandered around customer appointments, photographer shifts and rotations, and made sure they got the big families and high buyers.  Everyone else gets the boot as low performers, but it's all by design; just a method of getting rid of a surpluss of employees. 

Of course, NONE of this is explained to the employee in training.  I thought I was being trained to work a customer service position in a portrait studio, not a sales job.  It's true that most sales jobs are dependent on the dollar figure they've brought in, but there is usually an added benefit of making commission.  At PI, there is a bonus promised if the entire staff sells a certain amount, but it's not based on indivudual performance and, let's face it- 90% of the staff will be laid off anyway by years-end and therefore won't see a dime, even if the store qualifies (unlikely).

In a nutshell, very unethical hiring and firing practices.  Basic shiester company 101.