Working at Cbeyond — Reviews by Employees

Working at Cbeyond was the biggest mistake. It's a terrible company. Unprofessional management. They expect you to work 11 hour days, complain if you take lunch breaks, deny you your earn vacation time and have zero respect for their employees. I would never recommend working for this company.

The entire company is trash. I was there for over a year, and trust me, it doens't look that good on a resume. It's phone line and internet sales... there's a million professions that are much more respected.

Trust me... DO NOT WORK AT CBEYOND!

My name is Jeff Ducharme and I have worked for Cbeyond since June 25, 2007. I have been located in the Farmington Hills, MI branch for my entire tenure with Cbeyond.

I am shocked to hear some of these negative reviews.

I applied for Cbeyond while attending college in mid-Michigan. During this time, I was very impressed with the interviewing structure. I was given the opportunity to meet the branch recruiting manager, a market director and the VP/GM of operations before I was offered a position as a outside sales representative. They also allowed me to "field ride" with another sales rep, just so that I had the opportunity to make sure that this position is right for me. Needless to say, I accepted the offer.

Next, I attended a seven day, paid training period in which I was taught, by a former Cbeyond sales manager, every aspect of the product offering and many different sales skills. (Note: The process has now changed to a six week, paid training period).

After training, I spent the next six months as an outside sales rep for Cbeyond. I was given my own territory and both my manager and team leader spent countless days in the field with me. I was also awarded a base pay and a great commission structure based on however many accounts I sold in a given month. I managed to close about half of my deals by myself and if I struggled, my manager would come with me and help me close an account, even though I did not have to sacrifice any of my commission in order for him to do so.

My hard work and great attitude payed off as I was promoted to a team leader on January 5, 2008. I was very excited to earn my first taste of management. I also became very proud to work for a company that promotes from within and based on merit, not tenure. I excelled as a team leader because I worked hard to coach my reps to be successful. They were and so was I.

On April 5, 2008, I was promoted to Sales Activity Manager (now Territory Sales Manager). In this position, I was responsible for the growth of 10 sales representatives. Some excelled and now find themselves in various management positions. Some busted their butts for over a year and now have good positions with other companies in other industries. The rest chose to cut corners and now are professional "job hoppers."

On August 2, 2010, I was promoted to Market Director. In this position, I am responsible for the growth of senior sales consultants. I will continue to bust my butt for Cbeyond, because I know that career goals are attainable when you have the support from a great, growing company.


What I am most proud of...

I became 100% financially independent by the age of 23. I own a house, a new truck, many nice things, and I never have to worry about living paycheck to paycheck. Cbeyond also rewards it's employees with stock options and 401k matching.

I have made many friends and business associations at Cbeyond. That is not what I originally intended to do, but it is inevitable while working in such a great culture.

The product offering that Cbeyond offers is robust, easy to sell, and changing constantly to fit the demands of customers and potential customers alike. Cbeyond also offers continuous trainings to help you grow as a businessperson.

The recognition and reward this company gives to it's employees is outstanding. TVs, quota events, and money is given away on a monthly basis, simply for meeting or exceeding expectations. Then, top that off with an inclusive company trip that rewards the top performers every year.

In 2010, Cbeyond created a sales consultant team in each of it's markets to create this same opportunity for sales professionals with over two years of B2B experience. This has had immediate impact on sales numbers nationwide.


Most importantly, everyday I wake up and I am excited to go to work and advance my career!



Feel free to email me jeff.ducharme@cbeyond.net with any comments or questions.

I must say that based on some of the prior negative reviews posted about Cbeyond I feel there are some incredible resume fluffers who lied their nuts off during their interview with Cbeyond. Much like the rest of you optimistic recent college graduates out there; in 2006 I had painted a picture that due to earning a B.A. I should receive a 65k salary+bonuses job in advertising and get my own private helicopter ride each morning to avoid the magical traffic that we are all plagued by. Frankly if you want to make 28k for five years, enjoy working unpaid hours at an Ad agency, but I personally wasn’t interested in dealing with those sad bastard Ad agency pay rates. In 2006 Cbeyond took me under its wing and armed me with the skills and knowledge to learn how to sell to businesses. Don’t get me wrong the first two months were really hard. However after I proved to my superiors I could do this job with a hand behind my back, life got pretty easy. I received rapid advancement, and although I’m no longer with Cbeyond I owe these folks a handshake for nearly everything I own today, my house, cars, and the job the resume building skills I received here.
Thanks to Cbeyond I got to travel on three company paid vacations, met Kool Keith while on a company trip to Jamaica, and get the experience needed to own the title I poses today. Trust me though, if you can’t sell, this isn’t the gig for you. I saw probably 30 people in my time at Cbeyond who lied their asses off to get this job and they failed miserably. If you have some seeds, you’re competitive, and you don’t want to eat Ramen for the rest of your life this is a great after college opportunity. Trust me when I say that if you can climb the ranks for two years with Cbeyond you will be able to make a really solid living. Like any sales job, the hoops you jump through for the first two months is awful, but well worth it if you are armed with a solid shell.

I have worked for this company for over 6 years and have worked in 4 different cities in my career. I started as an entry level rep right out of college and by 26 years old had the opportunity to open the San Diego branch, you tell me another publically traded company where you could do that! This job requires that you work the same way you would if you owned your own business - REALLY HARD. You start with nothing and have to build a business from scratch - that included cold calling for business until you start to develop a network and connections that include your happy customers. The company has a structured model that works if you follow it, but is by no means easy. It is extremely rewarding and the experience you gain here can be taken and applied to any job or business that you will do for the rest of your life. Managers are highly involved in your business to teach to do it on your own after only several months. That is called development, not micromanagement. I have also met some of the best people I have ever known here as this is an environment of high expectations, accountability and winning. Two of the groomsmen in my wedding I met at Cbeyond. If you are looking for a coosh job where you don't have to earn what you get then you should look somewhere else. If you want to learn how to run a business and be able to make great money because you establish a career with a growing company that is going to be around for the next 10 years, then this is the place.

I worked for Cbeyond in sales from 03 to 05 so I'm not as familiar with what the job is like now. I received good training and the pay was excellent. The management team was very supportive and willing to help you succeed. I wasn't crazy about cold calling but I did it enough to hit my numbers on a consistent basis. I now work for a medical supply company and enjoy a lot of success due to my experience at Cbeyond. I would refer my friend to this company both for employment and the service they provide. The company that I currently work for uses Cbeyond service and has no complaints.

So here's the deal. This company has a great culture as far as people and co-workers go. Someone is always there to get you motivated in those 7:30am meetings, and everyone was pretty cool. However, after your first month, you'll start to question why you're still there. This is the highest turnover I've ever seen, it's got to be at least 90% or more. I lasted a few months, and by the time I left, I barely recognized anyone, since they're pumping in new people every two weeks to replace the turnovers.Here's what you deal with from start to finish:

2 week training class consisting of 12 hour days including studying. It's great sales training, especially if you're new to outside sales. You can use what you learn here anywhere else.
Reporting into the office daily by 7:30
8 am team meetings
Phone calls and or reporting directly to the field cold calling until 5:30. This will burn up all of your gas, the car/gas allowance won't let you break even. You'll also cold call businesses repeatedly, which is annoying to the business owners.
Coming back to have your cold call cards counted at 6pm. They like to see 50 per day.

Mix all of the above with the worst micromanagement you've ever dealt with, and that's your day. You can forget about having a personal life as well, since you'll more than likely be too tired to do anything outside of work. So obviously this isn't for everyone. It's a super hard job, and it takes alot out of you. It definitely wasn't for me. Some people are successful, and that's great, because they can make it work. Definitely take the job if you can handle stress and 12 hour days. You will make good money if you write enough deals. But for the "this is my first job out of college" people, you can get something that pays better for less stress and a nicer work-life balance anywhere else. Good luck.

Here's what you need to know about working for this company. I worked for the San Diego branch two years ago so this isn't hot headed venting. This is a bad company to work for. The people who have had a good experience with this company would make a lot more money and have a lot more freedom at a different company.
People who take this job do so for the same reason I did: this is a company that hires aggressively even in a bad economy and will take kids fresh out of college who don't know better and are frustrated with their job search. Have patience, couch surf, do what you have to do to make it until you find something better.
The technology you will be selling is inferior and outdated. Even if a T-1 is faster than the internet connection a business currently has it won't be for long. Think about it: one of the "selling points" is that this is a forty year proven technology. How many technological innovations last forty years without major upgrades or modifications? The T-1 isn't changing, cable and fiber optics are.
The people who are successful in this company either outright lie to their customers or choose to not educate themselves on the demands of a modern business versus the actual capability Cbeyond service offers. I understand, I've been there. It is hard, after you've worked so hard to get an appointment with a business owner, to tell him "no, actually our service can't do that" or "no, that part of the service adds an additional monthly fee." I've seen it happen. When I was struggling and couldn't figure out why I sat in on appointments with one of our more successful reps and witnessed a lot of half truths about our service.
Realistically there are a few companies for whom this service makes sense but not for most. The upshot of this job is that after a few months on the job you will learn how to talk to people and you will turn into a fantastic interviewee for your next job search.

This was a decent company, but at very best it was decent. For someone who works their butt off, can take rejection on a day to day basis with little to no success, for someone who doesn't mind being kicked out of buildings, being talked to like you don't matter, for being cussed out and having to bite your tongue, this job is for you.

I got this job right out of college and actually turned it down once before, without realizing it. I should have gone with my gut feelings on this one and just kept saying no. A recruiter called me 3 days before the training class started and got me in there, and at first it was great. The people were nice, the environment was good, the work was good. Once training ends though, everything changes. It's only after the 2 week training course that you realize what the job is TRULY all about.

Walking into places unannounced and demanding the owner is absurd. You get zero respect and I think that it is a stupid way of doing business. Although I will say, that IF you can get to the owner, what they teach you really does work.

Without a doubt though, the training you go through is outstanding and will benefit you in any job. And thats pretty much the only good thing I can say.

The hours are ridiculous. You have zero life outside of work unless you are ok with sleeping about 5 hours per night. Get to work at 7.30 for meetings, have another meeting at 8, call people until 10.15, leave the office for the field, and don't get back until usually after 6. Then you have to meet your managers before you can finally go home for the day. It's a 12 hour day for sure.

If you don't care about yourself and just want to make money, and are willing to sacrifice social and physical health to do it, then this job is for you. If not, then don't bother going to an interview.

This the most unprofessional company I have encountered. The management is fragmented and they expect people to jump thru hoops for their opportunity. The even asked me to provide them leads, yes actual viable leads, during an interview for consideration of their position. Customers in the field HATED this company and spoke about the hard sell and high turnover rate of people. One guy was so angry that he was lied to by his rep that he cursed our existence in his presence. Never have I heard the same customer dissatisfaction story from so many people. If that many customers/prospects say it, it has to be accurate. If you are considering a job here think long and hard. No job is worth what I experienced during my CBeyond experience. See beyond and discover for yourself.

I worked in this branch for about a year. Loved it for the first two months. I was out on my own every day finding prospects, signing them up and making what I thought was good money. Sales training was pretty good, although very tedious and juvenile. Hours were 7:30am to 7:30pm almost everyday. You know they are going to be long going into the job but you don't understand how terrible it is until you actually do it.

Training for a half hour at 7:30am. A half hour team meeting at 8am, everyday. 9:15-10:15am phones, everyday (where you'll have Market Directors and managers running around belittling you if you put the phone back on the hook. Cold calling from 10:30-5:30pm in 90 degree heat during the summer where it is mandatory for you to come back with over 50 cards ("but we want to be better than average, so our team should come back with 60!". Yeah, right) Then fight traffic to get back to the office so you can get your cards counted (heaven forbid you have a day where you only made it to 42 businesses) and then sit there, waiting for one of the community computers to enter in your info from the day. If you don't live within 10 miles of the office it's going to take you another 45 minutes to get home with traffic.

If that isn't miserable enough, they treat you terribly. If you leave an appointment without "calling from the seat" to use some garbage used car salesman tactics you are questioned in front of everyone, often times with profanity. Sorry guy, the 4 person HVAC shop was paying $170 for their Verizon and didn't need 3 blackberries, a wireless card, offsite back up, personal call assistant and a T-1(which is slower than DSL anyway!) I didn't think calling you to see if we could give them a free month, waive the install fee for slower internet at $495 was going to push this deal over the edge.

I was honestly depressed working there for months. I got to a point where I quit with no other job lined up just to stay sane. My friends noticed a MAJOR change in me once I left and it is all because I left that terrible environment.

i would like to say take the job for the training and development over the first few months but honestly, it should only be a last option. The only positive I can see is it will be the worst job i've ever had and it can only get better from here.