Marcus Evans / THG review: Scam 119

A federal complaint should be filed against them Ed Giangrosso a top person who moved up in the company with his smooth voice of deception he is in chicago and canada. Any compny giving your credit card beware alot of shady characters using them BEWARE. Mail fraud is another complaint that should filed and any other wiretapping to her the lies

What? The attendees are products being sold as the product Have you no sense of business?

When you go to the movies, do you not have to sit through commericals at the begginning until you get to the movie. That is called sponsorship, the audience is sold and marketed to advertisers. There is even advertising in the movies, PRODUCT PLACEMENT -- look it up.

I have attended these events and LOVE them. My colleague was considering and asked me since she read some reviews here from obviously disgruntled or misinformed people.

I would highly reccommend! As far as the meetings with service providers, you get to pick the providers before the event, and they end up being of the highest quality as they send out top people and have good solutions in this rough economy. Better than any provider I would meet at a trade fair. So it is the people with no business sense that don't understand how things work.

The events run once or twice the year and are invaluable. The staff is great and the events are even better.

Hello.

I've been meaning to add to this discussion for some time, having been told by another disaffected colleague about some of the stories floating online! Unfortunately, I only managed to get to view this page before I started.

For anyone who loves sport and sports events, you probably perceive the job description to be a dream role - trust me, it is not! I was fresh out of university and keen to do the sales route so let me talk you through my experience...

Two interviews. Both times I was expected to call them at a time they specified to 'learn my fate'. I have never ever heard of anyone having to follow it up with the employer, but I guess it adds to the element of 'prestige' (which of course ropes you in pretty good). Equally, the image of the company with its swanky offices and suited drones does add to this all encompassing, impressive company image. I was sold and real excited about starting.

I was told I would receive a contract through e-mail and letter in 2 days. I did not receive the documentation for a few weeks (despite a couple of reminders) and even then, I only received a 'confirmation of employment offer'. It did appear awfully strange that I did not receive an actual contract to sign and this was my first inclination that labour turnover was high - alarm bells were ringing.

I showed up on the Monday morning for the sales training 'course'. What a [censor]ing joke. I spent just 2.5 days listening to their longest serving employees spout vast amounts of hot air in a dingy little room. Truthfully I was contemplating how long I would last after the first morning after having listened to an employee telling me 'to think twice about using the bathroom...since that was time I could be on the phone making a sale'. Everyone appeared absolutely stunned to hear that nonsense. It was also intriguing to find that we were not allowed access to the salesfloor; probably because their new recruits would wonder what exactly they were getting themselves into.

Anyways Wednesday arrives and we get to meet our team (only took a mere 3 days) and take our seat. None of us were particularly made to feel welcome, I'd guess because we were just another face that would stay for a little while and realise that the grass is greener anywhere else. I was fortunate that my team were actually okay, despite 4/8 being less than 4 weeks into the job, and another 2 a matter of months. It's a real salesfloor setup, which didn't particularly perturb me - telephone, desk, computers for the managers - but struck me most that every lead/client was paper based with huge piles on all the desks. Just...crazy really for company size.

The work was easy if you're void of morality. The process is the following:

300 numbers infront of you.
Call switchboard number.
Ask for CEO of company.
Get to the PA - ask if such and such is in, in the most arrogant, dismissive manner possible.
'Yes he is' - answer: it's X from THG international, he'll be aware of the nature of the call (yeah...right!) - 99/100 you're told to scram.
'No he isn't' - answer: oh well...this is where the job gets interesting! 'it's Tom Barker [false name] calling from [insert name of any prestigious bank, auditor] getting a flight back from [insert prestigious city]. Going to need to speak with CEO about a private matter'.

The PA will either hang up on your or panic so much that she'll dish out his personal number. Sit on it a couple of days and voila, you're through to the CEO.

You pitch, he of course tells you to [censor] off. Rarely they might listen to you too though! The whole premise of the sales pitch is urgency and 'ex-megroup' is more or less spot on. 'We have a cancellation for 10 spaces at...said event, we therefore have a table for 10 at X at a discounted rate since we retain that deposit. We have 66 offices in X amount of countries etc. trying to sell this, got to grab it now unless you won't get it, all your competitors are there etc. etc. If they want even as much as an hour to decide, you 'blow them out'.

Been told KPMG have complained about THG using them as alibis in sales calls.

Make your own mind up about them...!

I am working with M.E and i never encounter any kind of problems here.y sales director is superb guy who always leads us to reach the goal..if u ask about Asia's Penang Branch (Malaysia), thats the best ever i can say.the managers are not stealing your deals but they are helping you to get the deals.
its just you are the one who is giving reasons for not succeeding in your career wit M.E

IF YOU CANT FIT WIT IT, DUN BLAME IT. JUST SHUT YOUR [censor] OFF N KEEP YOUR [censor]ING MOUTH SHUT.

All these comments have been highly informative.

I just got a call from these guys out of the blue on Friday. I have no idea why they chose me, but they must have perceived me to be a B-level executive. I'm just the (young) head engineer at a small engineering firm. The call cost me an hour and a half of my time. I'll admit that I probably engaged the salesperson a little too much, but I was a little confused in thinking that phone scams didn't reach up into the $35, 000 range so I kept talking. The number of stereotypical scam ploys and buzz words I heard was amazing, though. Let's list them:

1. They were supposedly setting up a conference between big execs with $20 million budgets from several dozen refining companies and smaller companies such as my company. (I explained multiple times that my company wasn't really set up to build refinery-scale equipment but soon found that the guy probably couldn't have differentiated any of the terms I was using from the ingredients in a box of cereal.) Anyways, believe it or not, one of the ten small companies set to get in on this deal had just recently canceled and they were looking to fill that spot with a company like us. Imagine that!

2. I was informed that the normal fee to attend this conference was $54, 900, but that, by some magic, $20, 000 had appeared out of nowhere, so our fee would only be a subsidized $34, 900. I'd be a fool not to snap this deal up!

3. It took over an hour to get to the point, but finally the guy just came out and said, "Well, you're paying for the opportunity to meet with these execs, and there are no guarantees, but we usually see people with a success rate of maybe 4 out of 10." Yeah, sure.

4. To get them off the phone (cause I was unfortunately too nice to just slam the phone down), I agreed to a callback today. I asked them if I could schedule it for Tuesday instead, and--this is the kicker--I got, "Well, honestly, we've talked to other companies, some of whom are really interested, so I can't guarantee this will be available on Tuesday. While they were at it, they should have tried to sell me some of those limited edition U.S. Mint coins that will be gone forever if I don't call now!

On top of all this, these guys would NOT let me get off the phone. From reading the comments, I can definitely see what you all mean about being trained to be ruthless and strong-arming. After about 45 minutes of politely saying that, no, I didn't think this was going to be in my company's interest, I asked the salesman for his contact info so I could get back to him with our official decision. Instead, he goes and gets his manager, who instead gives me a username and password to one of their websites. Then the manager proceeds to talk to me for ANOTHER 45 minutes in stronger fashion. All the while, I'm saying that I have stuff to do and have got to go, so they should just me their contact info. Didn't matter to them. Finally, after about the sixth time, I got their numbers and got rid of them.

They both asked very probing questions about my company: how its sales effort works, what its revenue is, who the other execs are, what operational problems we've had, etc. All with the same response: "Well, don't you think your company could only benefit by getting to talk to 30 high level refining executives?!" It was kind of amusing also when they'd realize that a particular technique wasn't working and would try to make cheerful, personal banter to lighten the mood.

Anyways, everyone to whom I described this conversation had their scam sensor go off. Oh, also the second guy mentioned they were calling from Canada. I'm not sure what the differences are, but I imagine it's at least a little harder to sue across borders, and I'm sure they've thought of that.

That experience, combined with reading these comments, has certainly sealed the deal, and I hope they don't keep calling. I find it sad that the salespeople are basically forced to act like that, whether they want to or not. I'll be warning other people I know when I get the opportunity. Thanks for the information, everyone.

Oh, one more thing, the fact that a Google search for "Marcus Evans scam" returns over three pages of results that link to ME websites is downright creepy. This site is the only exception. ME must an army of SEO specialists on board to pull off that degree of obfuscation. Disturbing.

As an interested reader of this blog (not an (ex-)employee or customer but have had close contacts with both) the stories of scam and fraud portrayed here appear utterly credible (i have heard similar ones first hand).

A question/suggestion: why don't some of you ex-employees and conned customers get together, share evidence and provide that to the law enforcement authorities. It appears you would be doing many possibl future victims a fvaour if you the machinations of this company would be stopped once and for all.

I worked in the Singapore Office of ME for 8 months and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I read some of the comments here and its a bag of laughs. You people are sitting here and complaining everyday about the bad management and bad pay and unethical ways to get the job done. Its not a job for everyone, so stop complaining that you were treated badly. If you couldnt handle it, it means you were to weak to handle the job. I started in that company fresh out of uni, weak and pathetic and all I can say is that, im a stronger person now because of Marcus Evans. No company in this world will give you the kind of mental and sales training required for you to make your money and handle the business world. With regards to all these fraud complaints, there is none of that at ME. Your credit cards are safe, they only take the amount that is agreed between you and the client. The only drawback is that, if you dont attend the event then you are issued a 6 months voucher to attend any other conference. Yes, to an extent I dont agree on this. But, ME is a business at the end of the day, they need to do what they need to do to protect their money. The pay is [censor]...but...the people, the products, the commission and last but not least the company...is awesome!

Bravo, ex-scammster! Chapeau!

My two cents of the day. Ladies and gentlemen and dear CEOs, I'd like to post my sales pitch. Don't fall for anything like that, please.

I'm calling you with regards to your product/company (never with regards to an event).
You have been chosen (to pay my bills and make Marcus more money).
We don't call random people (you and the other 1000 are very special to me).
We work with 'names of impressive people' (sometimes they come to our events as VIP guests, not necessarily this time, sometimes we pay them to speak there).
We are finalizing the event this week (and the next and the next and the next...).
We already confirmed 'name of your competitor' but you are a better fit because of your size (smaller is better, bigger is better), your location (your location is always superior to the others) or whatever comes to mind. However if you don't confim now, we will have to move forward with him (as if! we would move forward with both of you if we could and then say there was more demand in the market).
I am also speaking with X, Y, Z (and they already slammed me).
I have a conference call/committee meeting/final meeting (in my mind every day).

When you start to doubt or want more time:
You know, I feel you are not ready for this. Let's just take a pass for this year and I'll let my clients know you don't want to work with them. I might come back to you if something else comes up (the famous marcus evans blow out).

If you come back a few weeks later:
We will squeeze you in with a special permission (into an empty space).

Rebooking on site.
Next year the event will cost 10-15k more (as if!). However since we are already working together, we can give you this year's pricing for next year provided you give me the signed booking form by... (it is amazing how many serious and intelligent people fall for that cheap trick, I have seen executives beg for an extra few hours).
My advice to a big company who has been an existing client for some time. You want to know what the others are paying. Go to marcus evans website, choose your event and ask for information. Make up the name of the company (because yours is obviously on nocalls list). Enjoy the incoming call! Then come back and post the summary of your investigation here. I am as always available for comments. Have to pay for my sins somehow. :)

Will,
I am sure that as an intelligent person you are able to rephrase and not just copy and paste your old posts. I knew a lot of people in marcus evans who made a lot of money and hated their jobs and the office politics. Because of that instead of staying on and making good money for the company they just quit. Marcus evans is not a success based environment. It has a very high employee turnover. Many employees who quit leave behind deals and good contacts. Guess what happens with these deals. They go to managers and people who are friends with managers. Success based...ha ha ha!
Also marcus evans uses fake names and creates employees who don't really exist. There are lot of fake lawyers, accountants, operations teams working in the company. I could type a list here but I don't want present employees to guess who I am. Secretaries of all offices have a list of these fake identities and know what to do if someone calls in. Calling the Chicago office and asking for Will might really mean talking to a manager who pretends to be Will.

REAL EMPLOYEE, REAL STORY, REALLY HAPPY!

STILL DON'T BELIEVE ME? GIVE ME A CALL, LET'S HAVE A CHAT!

Briefly, I began my career at Marcus Evans' Chicago office in November 2009, specifically within the Summits Division. The breadth of sales training and exposure to an exciting sales process has been an incredible experience, and the commitment to my professional success demonstrated by my director has remained steadfast.

After only a couple months of dedicated and focused work, I was rewarded by a promotion to Senior Account Executive. Since I've been at Marcus Evans, I've gained some amazing exposure to industries that are as diverse as pharmaceutical marketing, to distribution technology, to my current summit platform, mid-market CFO. My achievements here in the Summits Division have been well recognized by both my clients and by the supportive management.

Having never worked on an open sales floor before, I admittedly was apprehensive of it would entail and what I was in store for. Though the sales floor does become quite loud with the buzz of energy that's generated by my colleagues and myself when we're all making calls, it's definitely an exciting experience that's driven by the will to succeed and to serve our clients well.

In addition, the financial packages are proven to be of great motivation, from cash incentives to group incentive trips to Miami or Las Vegas, we always have the ability to shine and to be rewarded for our hard work. Financial stability is important, and I know that I can be comfortable at Marcus Evans knowing that I will be rewarded based on my hard work.

Will, Chicago, Illinois
312.540.3000

@sarah Rahme

I would love to know who in the Marcus Evans Marketing department you are because that is such a pathetic attempt to turn around the bad press the company is getting in this blog.

I mean, come on, at least of you want to sound at least a litlle bit like you are a current happy employee then dont use daft paragraphs like this

"It is all due to the beautiful friendly atmosphere between colleagues and managers, where one's success is perceived as everyone’s success-- to the essence and nature of the job, that consists of communicating with C-level executives at corporations from all over the world, and having the chance to travel, meet and work with them at prestigious summits that are held at the the most prestigious hotels and resorts-- and being highly compensated in terms of salary and incentives. The latter are given to reward those who work hard in order to constantly motivate us, keep us positive and energized, and those incentives would include trips, days off, cash incentives, so on and so forth. "

seriously, that is the most ridiculous attempt by a pathetic company to make themselves look good. Honestly. Would an employee really write something like that? HAHAHA.

A few more things.

People like Al Gore go to Marcus Evans events. They get paid for it. If you have no ethical objections to the fact that you are being tricked into being a product, then GO TO THE EVENT AND HAVE FUN! It is completely free for you.
Myself as a former employee of the company, I wouldn't even go if they gave me 100k. But then again it is because of my past there. They paid me good money and treated me like [censor]. And I stayed on because of money till I just couldn't anymore and I quit. It was one of the happiest days of my life and it was raining.

CD,
You would be a delegate or to put it bluntly the product Marcus Evans is selling. The other side of the table pays a lot of money (between 30 and 40 thousand euros) to get business meetings with senior level management from pension funds. They are told during the sales pitch that the delegates are really interested in whatever they do and would want to invest into those areas. They are NOT told that most if not all delegates are VIP guests invited for free with all expenses paid to a 5 star location.
Your credit card is safe. Marcus Evans would maybe only charge it if you didn't go to the hotel and the meetings. Otherwise not to worry. Besides you can cancel all payments with your bank anyway. By all means go! You have no obligation to invest. Just understand one thing. You are the product sold to the service providers. Hope this helped.

p.s. Limited number? :)) Normally they are dying to get people for free.

Hi all

So clearly not a great company to work for but are they actually conning 'customers'?

I have just been invited to a 'major' pensions conference in London. This has been pitched as a high level seminar for a limited number of major players in the industry.

I work for a small player in the industry and my first reaction was to be flattered to be asked! Two days all expenses paid in a top London hotel, one to one meetings with senior industry figures, great marketing opportunities - all sounds a bit too good to be true (?!)

I accepted the invite and received an attendance form from a very nice Italian sales lady this afternoon. However - the form asks for my credit card details - why would they want this for an all expenses paid event ? They say this is only to provide (refundable) security for the hotel booking.

Alarm bells started ringing so I went on the internet and looked up "Marcus Evans scam" on Google - which is how I come to be here now.

Interestingly the first few google pages are taken up by ME's own postings for scam avoidance conferences ! A clever way of putting people like me off the scent perhaps?

Having found this website I am obviously going to walk away from this - but how exactly would the scam work? Supposing I disclosed my credit card details - what would they do with them?

Regards

CD

To all marcus evans employees tricked into working for the company.
You have been there for years, your daily tasks include scamming senior level decision makers, scarying their PAs, getting leads after work, getting bullied by your boss, watching how people who sleep with their managers get put on the best selling products and higher commission structures, seeing how snorting drugs and getting drunk with correct people can make your life easier.
Fact of life, it is very difficult or even impossible to make the company disappear. Then again my years there supposedly taught me that nothing is impossible. Companies like this tend to move to new markets or rebrand if things get hot. Plus they obviously have huge teams of PR people opening facebook accounts and putting positive drivel online.
But what is very possible is to cut their sales. It is very easy. Take the list of existing clients and let them know how how they are booked and rebooked. You don't need proof. The clients know you are right when they start recognizing the sales strategy step by step.
It is so easy. I would do it myself if I still worked there.

Sarah, one good thing about Marcus Evans is that you make a lot of friends there. Some of my friends still work there and I can assure you they have been told by senior level management never ever to participate in discussion forums about the company. Yet I find you here spamming the same comment 3 times.

Some people seek power, success and money, while others would rather do something less rewarding in terms of cash but that would bring them joy and inner peace. Yet to my astonishment, I find myself between the lucky few ones that were able to have the best of both worlds, "money" and "joy, at a company that combines all these elements mentioned above. That company is called Marcus Evans.

It all started with a random job application, and turned out to be a success story. First and foremost, you should know that working at Marcus Evans is not a regular job. In fact, it is much more than a job. It’s a training school, an adventure, an experience, and for the successful perseverant ones, an achievement.

It is all due to the beautiful friendly atmosphere between colleagues and managers, where one's success is perceived as everyone’s success-- to the essence and nature of the job, that consists of communicating with C-level executives at corporations from all over the world, and having the chance to travel, meet and work with them at prestigious summits that are held at the the most prestigious hotels and resorts-- and being highly compensated in terms of salary and incentives. The latter are given to reward those who work hard in order to constantly motivate us, keep us positive and energized, and those incentives would include trips, days off, cash incentives, so on and so forth.

Moreover, the knowledge and expertise that is gained is incomparable to any other training given at any other corporations, as it is extremely meticulous and intensive. Negotiation, communication, qualification, all these techniques are intensively taught which makes Marcus Evans’ employees ones that not only succeed at their jobs, but in their daily lives as well, as these taught materials are tools that each and every one of us uses in the course of our lives.

Winston Churchill once said in one of his speeches: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." And this is precisely what we are taught during the daily trainings that are conducted by directors and managers, with an aim of constantly ensuring that the staff is continuously motivated and positive, and so that every failure is taken as a lesson, in a way that lesson after another, a chapter will be formed, and each chapter combined will result with a book, and that book will represent every employee's story, successes and achievements.

What makes this job so unique is its ability to meet its purpose and be so many other things in the same time. By purpose I mean financial incentives and huge paychecks- which is every employee's goal at the end of the day- and by many other things, I mean the sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction that booking deals generates -- Waking up excited every morning, having something to look forward to for the day, going to a place you call home, and work with people you call friends and family--all these factors combined are in my opinion everything one could wish for in terms of employment - and way of life.

I have only been physically in Montreal for 3 months, and I have graduated a year ago with a bachelor in political science. I had a year of work experience prior to coming to Montreal, and am currently mastering in management. And just like every young graduate, I came to this metropolitan city searching for an opportunity to enhance my carrier, realize my goals, and start gathering every necessary tool required to make my first million dollars. And the best thing that happened to me was to have been welcomed on Marcus Evans' team.

I can say with absolute confidence that working at Marcus Evans is an opportunity that increased my knowledge and skills on so many levels, and the best is yet to come, as I am only 22 years old and it is only the beginning, so for those of you who are searching for this opportunity that will push your start button and have you begin your journey of success and achievements, I strongly advise you to apply and try to join Marcus Evans' team.

And for those of you who are asking themselves whether they can actually make it, you should know that the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful person is not a lack of strength, nor a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. So all you have to do is really want something and work hard for it, and at that moment, nothing will stand in your way nor stop you from having it.
And that is in fact the most important lesson I've learned at Marcus Evans.

For further inquiries or questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
Sara Rahme
[protected]
sarahr@marcusevansmo.com

Personally, working for Marcus Evans has been an extremely positive experience. The job has been very rewarding on both a professional and financial level. The managers are an enthusiastic and motivated group of people, who provide a wealth of knowledge and guidance to their staff. In seven months, I have acquired invaluable sales training and experience, as well as a deep understanding of the investment space within North America (working in the summits division).I would highly recommend this job to anyone who is motivated, takes initiative, and really wants to take advantage of unlimited earning potential in the workplace.

Mandi Kendell, Toronto, Ontario
[protected] xt. 295

My experience at Marcus Evans: I joined Marcus Evans in early March of 2010, knowing little about sales and having minimal experience in a fast paced, up beat style of office. I would have to say my time at ME thus far, has exceeded my expectations in terms of guidance, training, and the entire process of building and improving not only my communication skills but an overall understanding of appropriate sales and business development techniques. The structure that this firm has put in place, has granted me the best opportunity and chance to be successful in this field. I look forward to a long prosperous career at Marcus Evans.

Michael Kennedy - Investments Division, Toronto, Ontario
416.955.0375

Well everybody, the proof finally arrives. Karen S, operations director at THG/SMG was arrested in south africa at the World cup on suspicion of fraud and ticket touting. It's nicely negative UK press for Marcus evans

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1291453/Karen-Sorensen-Brendan-Evans-charged-touting-300-000-World-Cup-tickets.html

When I worked for marcus evans I used to feel really bad after lying to the CEOs. Sometimes I made the lies way too ridiculous to make them understand they were being scammed. Or sometimes when they were talking sense back to me, I repeated it in a loud voice and pretended to be surprised and then do some silly very standard objection handling.
To defend myself I could point out that all marcus evans employees are also hired using a sales pitch. I fell for it the same way many CEOs fell for my sales pitch later (and made me some very good monthly salaries). I started my job there believing completely in the product. My managers used to give me fake success stories and fake lists of companies that were already booked on for the event.
Then when I realized how the events were put together, I believed in the work of the delegates team and thought that lying is okay if the end result is positive.
The end result in most cases is NOT positive. All cancellation, transfer, position limit, specific demand for your product stories are ALWAYS a lie. Most events are empty. It is not difficult to get "squeezed" in.
Marcus evans employees are always threatened by their managers to use specific names of competitors (failing to do so will mean getting yelled at later). If you as a CEO fall for that and book on for that exclusive spot in your category, guess what will happen? The marcus evans sales executive will call all your competitors and tell them you are booked on and will take all business (what business?!). Some CEOs fall for that as well. I got many deals with that trick.
Marcus evans sales process is based on fear, greed, emotion, lack of time to think. If you agree the contract will be sent as late as possible so you can't read it. The contract will guarantee you absolutely nothing. No event is ever cancelled. If an event doesn't happen then it is simply "merged" (often means a transfer to an irrelevant event). You will never get any money back. The dates and the location can be changed. The contract does not specify who the meetings are with. I am sorry to say but anyone who signs that contract is either very rich and doesn't care or just stupid.
Marcus evans employees are instructed to say that the product exists for such a long time because it is obviously working. Wrong! The product is a new product each and every sales cycle. We started from scratch or almost scratch using the same name of the product. The amount of rebookings for most products is really exceptionally low. Most companies are tricked into rebooking by telling them that next year is already (almost) full, that the others have already rebooked (the others are later told the same).
And I could post so much about how high some CEOs get during the event and give positive video testimonials or half positive ones (the negative part is cut out). When some time passes they realize they were scammed and when then somebody from marcus evans calls back. Oh my! I remember using a long list of companies who in their testimonials loved marcus evans. It wasn't exactly the feeling they transmitted to me on the phone later.

Londonentrepreneur, I don't know if I have ever talked to you but even if I have not, I am sorry.

From a customer - or rather prospect (which in Marcus Evans view is a victim) - point of view:
If you didn't like it at marcus Evans, you probably still have some ethos and potentially a good sales person for 21st century.
The way they try to sell their summits to me is just pathetic. If you don't know them, it takes an hour to find out that they are actually trying to sell sth. to you rather than offering to buy sth. from you or at least are looking for a speaker for a fair event where speakers don't buy their stage.
Recently they stopped using "Marcus Evans", when calling our (and others') front-desks. They call themselves "M E Group", sometimes "M E Group" Dubai, hoping to be mistaken for the Dubai based corporate with this name so that you can't cut the call short that easily as this corporate might honestly be interested in your services.
Both points show that they are obviously ashamed of what they are doing. If they believed their summits could really add value, why are the hiding themselves.

It is definitely a scam. Stealing my time (Now I get about 2 calls per month and knowing them can cut it short. Initially they stole an hour from me every month, because I tried to listen and then and the call politely. Not possible. You have to be rude and hang up.) and in roaming charges.

I appreciate some people have to work for them lest their kids go hungry. But that's about the only justification.

WOW,
That's all I can say, after reading all 3 pages of comments.
I am an Ex-Employee from the JHB office, and I TOTALLY agree with some of the comments (especially APM), and REALLY DISAGREE, with others.
ME, gives some of the best sales training around- this I even got acknowledged after pitching a guy in Europe, who worked in the ME office there, and was now the New Business Development Manager of a big company.

I had never done direct tele-sales previosuly, and came from a technical background. The training on the sales process, really put everything together for me, and then doing the research on the various topics, taught me a lot about Business, and stuff I would have never known about.

It was really [censor], that we all did not have our own computers etc, but hey, we're not in a perfect world.

I then moved into the defence team, and boy did that give me even more confidence, and experience. I dealt with MOD's and DoD's in almost every country- Spoke to Senior Staff Officers in various Defence Forces, Navies etc.
I really enjoyed it, before our defence team was closed down.

THE NEGATIVES:
> Yes, the basic is low- but one can make good money, and many people do.
> The Management structure is good- but you get really bad managers/ directors- as is the case in any company
> Some Managers might encourage you to twist the truth to get a deal, but if you know your product, and market, you will be ok.

MY OPINION:
> Sales is not for everyone- If you can't cut it, you're always gonna be unhappy, irrespective of where you are.
It's like AFRICA- NOT for [censored]...lol

> If you're a talker, moaner, groaner, etc and not a Doer, don't work for the company- Or any other!

> By most comments here, some of the people don't have half a brain cell- check your spelling, and then come and argue about anything.

> ME probably does thread a very thin line on certain laws, but again, if you know your rights, then take them to task.

> The ME business model is damn near genius- Sponsors pay for the Speakers/ Venue etc, and Delegates pay the Sales execs salaries and comm, and the rest is pure profit- if the GP is not 40/50%, ME does'nt do it- including the in-house training we used to do in SA. Many people that started in ME, have now copied their model, started their own companies and become very successful in SA.

> ME does offer some real good travel opportunities, but only if you can get to that level. People in our office, worked in Texas, KL, London offices etc. Similarly we had people from KL over as well.

SOME EPISODES from JOHANNESBURG:
> ME was one of the "Top companies to work for" in the nineties- Why, I really don't know..lol

> In the last 5/6 years, the company really started dropping sales etc, so a "GM" was sent from one of the other offices- can't remember whether it was from LK or where. Needless to say an "ex- US Marine", who took "no [censor]", but was a real [censor]. Needless to say, one could smell alcohol on him at 10h00 in the morning, but he stayed, and tried to "turn around" the company- even opened an office in Nigeria or Kenya, but still could not "turn it around"- lol. Was eventually fired, for some misdemeanor.
> The JHB office has now downsized, and moved to smaller offices.
> IQPC has closed their JHB offices

> One of the previous "Sales Directors", licked, and "[censor]-scraped" his way to the position. Probably manipulating deals along the way as well.
Had a really big-mouth, but no knowledge, people or management skills whatsoever- Used to always threaten staff, with the line " I will make sure you get escorted out the gates of this building". Well he eventually met his match, when all the staff stood together, complained about him- he even had some ladies claiming "sexual harassment"; and was fired after his case, and yes, he was "escorted out the building" with all sales execs looking out the windows, and laughing at him. He was, and still is an [censor]-hole of note- D. R...

MORAL OF THE STORY:
> Any company is driven by profit, but not being agile, and able to adapt to different markets, and countries laws etc, only makes you a sure thing for failure.

> You can have excellent sales people, but if they're not managed well, then your company will fail.

> Stop complaining, and start working- Unemployment is at 6% in the good ole US of A, and you suckers are complaining, and [censor]ing about ME- EVERY company will have issues. Try the unemployment rate in South Africa, at officially around 30%, but "unofficially" around 40-50%, beofre you start complaining again.
We have a population of about 44 million, with only about 6 million "tax payers"? And we still support all the Zimbabwians crossing over into our country.

> Use Marcus Evans, as a "springboard" to better things. The sales training is really good, and will hone your skills to some degree. So if you get a positon there, do it for a year or so, before leaving. If you cannot get to grips with a job in year, you are never gonna do it in 2 years. You will get devious managers, directors etc, but that is true of ANY organisation.

As for me:
I have my own company in the IT Governance area, and do some consulting work for an organisation in the same arena as ME, and it's growing as we speak.

I would to hear from anyone in the KL office who worked on the spreadsheet for the "in-house" training.

If anyone wants to contact me, you can email me on "leo28@webmail.co.za".

Good luck to all of you!

I usually don't post on boards like this either, but I really feel the need to add my two cents (or 32, 500 euros lol) to the conversation.

I just finished my 3 month stint at one of the ME European offices. Before anyone comes on and says that I am a bitter employee or I couldn't hack it, let me just say the following: I have worked in Sales for the last 8 years of my life, I am only 26 but have a proven track record both in tele-sales and face-to-face sales, and was at one point in my life personally responsible and accountable for $1.9 million in revenue, and that was expected of me and me alone by the company I worked for. And I always met target. So with that being said.

The only valuable thing I take from my experience at Marcus Evans is the training. I was already assertive and aggressive on the phone, but they further reinforced something that I also already had...my sense of professionalism and integrity. And they didn't do it by having high levels of either of those traits themselves. Sales people usually get a bad rep because people assume that they are slimy, sleazy liars who will say anything to make a buck, and thanks to the Marcus Evans Group, that bad rep can continue in its existence. I don't mind embellishing a bit but when you're flat out lying, then your integrity is at stake. I refused to call up CEOs and pretend to be calling on behalf of Hans-Ulrich Doerig, Chairman of Credit Suisse, who DEFINITELY wants to meet with whatever CEO I happened to be calling that day. Maybe when the company first started out, there was a little more integrity to it, a little more professionalism, but I think that's probably gone into a nose dive since.

The faithful employees who drank the Kool-Aid and are on here proclaiming the many benefits etc are right...if you can't hack it, don't do it. And by can't hack it, I mean, if you can't bring yourself to lie to powerful individuals and to use every underhanded and greasy tactic to get through to your final goal, don't do it. If you want to maintain a soul throughout your career, don't do it. If you want to actually feel and be professional, don't do it, or in my case, do it, enjoy the free training and move on when your time is done. I did do well at the company in three months, though probably not as well as I would have done if I had drank the Kool-Aid. And I denied that renewed contract because deep down, I have way more integrity than that. I always thought it funny when our GM would regale us with stories of his sales and how its such a great career etc, and I'd look around at all these half-high, half-coked out 24 year olds around me and laugh. Most of them would not have lasted two days under some of the pressure I have faced in previous jobs lol But its okay, let them think that dressing up to be on the phone all day makes them a professional executive ;)

To the commenter who asked "Why are they still in business if they have bad products?" I have to say...being a tax exile from the UK and having your company registered in Bermuda, which is a tax haven for off-shore banking and for hiding money, comes in handy when exploiting human workers and raking in money for yourself. Also, and I'm not sure how they manage to do this, but disregarding country laws with regards to basic salary, transportation allowance and vacation allowance (why do you 'take' three days from Christmas off my 20 vacation days if it is COUNTRY policy that it is a holiday?), also helps with staying in business and making money. In addition, the summits are BEYOND over-priced. Before saying that paying 37, 500 euros is worth it for 10-15 meetings, a luxury suite and all food/drinks at a resort, try requesting your own "group request, " which is a block of rooms. Per person, at a 5-star, for two nights, which is the length of the summit, the cost would be no higher than $4, 500 which is oh, about 3, 310 euros. Yeah I called a friend who works for the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace, which is where my summit is to be held, and it really isn't that serious. Group room blocks are automatically lower-priced than regular rooms at any hotel/resort in the world, and the bigger the room block, the lower your rates. Take that from someone who has worked for five-star resorts before. So in essence, the 'sponsors' are paying the cost for the 'delegates' to attend, and ME still makes a s**t-ton of money on the top...and what a list of delegates!

I got my delegate list the day before I left the company, and 'lo and behold, not one C-level executive on there! So ME Group STILL managed to get me to lie, because I told my potential 'sponsors' that there would be 80 C-Level executives there! lol What a joke. And, as a shout-out to Tom Ross at William Blair, who told a colleague of mine that he refused to work with ME because our summits are a pathetic excuse for 'speed-dating, ' and who warned her not to put the job on her CV, thanks! She didn't, and neither did I!

Anyway, to sum it all up, because I'm on a rant here:
DO work at Marcus Evans if you:
- Enjoy lying and cheating and basically selling yourself out to try and make a sale
- Enjoy wearing suits and dress shoes to sit down and talk on the phone all day (this is a ploy to make you think you are a professional, don't drink the Kool-Aid!)
- Enjoy being given 'pep-talks' every other day by a manager who was probably teased as a kid for his stutter, which is STILL noticeable
- Enjoy knowing that you are expendable every month when the new training school rolls around (btw, I was told that this position was permanent and only when I got to the training school was I told it was for 3 months only)
- Enjoy hearing people groan and curse when you tell them you are calling from Marcus Evans
- Plan to take the training and trudge through the three months and then bolt

DO NOT work at Marcus Evans if you:
- Like having a soul and pride yourself on your integrity and professionalism, and if you believe that being in Sales does NOT equate having to lie and sleaze your way to the top. It's insulting to me, as a successful salesperson, that this company believes that.

As further notes:
- They're opening an office in Miami and I have made sure to tell my alma mater of UM not to let them recruit from the pool of grads/undergrads.
- I long for the day when some pissed off woman in an office runs Gavin Mayfield right the HELL over with her car/bike or pushes him in front of a tram/train because he's made one inappropriate comment too many. When one of a company's top executives is BANNED from entering the United States based on SEXUAL HARASSMENT, then one MUST wonder!
- Carlo, you're my home-boy for life for this post, wish I had been able to find it sooner. Oh well, free training!
- If you do still end up working at Marcus Evans, at least in the European and UK offices, don't put the job on your CV when applying for new jobs. Not only did Tom Ross tell my colleague that, but I was also told that by a job agency official, who cringed when I told her where I was working. In Amsterdam and Berlin, none of the other international English-speaking companies will even look at it, a former colleague wasn't even getting "no" responses, as soon as he took it off his CV, the calls started coming in. Coincidence? I think not.

Peace, people.

Normally I do not post my thoughts on boards like this one but after having read most of the feedbacks above I seriously felt compelled to post one.

I too worked at THG, and although I wasn't very successful at the job, I have to say that I learned so much from my experience with them. The managers were incredibly supportive and I can honestly say that they were fair and good to me. If I did not accomplish their sales quota, it's because I didn't have the skills to be successful in that business and I came from a line of work that had nothing to do with sales anyways. Trust me if you have the skills and you follow their proven met, you can succeed. I have seen the numbers, there are some very good b2b sales people in that company and at the office where I worked I can honestly say that they were genuinely good people trying to help me succeed.

Success doesn't come easy at THG, but if you have a knack for sales, you are a good listener and you ask the right questions, and you WORK hard at it because nothing comes easy no matter where you work, then you can succeed at THG Sports. I have no regrets about working with them and only wished I was good enough to stay.

I work with them for 2 years in france
They crooked everybody including the clients, the staff (40 people got led down)...
They sell 2 or 3 time the market price.
They don't pay
They don't refund
They don't garantee whet they sell
Lot of turn over, so no memory in the company ...
And it's always someone else fault ... The sellers ... the "logistic department" ... and as no one has the right to talk with anyone ...u never know the truth...
I 've done well, good results, made money BUT felt dirty in the end discovering i was screwing people! I'm making far more now with happy clients ... makes a real difference !
Stay away from them !

Hi there,

With regards to the " European Events Coordinator" I can just say RUN BOY RUN!
Everything is deceiving in ME and titles are a very common way to let you think is something cool or important or at least well paid, and than in fact is always the same ugly ###. I saw many employees that in any other decent company would be called sales manager at most, being called in ME "VP business Development"...and than when you actually see them they are as knowledgable and gentelman-like as the roughest car seller you have ever met.

The duty of the " European Events Coordinator" are to be silent while wipped for few bucks by a low life individual which is earning big bucks out of your silly and misplaced commitment to do a good job.
Be sure of 2 things, if you got some skills you will always be valued ten times more in other companies than in ME, you will always be paid less than in any other company...

Even the General Manager and first marshall of Marcus Evens is keen to find a new job...check his linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/adnan-quazi/3/950/199 ah ah...they are sadly funny!

I just wonder who and when someboy will launch an inquiry into ME business and how he treats employees?
Untill then...RUN BOY RUN

Hello,
is for " European Events Coordinator" role any advice? Does someone know the exact duties?
Thank you very much in advance!

Could someone please comment on " European Events Coordinator" role?
Thank you!

I must say after just over two years of Pitching from the ME European HQ in London, I feel like i have been robbed off these years. Anyone who acctually comes on here to argue the ME cause must be crazy or beeing payed to do so. For those who dont know the pay structure has furture changed...

We were all given a paper in January-Feb stating: with this new structure all employee's are guarenteed 1000/month...me and (tho i was not surprised) very few people felt uneasy. Rightfully so, the pay scam which followed made me sick and made me feel like a farmer in the feudal age...where you are given a piece of land to work for food and house. not more. o yeah...transport. The new system which has now been implemented at least in europe goes like this...

For each month you do not make a deal ME will top up your 650 pound wage with 350 pound, this will then have to be payed back the following month if you make money. If you dont make any deals then they will top up that month as well and you will owe the company 700 pounds, to be deducted when you make money..its funny to right about it now but this is the case at the moment. They are getting away with this even tho the acctual top up is only 150 pounds as the other 200 has be added by law.

Conferences are way overpriced and the reason for that is that they make the best events in the industry, dont really know about that but i know that a day didnt go by without calling a company that has placed ME on a no call list. Pardon my complaints loyal and manipulated employees and those who are smart but unfortunate to need a visa to remain in the country (exploited) but all i want to say is that ME is a very good business man i.e he knows how to make money but just does not give thought to the employee's.

In order to avoid massive revolts, they make sure they hire foreigners who acctually learn the language as they work the phones and graduates who could not find jobs or when probed admit to taking the first job offered to them, I was one of those. So i guess one could say there are many who really are happy with what they get as the company offers jobs to the graduates from uk who find it hard to get a job due to visa needs, graduates who smoked and still smoke to much, those with a big mouth and a small brain.

Well done to those who make it there but everyday during smokebrakes discuss how to get out, to all those who knows after 20-50 interviews knows its as good as it gets. Hope you are all enjoying it with MR BIG in Nr 11.

Really as a sales executive you will learn not to take no for an answer and gain confidence on the phone, that is not credit to ME but the execs effort, and the 100 calls per day.

Do not consider this a diss, venting of frustration or anger, just a view from an ex employee.

I'm here thinking about applying to Marcus Evans Group and I decided not to just look at the companys' website, with employee video testimonies mind you, but also see what the web has to say about them. I must say these comments posted here sound so familiar to something I've seen before; a movie actually.
It seems like this company is almost a text book copy of that in the movie Boiler room.
Anyone remember that film starring Ben Aflick, Giovanni Ribis, Van Diesel and Nia Long? Its based on the stock market but the internal business culture of what they are claiming with THG seems to be the exact same of the movie; which is based on a real life event. Great movie. Maybe all who have worked at THG and all who potentially want to should watch it for some insight.
I'm ripping up my application, life's too short to go swimming naked with the sharks!

im 28 years of age and have been in sales since i was 19. This is something that I have definately learnt. If you are selling a product that you dont believe in you sir are not a salesman, you are a conman. If you have to lie to get the sale you are a conman not a salesman. If you dismiss ethics because you are succumbing to the sheep mentality as in everyone else in the company is doing it so its ok then your weak. If you dismiss your own personal ethics because of the lure of financial success then your taking the bait and you are selling out.

You still use all the psychological tools to sell a product you believe in. One that you know is a win for the client and for your company.

However believe me when you start to lie even once your selling out your integrity and ppl will see through you because you know what. You wont believe in yourself. INTEGRITY is the most important aspect of success and I would encourage anyone who is cheating clients and themselves to rethink what you are doing.

ciao

Assuming that some of the complainers here dont have the skills, but still ME sups / managers does not have the right to steal their reps leads. As leaders, coaching is none stop until your reps are able to maximize their potential.

Hi There,

I juz got a phone call for an Interview at Marcus Events/THG. Thought Id do some research on the company and found this Forum! Holy crap! Its seriously making me think twice if I should really bother with the interview.
Its for " European Events Coordinator" role. Any advice?

Many thanks!

I work in Marcus Evans for 1 1/2 years in sales in the Summits Division. I'm not going to argue all the comments that have been made here, because I don’t know all these individuals personally. What I will say is that Marcus Evans is not a scam, it's a business. I've met a lot of people in this time extremely happy with the product that we provide and in the same time I’ve met a few not so happy...so what? If somebody can give me an example of a company which provides 100% satisfaction to each and every one of their clients and to each and every one of their employees I’ll be amazed. As long as more than 75% of the people I’ve met respect and appreciate what we do I’m happy with that.
In my job I haven’t lied or been disrespectful not once, although I came across a lot of not so polite people. So my advice to everybody here is to stop complaining, you waste your time, take the positive from whatever experience you had with Marcus Evans and move on.

I was contacted by a Marcus Evans employee selling a "Summit". I must say this, the sales training is good. Talk about a guy not taking NO for an answer. He kept me on the phone for half an hour. The pitch was in fact very deceitful because I called some of the folks he name dropped claiming he had already spoken with. I asked them if they had indeed had a conversation with this individual and they all said no but had gotten inquiries from other business poeple all over the country asking the same question. Red Flag. I agree with everyone who says ME uses deceitful sales tactics because I experienced it and I believe everyone who says they have worked for ME before because they described this guys sales pitch to a T. It's a scam so watch out!

I was employed in a Sales Executive role at Marcus Evans in Barcelona, Spain for 6 months in 2002. An interesting experience, to say the least.

For the record, since then I have developed two successful business's employing staff and creating true professional and personal weath. In relation to Jim Ryan's comments listed on this blog, he does have a point! I have no ill feelings nor resentment towards ME Spain and in fact treat the whole eposide as a valuable learning curve.

That aside, I would not waste one cent (or pound or euro, depening on your country of origin) on a Marcus Evans event, product or service. The majority of the claims made in this blog are likely to be, in my opinion, correct and factual.

Unless you enjoy decieptful employment, enjoy lying and bullying and generally have no decency, my advise is look elsewhere for employment.

I have worked with ME for two years and must say I enjoyed it most of the time and it helped me in my personal and career development. There were good colleagues and bad colleagues (and strange colleagues), good times and bad times- just like in any company and any job. The payment was ok but nothing special and after two years I was offered a better paid job with another company so I left.

I can understand that some people do have problems with the sales mentality of ME and I have to admit that I could not do that job one single day (obviously I was not working in a sales department). If you want to be a sales person you just have to have a certain mentality and personal character - but I am sure that counts for most sales jobs out there. One thing I can say though is that the summit product is a good product and about 75% of the clients were satisfied.

People reading this should always remember that the best thing to do is to make your own experience. Neither negatively or positively you should let yourself get influenced by what people are posting on the internet.