Pros
Employer Based Pet Insurance Product
Cons
During my time on the sales team at PetPartners, my experience differed in several important ways from what I understood and agreed to prior to starting.
Several agreements and understandings that were discussed before my employment began were, in my experience, not upheld long-term and gradually eroded over time. Because those items were important factors in my decision to accept the role, this became a significant problem for me.
From my perspective, some members of management did not have sufficient experience specifically in leading and developing a sales team. The sales organization itself was small -seven salespeople total, not including managers. Over approximately 18 months, at least five of those roles turned over. That level of instability made it difficult to build consistency and continuity.
I also found that salespeople were not given enough time to fully establish relationships, develop referral sources, and build a long-term pipeline. Relationship-based sales in the employee benefits space typically require patience and runway, which I did not experience here.
Culturally, my experience was that if you did not fit in with the existing internal group, there were ways and reasons found to move you out rather than address differences constructively.
If you don't drink alcohol and choose not to be around situations which involve alcohol, ask a lot of questions about the events you'll be expected to and possibly required to attend. Most of them included alcohol.
When I was hired, there was a clearly defined commission structure that paid commissions per group sold and placed. Shortly after I started, at the beginning of the following year, the commission plan was changed to a structure tied to goals that, in my experience, were extremely difficult to achieve (nearly impossible for someone hire within the last year). Under the new plan, few - if any, salespeople were paid commissions for selling multiple groups.
PetPartners is owned by private equity, and in my experience, the environment reflected that. It felt rushed and cutthroat. I did not witness strong depth of experience in the employee benefits sales arena at the leadership level.
For anyone considering a sales role here, I would strongly recommend reaching out directly to at least three former sales employees who worked at PetPartners between June 2024 and the time you are applying. Hearing their experiences firsthand may help you decide whether the role is a good fit for you.
For me personally, this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had.