Looks like the predictions are coming true. Commercial sales field positions being eliminated in favor of retail and online sales focus. Store GM & CPP to handle all commercial contact going forward. Internal announcement forthcoming.
43 replies (most recent on top)
CAMs. Are. History.
Why don’t you explain “what is coming” then instead of being so vague since you obviously have all the intel.
Most of the cams do not even realize what is coming. Must be brainwashed.
From all the replies so far it seems obvious the cam position is useless for Advance for the simple fact they do not know the first thing about commercial customers nor do they seem to care. Good luck staying profitable when you only rely on walk in customers as most are now buying online from Rock Auto or e-bay and saving on average half of what they would spend in a store.
CAMs bring little to the party. They overall cost more than what they bring in profit. Dump the cams and give the stores the hours.
Cams at Napa actually do their jobs right, that's why they have more sales than us. when is the last time you seen a cam at one of your shops?
3 cams in my area are all quitting and going to NAPA. Heard they are planning on taking 100% of the AAP commercial business that remains. My CPP is going as well. DM says we will not lose any sales. Are you serious?
CAM position is a joke. It’s very evident looking at the commercial sales numbers that most have quit but have not left. Ride that gravy train guys!
Yeah, there's a term for all those new hire CAMS. Cannon fodder.
Yes cut the camms and give the store employees more money we do all the work anyway! The GM. can do what little work the cam did.
Cams are a thing of the past. They are going to go away just like factory reps did.
only6? I flushed that many on less than a year
My cam gave notice today. Said he didn’t want being fired on his work history. This is the 6th cam my store has had in 2 years. No wonder commercial sales are almost gone.
More cams being cut on Friday.
" Worldquest " will not salvage this company unless they replace all the talking heads that are currently running this company into the ground with people that understand the business.
As we expand the WorldQuest model there is little or no need for a CAM, DM or CSM. A GM and multiple CPPs are all that is needed.
It appears cams and gms are leaving faster than they can train replacements. Just look at the new trainees cranked out very week.
Heard the cam ranks will be phased out by year end. How many have left last few months?
I started as an ambitious cam with a positive attitude. Over a short period of time I realized the support structure was missing to keep growing. As the Carquest guys left, so did the commercial customers. Now I just go with the flow like most cams and collect a paycheck.
I agree with Alpha. It's a dog eat dog industry. You either become successful like he says he did or you start a thread complaining how life isn't fair. #Murica
Typical Braggart Bully attitude, the type of person you buy for what they are worth, then sell for what they think they are worth. His need of ego inflation makes him sound like a blowhard as if he single handedly created a network of success through leadership and example. If this guy is a sample of what Advance has come to in low level management I can only imagine what lies ahead.
@Alpha...couldn't of said it any better. Kudos
Now there’s a liar. No cam has that much influence or drive to fix that much.
I know a lot of successful CAMs. I took over a market that was bleeding heavily, used my knowledge to gain business, helped trained the CPPs. Looked for GMs to replace new openings. Helped fix the delivery times and used service to steal more of the market share from the competition. I Sold big jobs to new customers and gained new business. The store teams are doing great and are flourishing. Everyone is getting bonus. You get what you put in to it. It took me over a 8 months to fix some issues but we’re up and running smooth. Lot of people complaining about other people, putting down other positions because they find it easier to put blame on everyone but themselves. I made my store teams successful by instilling a successful attitude and surrounding myself with successful store leadership. Two types of people in the world. You’re either on a website running your mouth complaining, blaming everyone else cause your mothers didn’t raise you to be men or you’re out their adapting, overcoming and being an Alpha. Don’t be a little b--ch cause someone put in more of an effort and OUTWORKED, OUTSMARTED and OVERCAME OBSTACLES more than you! I can’t wait to hear all the replies and excuses to my response! Bring it on!
If you had a good CAM, how can he go out and try to entice customers when we can't even service them because they keep cutting help in the stores. Our STUPID DM keeps cutting every week. Our commercial customers are tired of having to hold on all the time and then get lousy service getting their parts to them because of DM's not letting the store have any hours. My DM will call me first thing the next morning if I'm an hour over plan. What an idiot he is. My days as a GM are numbered, they can turn some more out in Roanoke to replace me.
No cam can be successful when they do not have solid support from the servicing store. On top of that, the store team is taught that retail sales and parking lot services take priority over commercial. In time, commercial sales will totally evaporate and so will CAMs and all field sales related positions.
Instead of giving CAM's the tools they need to service commercial accounts they simply expect them to make it happen. Without the proper structure to completely service the commercial accounts ie: pricing, parts availability, fast delivery times , and quality parts, it becomes nothing but problems for a CAM. Constantly hiring new people instead of addressing the real problem is the problem.
I was a cam for 2 years and got out when it became apparent there was no future at Advance. Much happier now working for a real parts supplier instead of one that primarily focuses on retail.
Sad thing about the cam job is they keep cranking out newbies. It is really unethical to entice people into a position that gives them a false sense of accomplishment and no future.
This company is not on a upswing and who ever filled your head with that b---s--- is lying to you. This company is less than a year away from being bought. Anyone that cannot see the painfully obvious signs is just blind. Reduce, cut, reduce, cut, that's all we have been doing and eventually there will be nothing left to reduce or cut. Hiring new cams then eliminating that position months later sounds exactly like something this a-- backwards company would do.
Some really angry and stupid people posting on here lately. If any of you are Advance employees you might want to consider anger management. No wonder Advance is having such high turn over, shows how low paid employee's are forced to self medicate.
There’s over 50 job postings for CAMs as we speak. Quite a bit for a position their “eliminating”. You c--ts make me laugh
Oh look a “shop owner” has mysteriously wondered into an advance layoff page to tell us how one store represents the company. Dude, you’re not a shop owner, you’re an employee or former employee talking sh-- acting like someone you’re not. Seriously go f--- off somewhere and die.
As a shop owner I will tell you Advance is the absolute worst. Having a commercial manager or not makes no difference as they always over promise and under deliver. Parts availability is horrible, delivery times are rarely on time. After hearing excuse after excuse while customer cars are on the lifts waiting for parts that never show I stopped doing business with this company and concentrated on a parts company that does know what they are doing. Good bye and good riddance
The original post is fake. It can't be true. Just yesterday at my store we had a CAM in trainning. If that was true, AAP wouldn't continue to hire or promote GM's to CAM. Who ever writing these posts got be someone outside from AAP.
Don't be a Hater ;-).
I sure hope this isn’t true. As a store manager my Cam has been great. He’s done a lot for me and has gotten Accounts to start buying from me again. Sure there are some bad ones but I know some bad store managers and some bad district managers too.
Why did the original poster even post this? This isn’t true at all. If you put as much effort into doing your jobs as you do starting rumors you’d probably move up in the company. There is no internal newsletter coming, their still hiring CAMs as we speak. Hell a new one just got hired in my market last week. He was a GM and turned CAM. Now why would the company say “ Keep hiring CAMs if their just going to lay them off” seriously you guys and your rumors are pathetic. Company is on an upswing whether you want to believe it or not. Cams aren’t going anywhere. CSMs aren’t going anywhere either. Keep trying to scare people cause you’re a bunch of whiny c--ts that either hate your CAM or are jealous that you’re not one.
Advance does not understand the commercial customer and will never beat the likes of NAPA when it comes to servicing them properly.
What a bunch of MORONS we work for. But our cam don't do nothing anyway so no big loss. Ask your customers the last time they saw their cam.
What about Products Sales Specialists, SAM's and other regional sales team members?