From the very beginning, the environment felt extremely toxic, outdated, demoralising, and heavily driven by pressure rather than professionalism or employee development.
Management often came across as disconnected from the realities of modern sales. Instead of focusing on improving the actual business infrastructure, systems, or employee support, there appeared to be a much greater focus on forcing activity metrics onto junior staff and maintaining appearances rather than solving operational problems. The overall level of professionalism within the office also felt extremely poor at times, including employees regularly coming into the workplace dressed in pyjamas or overly casual attire that felt completely inappropriate for a corporate business environment.
One of the biggest issues was the complete lack of proper infrastructure and quality data. Employees, particularly junior staff and recent graduates, were expected to hit unrealistic sales targets while being provided with poor-quality contact lists, outdated spreadsheets, and extremely limited genuine delegates. We were regularly told to “call poor switchboard numbers” and still somehow expected to generate meaningful results from contacts that were clearly outdated or irrelevant. This was an utter waste of time for the business and employees.
On top of this, the KPIs themselves were completely unrealistic, expectations included sending around 350 emails per day alongside making 60+ calls daily, regardless of the actual quality of the leads being provided.
The outreach process itself felt incredibly ineffective and outdated. Much of the role revolved around repetitive mass emailing and manually editing spreadsheets for hours at a time, essentially changing names and resending the same generic templates repeatedly, with very little strategic targeting behind it. There was no meaningful CRM infrastructure, no modern lead generation systems, and very little evidence of investment in improving the actual sales process. Instead, junior employees were expected to simply spam outreach activity and somehow magically generate results from poor foundations.
When these ineffective systems naturally failed to produce results, the blame was pushed directly onto employees. In my own experience, performance concerns and pressure were raised despite the fact that the company had failed to provide staff with the necessary tools, support, or quality opportunities to perform effectively in the first place. Rather than addressing the poor data, weak strategy, and broken operational processes, responsibility and blame was shifted entirely onto junior staff.
Adding to this, the company culture often felt deeply unethical and excessively revenue-focused. Young graduates and inexperienced employees appeared to be heavily relied upon to carry out aggressive sales activity with little genuine support or long-term development. There were constant “training blasts” and motivational sessions, yet very little investment in legitimate operational improvements or sustainable business practices. The environment often felt more focused on pressure, volume, and activity numbers than on actual employee growth or intelligent sales strategy. The owner would consistently clap her hands and say “money, money, money” which was disgraceful and showed absolutely no respect for staff.
Another aspect of the culture that I personally found concerning was the use of fabricated outreach identities and artificial online personas during sales activity. Employees were encouraged to conduct outreach using alternate names, “mascot” identities, or profiles that did not reflect genuine individuals within the business. This extended into LinkedIn outreach and email, where certain profiles appeared to exist primarily for lead generation purposes rather than representing authentic professional identities. Personally, I found this approach misleading and uncomfortable within a professional B2B environment where transparency and trust should matter.
During my time there, I also witnessed employees being encouraged or incentivised to leave fake positive reviews online, which made it difficult to fully trust the authenticity of some of the public feedback presented about the company and its culture. This also incentivised me to write this negative review.
Leadership and training were also major concerns. Management frequently pushed rigid sales approaches and unrealistic expectations, yet there seemed to be very little understanding of what genuinely worked in a modern B2B sales environment. Instead of adapting strategies based on results, feedback, or market realities, there was a strong reliance on repetitive methods that many employees clearly felt were ineffective. Training often felt superficial and heavily focused on KPIs and pressure rather than meaningful coaching, development, or practical guidance.
The management style throughout the business often felt heavily micromanaged and passive-aggressive. Employees were constantly monitored on outreach activity, emails, calls, and performance metrics rather than on actual effectiveness or quality of work. Even basic interactions often felt performative or transactional rather than supportive. There was a culture of constant checking, monitoring, and pressure, which created an atmosphere of anxiety rather than motivation.
There also appeared to be significant inconsistencies in how workplace flexibility and expectations were applied across different levels of staff. Senior management and directors were permitted hybrid working arrangements, while junior employees were expected to remain in the office full-time despite carrying out the bulk of the outbound sales activity and administrative workload. Certain staff members were granted additional flexibility and reduced office presence, while junior employees were still expected to maintain longer hours, heavier workloads, and significantly lower pay. If you had a genuine medical reason to not be in work for a day or
had an appointment in the morning they would dock your pay. This created an environment that often felt unequal and demoralising.
Considering the cost of living in London, the compensation structure which was 1.8% also felt extremely unsustainable for junior staff, particularly when combined with the pressure, workload, and expectations placed upon employees. Managers happily line their own pockets with enough money and flexible work arrangements while everyone else essentially worked for shillings
After rent, bills, and transport costs, it became increasingly difficult to maintain any reasonable quality of life while working in such a demanding environment. At one stage, I was effectively left with around £800 - £600 per month to survive on in London after expenses, which simply was not sustainable given the level of pressure and workload expected.
To make matters worse, there was a culture that often felt excessively performative and dehumanising. Bells would be rung and exaggerated celebrations would take place whenever sales were made, which personally felt more humiliating than motivating. At times, the environment felt less like a professional workplace and more like employees were being conditioned for rewards and recognition in a way that I personally found degrading and uncomfortable almost as though staff were expected to respond like dogs being rewarded for bringing in money.
Rather than creating a supportive and professional culture, it often felt entirely centred around revenue generation and public performance tactics. They wanted you roll out a red carpet for them but in return you got absolutely nothing.
A major operational issue was the quality and age of the data being provided to staff. In some cases, employees were expected to work from contact data dating back several years, including lists originating from as far back as 2017. Unsurprisingly, much of this information was outdated, irrelevant, or no longer useful for effective B2B outreach.
Despite this, employees were still expected to hit extremely aggressive KPIs and revenue targets using data that was often clearly no longer fit for purpose. Rather than addressing the underlying data quality issues, pressure was instead placed directly onto junior staff when results inevitably suffered
The overall atmosphere became increasingly difficult to ignore. Staff turnover was extremely high, with multiple employees leaving within a short period of time, which in itself speaks volumes about the culture and management structure within the business.
Looking back, I regret ignoring my gut feeling during the interview process. I joined the company during a difficult period because I needed an opportunity, but very quickly realised the environment was not what had been presented. The culture ultimately felt outdated, reactive, overly aggressive, and disconnected from the realities of modern employee management and professional sales operations. Employees are afraid to speak out because you’d be punished otherwise.
Overall, this was one of the most disorganised, demoralising, and frustrating working environments I have ever experienced, nothing made sense. Unless major changes are made to leadership, infrastructure, systems, employee treatment, and workplace culture, I would strongly advise graduates and job seekers not to join this company.
