Tuesday, May 12, 2009

American Management Services Review By Small Business and Employees

American Management Services offers advice to small businesses. American Management Services finds money for small businesses. Despite being in business for 20 years, there is really not much information on American Management Services.

American Management Services states that American Management Services maintains offices in Waltham, MA, Orlando, FL, Rochester, NY and Washington, DC and their web site claims that they employ 120 people. I could find no listings for offices in New York, maybe American Management Services web site needs to be updated.

American Management Services appears to target small, family-owned businesses, and may specialize in inventory control engagements, electrical contractors, and finding money for small business. American Management Services is broken into three customer facing groups, the telemarketing field group "Partner America", it is their job is to sell an analysis of your business for a small fee, generally around $500. The analyst group may spend several weeks looking for problems, and stated or not, their goal is to bring in the third group, the consultants. A review of job listings for American Management Services finds that the analyst position is ususally listed as "pay for performance" which suggests commissions would be involved.

It is unlikely that the $500 fee would cover the transportation and hotel costs for an analyst.

Therefore, the upfront fee is not a likely primary revenue stream for the firm.

How do they find the problems in your company? Simple, they ask you. Most of the time the owner knows the problem, but lacks the discipline to list the steps to correct it. At the end of the analysis, you will be asked to fix your problem. If you can fix it yourself, why haven't you fixed it before? If you aren't sure if you can fix it, you can engage their consultants at their prevailing rate, or shop around for a better rate. But how can you tell what you are getting in any event, other than their offered references, there is little information on American Management Services.

The purpose of this page is to get feedback from firms that have dealt with American Management Services and decided not to engage their services, those who have engaged their services, and from employees, past and present, to provide insight as to how the company operates so that you can make an informed decision regarding engaging their people for a preliminary study, an actual engagement, or for employment.

In order to post an opinion, you must certify the information you are providing is true and may be asked to provide proof of your dealings with American Management Services either by copy of a contract, paystub, or letter which you have sent or recieved from American Management Services. If you are considering an engagement of American Management Services you may find it beneficial to read the accounts here to help you make a decision regarding American Management Services. If you are considering employment with American Management Services, you may find value in the information provided by present and past employees.

What was your experience with American Management Services? Feel free to provide an honest objective and provable synopsis regarding your experience with Partner America/AMS, it is helpful to post your name on your post, but if you request anonymity (and have provided proof of your assertion) I will respect that.

5 comments:

  1. I am a former employee of AMS and I can tell you they are as crooked as they come. If I were a prospective employee or customer I would STAY AWAY. They do not reimburse for expenses that you pay out of pocket to get trained and screw you out of commissions. Their turnover is unprecedented, conducting WEEKLY training sessions for new employees.

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  2. Come on ... look at what's in play here folks.

    These AMS idiots are constantly recruiting. They are looking for sales people, NOT management consultants. Like they will find a good consultant with years of experience with their goofy ads.

    Does anyone believe these sad sack, unskilled, buffoons they constantly recruit have the expertise to identify and implement a "turn around" strategy?????

    They are looking for a large body count of mindless, aggressive sales people to sell their useless "service".

    That's it folks!

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  3. AMS is nothing but a bunch of liars. I am still owed $583 for plane tickets that were never reimbursed. Send me the money you promised!!!!!!

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  4. I am an accredited investor with a 30-year track record as a senior executive, board member and shareholder of a number of small and mid-sized companies in both Canada and the United States. One company in particular, a small construction subcontractor that in 19 years of operation had never earned more than $200,000 in any one year, had that misfortune of engaging American Management Services in the Spring of 2010. At the time of the engagement the company's revenues had been in a 12-month free fall, the company was operating on the equivalent of financial life support from its bank, overhead had been pared to the bone, and the workforce was no more than a skeleton crew. While the outlook was bleak, what the company did have going for it was a $275,000 cash nest egg it had managed to accumulate over years of living below its means. By coincidence the AMS consultant’s could turn the company around for just $275,000. The engagement lasted 90 days, and amounted to nothing more than a high pressure confidence job, a Hollywood style boiler-room operation whose sole objective was to separate the “client” from the “ cash” and with surgical precision.

    While there may be some out there in America (possibly the Banjo builders from Tennessee) who had a different experience, in my assessment American Management Services’ entire business model is by design and by implementation predatory; in the extreme. Perhaps even the fertile ground for the legal certification of a class? So…Caveat Emptor, or better still…..just say no to the temptation of “The Business Survey” TM.

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  5. Such sites are important because they provide a large dose of useful information ... Construction Management

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