Seriously, Avoid Inside Sales - Inside Sales Representative Avalara Employee Review

2.0
Feb 2, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Avalara really has a great product, and it made the Inside Sales job so much easier because I honestly believed that what Avalara had to offer businesses would be beneficial to them. There are some really awesome people to work with who are always willing to help. Avalara is a growing company with awesome potential.

Cons

Communication between Inside Sales and Marketing is absolutely discouraged- even though Marketing directly provides leads that the IS reps are supposed to work every day. There is obvious favoritism from management (i.e. there can be certain reps that have consistently low quota numbers 6 months or more and never have anything come of it, whereas a new fully hired employee can have a bad few months and then be dismissed for "performance issues"). It has been noted in previous reviews that if you are generally referred in by another employee and are from Bainbridge Island, that you're pretty much set for your time there- I found this to be accurate as well. The actual job is stressful, they did change the amount of daily calls and so now it's less than before which is easier to achieve, but they took away the ability for IS reps to qualify 3 different kinds of leads that were allowed previously without adjusting the quota for the month. The office is extremely competitive and oftentimes when there is an influx of "good" leads (i.e. tradeshows, webinars, etc..) IS reps have to scramble to "claim" these leads, otherwise they might lose their high priority lead to whichever rep "touched base" with the company first.

avatar
Avalara Response
9y
Hi, I’m the new CMO of Avalara. One of the teams I’m now responsible for is our Inside Sales team (also known as ISR or more recently called SDR). This is a high-performance, energetic team that makes and receives calls from prospective customers to provide an overview of our solutions and qualify leads to pass over to our sales team. This is a hugely important function for is – it is often a customer’s first direct experience with Avalara, and is also a great entry point for people who’d like to kick off a great career at our fun, growing company. I’ve seen some of the feedback on Glassdoor, and have also talked with many members of the team and have gotten a ton of great feedback. While Inside Sales or Sales Development positions are not right for everyone (it’s a challenging but rewarding experience!), we are making many improvements to ensure this is a positive, high-performance work environment that pays well and helps develop the team for future roles in the company. And, we’re hiring! So, if you are a motivated, performance-driven, self-starter in Durham or Seattle who is looking to kick off a great career in high tech sales and marketing, check out http://bit.ly/2oJfYAe

Explore other reviews about Avalara

5.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Cutting edge technologies Very Smart colleagues Great business model

Cons

High hiring and performance bar

avatar
Avalara Response
5d
Thank you for sharing your experience at Avalara. We’re glad to hear the technology and your teammates have made a positive impact. We appreciate your feedback and your contributions.
4.0
Jul 17, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Is Avalara a great place to work? It depends on the team you are on. Pros: - I love my team. I have great co-workers. I feel like leadership to the VP level understands the value we bring and advocates for our work throughout the company - I like being able to go into the office and see people and bounce ideas around - My manager is always pushing me to learn new things and get out of my comfort zone - We just got a new CEO and I am super excited about him and his vision. Everyone who has actually been in meetings with him is excited too.

Cons

It depends on the team you are on. Cons: - Some teams are not as curious/helpful as others. I often have to check and recheck the work they do, after I have chased them multiple times to even complete the work - The layoff fear is real, the idea that at any point your position could be eliminated because they want to keep that revenue per headcount KPI down is everywhere

1
avatar
Avalara Response
1d
Thank you for taking the time to share such thoughtful insight. We're glad to hear your team and manager have had a positive impact on your experience, and we're encouraged by your optimism about Avalara's future. We also recognize how important it is for that experience to feel consistent across the company, and we appreciate you sharing your perspective.
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All