Pros
I've met some of the most brilliant and socially savvy individuals while i was at Gartner, and will likely retain some of these friendships for life; ergo, Gartner's ability to recruit top-notch talent is impressive. Our strong brand was always on our side and it truly helped us sell - even though management will claim it is about process and the value selling methodology. We had the benefit that people knew who we were when we placed that initial call to our prospective clients. Gartner was good about recognizing performance, which work as a great motivator.
Cons
Ocassionally an underqualified individual would filter upward through the ranks, either by chance or because, a friend of a friend knows an executive or because their were related (as in family) to individuals in executive positions. End of quarter is chaos especially for sales - not fun. It seemed disorganized and amateur-ish in term of how the teams were managed. I was not fond AT ALL about the named-to-share account management approach which was one of many initiatives/processes for which there was minimal due dilligence when selected as a sales model. Essentially it allowed for local management of accounts even though they were headquartered in another city. Some client organizations had locations in 52 cities across the US - which meant that 52 individual reps would have to manage that account. That is a disaster especially when the client is headquartered in your territory and wants only to deal with you and no one else in your company.