The Commercial Sales Org is an Absolute Nightmare - MIddle Enterprise Account Executive Proofpoint Employee Review

1.0
May 20, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing Product, Gartner Leader, over $1bn ARR

Cons

This is all specific to the commercial sales organization. - Less than 10% of net new commercial reps (SME, FinServ, Healthcare, Middle Enterprise, SLED) hit ramped quota in 2020 - 65% attrition rate for commercial AEs in 2020 (looks to be higher so far this year) - Approximately 50% attrition rate YTD of commercial sales management -15% to 30% lower base pay than market (~$60k) - 2-3x more expensive than most costly competitor, 10x more than others - Territories are up to 300% unbalanced between account quantity for the same quota - Channel strategy for commercial is non-existent ; channel partners are hard to engage due to constant Proofpoint AE churn - More focus on pipeline than actual revenue - Leaders do not abide by Rules of Engagement nor defend their team members deals when other teams come to lay claim. - Leadership will admit cold, direct prospecting into accounts is not productive - but measure you on metrics for these anyway rather than focusing on channel productivity. - Inept management at every level - CRO and SVP don’t care to fix commercial because it has such a small impact on total business. - Poor benefits for a multi-billion dollar tech company - Executive team sold out to a cheap investment firm In essence, RUN.

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5.0
Mar 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation is good Teams are nice and helpful Leadership Unlimited PTO

Cons

Return to office policy isn't the best Some co workers are kind of lazy

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Proofpoint Response
3mo
Hi. Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We appreciate your perspective and we're glad to see that overall you're having a great experience on the team.
1.0
Jul 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

fairly lax with lots of time to do things

Cons

many. Former CEO ran things poorly and took in managers who brought along their problems and animosities with them. Not only that, they were allowed to invite their friends to come and join too, many of them owing their jobs to someone creating a bro culture. Even though top mgmt changed since the sale, its many of these people still there to this day. Most of the systems were a black box, existing engineers were mostly uncooperative to keep their knowledge to themselves, the offshore engineers in one particular country were especially bad for this. I have seen major accomplishments achieved by someone, where so many others had failed, only to get fired soon after.

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