Avoid SMB Business Development End User
Pros
Gartner Experience - There's so much knowledge and experience at the organization. If you really take advantage of it you can learn a ton. C-Level Interaction - Communicating with operational executives on a regular basis is an amazing opportunity for growth If you're in the right place there is growth potential - Gartner is growing fast and if you receive a nurturing management team there is ample room for growth. PTO is plentiful Stock options Retirement plan Pay is level with industry, but not exceptional
Cons
This review is based on my personal experience. I think there are many good places to be in Gartner, but would suggest you be wary of this one particularity. I was pigeon holed into the flailing business unit of SMB End User Business Development. With almost a decade of sales experience in several technology organizations this was the most dysfunctional sales group I have ever witnessed. You may think this is from someone who struggled and didn't align to the business, but I actually excelled. I hit the Gartner "Winner Circle" in the BDM role and was slated as a best of the best. Unfortunately I ended up under the worst middle management team I have ever encountered. Here is what I witnessed that made it a quite unfortunate experience: - 54 of 68 territories saw the rep turned over in the year of 2017 - 6 of 8 Managers turned over in the same time period - Recruitment pitch a "30% winners circle achievement of the sales force" which my be true organizationally, however from this business unit the was only 5 individuals how made it and only 2 of those had a full year quota, others were pro-rated for being there less than a year. I was one of those individuals. - Middle "Regional VP Management" and "Area Managers" struggled with accurate and honest forecasting - Reps were asked to forecast up deals that were long shot at best and often met with failure - There is a unfortunate dismal outlook across the business unit - There is resounding politics that echo your fate in the unit and ability to move out of the unit due to the dismal success - Most Area Managers in the group themselves were unable to attain success in the BDE role and were promoted via need due to lack of interest from other parts of the business to back fill the roles. - Make sure to fully understand the commission plan before consideration, it is tiered and percentage based, actually business is heavily back ended on the year so almost 3/4 of your year you may live off of base salary or just a bit more. If you - You are not able to move positions internally for 24 months if you want to leave the BD position you would be asked to resign your role and re-apply to Gartner rather than have the opportunity as an internal candidate. - Sales cycles run around 6 months, but they freaking flip territories every new year! Many cycles end up started by one rep then flipped to another, also many time due to attrition. If you do end up here, be prepared for a tough road, if you can last long enough to get promoted to a different unit or up in the organization there is positive places to be in this large growing company.
