Gartner reviews

I 100% agree with many of the reviews that cite a culture of deceit, dwindling opportunities, and poor leadership as reasons to avoid this channel/role at Gartner. I’d like to add my thoughts based on my experience during my 24+ months in the role Culture of Deception – Gartner’s #1 core value is integrity yet there are countless examples of the company and its leadership being less than honest. One primary example includes systemic deception of clients and prospects by sales reps and area managers. I have witnessed countless instances of sales reps and sales leadership flat out lying in order to “create urgency” and/or increase their numbers. False deadlines and inflated prices are commonplace and encouraged by area managers; it’s their only tool to get people to buy. Most AE’s don’t seem too concerned with this level of dishonesty. A large majority are fresh college grads so either they have been convinced by management that this is just the way business gets done, or they are more concerned with making money and not rocking the boat. Either way, you still compete against them so if you do not participate, you are at a disadvantage. Secondly, and perhaps more discouraging, is the deception of employees by Gartner. This is done through half-truths, misrepresentation of facts, and other subtle yet nefarious ways they take advantage of and manipulate people. One example that on the surface seems benign, but I believe has a serious negative impact on morale and employee retention, is the way management does recognition. If a deal comes in, it’s because the AE’s “limitless mindset”, “urgency” and “trusted business advisor” relationship that they were able to magically overcome all the obstacles. The reality is that it’s often just a matter of luck and timing - which is great if you are lucky or have friends in management who can make you lucky. But when you don’t get the good hops and start to realize the reality of this job (i.e. the SMB market is saturated and there is little opportunity to sell new business), you start to question your own abilities. If everyone else is getting all these great deals, what’s wrong with me? Am I not good at this? Turns out it’s just all smoke and mirrors and once people see that, they either fight like hell to get out of SMB or they quit. That’s why you will only find about 6 AE’s out of 200 on the HT side with more than 2 years of tenure. Finally, the deception of Gartner by employees. The best example of this is when AE’s feel the need to falsify opportunities or waste time talking to companies that could/should NEVER buy just to meet certain activity metrics. Reason being is that if you do not meet the metrics or if you express any level of concern (about how realistic the numbers are, for example) or frustration (about the quality of opportunities) you will be put on a performance plan. So AE’s understandably feel the need to misrepresent opportunities just to stay out of trouble in hopes of lasting two years, getting some timely bounces to go their way, and then getting the heck out of SMB. Poor Leadership – There are issues here, but I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing them. At a high level, I see the issues as shortsighted hiring practices and a disconnect or lack of understanding between the product/pricing teams and sales leadership and the people they are trying to sell to. There is also a massive talent gap at mid-lower levels of management, since it’s made up exclusively of kids who are only a few years removed from college and most likely have never worked anywhere else and certainly have not managed a team. Yet that is who will be directly responsible for you, your development, your earnings, and your career if you come on as an SMB AE. Think about that. A 24 year old can make decisions about what prospects you get, what accounts you get, what (if any) opportunities you get exposed to, whether or not you get put on a performance plan, what your end of year evaluation is (getting anything less than an “S” essentially stalls your career for at least 6-12 months until your next review when, hopefully you get an “S”), etc. etc. I’m not an ageist – there are plenty of capable 24 year olds. But when the “culture” you’ve created more closely resembles a fraternity house rather than a world-class company, I’m not willing to bet my career that I’ll have a good leader to guide and support me. Lack of Opportunity They will try to convince you that there is limitless opportunity and that you are the sole factor determining your success. This is, in part, true. Certainly you control the amount of effort you put in, but what you do not control is basically EVERYTHING ELSE. For starters, you do not control anything about your book of business, your manager, or your prospecting territory. That’s like putting someone in charge of baking a delicious cake, but not allowing them to choose the ingredients. You also do not control when your clients get acquired (which is often their goal and what we are helping them to achieve), go bankrupt, stop receiving value and decide to not pay, etc. All of these examples are common (myself and many others have had one, if not all of these happen at least once) and in every one of them, the AE takes the hit in terms of metrics AND pay. Yes, Gartner will take thousands of dollars back from AE’s if/when any of those things happen, so even if you sell a deal and get paid on it you could end up returning that money many months later for any number of reasons - none of which can you control. Also, prospecting territories are incredibly stale and have been hammered repeatedly by previous reps. And they are shrinking so that further limits your opportunities. If you happen to hit Winners Circle, you will be rewarded the following year with a significantly higher quota with the same – if not smaller – territory and book of business. But hey, all you need is the “Gartner Growth Mindset” and people will be lining up to buy from you…..right? Wrong. Have you noticed all the reviews that tout “hard work” and “you get out of it what you put in, so it’s not for everyone”? Those are from the recruiters, not anyone who has actually been in the role for more than 6 months. Don’t be fooled.

When Gartner was good, it was great. Now it's too big for its britches and really poorly managed. New management keeps coming in to clean house and not for the better in most cases. Somehow many of the ineffective dinosaurs remain. I have seen people transform from pleasant coworkers to slimy snakes who will do anything to desperately hang on. They keep cramming people into desk spaces that get smaller and smaller. The vibe definitely changed there from a place that cares to merely keeping up their image on sites like this. I went from seeing people truly love their jobs to crying at their desks or being afraid of being let go constantly. There are intense politics and backstabbing is rampant. It's tough to watch but the shameless brownnosers always win there. I really don't know how it keeps winning Best Place to Work awards - I think a lot of the millennials in Fort Myers think it's awesome because they are new to the working world and it's a lot of fun (but yes, hard work) in their sales groups.