To me, and to many others, sales is about adding value to your customer. One of the many reasons I left was because I was beginning to have cognitive dissonance on if I was actually helping anyone.
- If you dig deep enough into comments on Meltwaters Facebook page and other internet reviews, you'll find some comments by customers who feel they were victims of bait-and-switch and pressured into signing a contract. The tactics at meltwater promote this kind of behavior. All the sales consultant is worried about is having the client sign the contract. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for customers to get out of it. There used to be an auto-renew which locked the client in 60 days out from the renewal date. A pretty underhanded method.
-The product churn rate is almost half, which is terrible for SaaS companies. Basically, only half of the people we sold to for a one year contract wanted to renew after that year. This is a strong metric of the quality of the product. Also, the only product which we sold was the media monitoring and outreach software. The other product offerings (social media etc.) where kind of ignored (except for in the interview with them).
-There is a lot of Glassdoor reviews talking about the the culture. It is true that you cannot spell "culture" without "cult." I found it unprofessional at times. Drinking is very common within the office. Again, to some this can be fun. It can also be difficult to maintain individuality within this company. There wasn't much space between your personal life and professional life. Hanging out with the company was almost expected (which to some is fine, it was fine with me to a certain extent.)
-In sales, it is good to be persistent but there is a line between that and being aggressive. If you are working for a professional company with smart individuals the last thing you would want your sales methods to be compared to is slimy or "car dealeresque." I value helping people and when a lot of your calls end up having the person asking to take you off their list you wonder if you are helping them or just a telemarketer.
-On that note, the company is undoubtably as sales machine. They pride themselves on not receiving any outside finance and growing the company through sales. This is good to an extent but when the aggressive sales force outruns the value of the actual product then certain problems can arise. The office will sometimes feel like a boiler room but that is not extremely unordinary for software sales offices.
- The employee turnover is high. Sales is not for everyone but I believe it is actually too high at this company. When more than half of your hiring class quits within thirty days then something is wrong ( these are smart, motivated people that excelled in college and made it through the interview process; they are not desperate individuals).
- Another review mentioned this but be extremely cautious of the Glassdoor ratings. There are close to 20 positive company reviews posted between February 23 and 25, 2015. Whether it is coincidence or not is up to the viewer. However it is very suspicious to me considering the pattern and timing of other reviews.
One last thing, Glassdoor reviews are biased by nature. The bad reviews are usually by people who had a bad experience. So take everything with a grain of salt. Ultimately, it is up to you if you want to go through with this company. Some people thrive. Most don't. I tried to be as thorough and unbiased I can but it comes down to you and your motives.
