Pros
Brand – Gartner does still enjoy brand recognition amongst the IT community and I do believe it looks good on resumes. There is no denying that Gartner is the biggest, most well recognized IT Advisory company in the market and that can benefit sales people (not all of the time, however. Many vendors in the SMB space view Gartner as a “necessary evil” or have established biases [fair or otherwise] that will close the door before it ever opens). Exposure – AE’s get great exposure to executives at client/prospect companies and the insightful conversations they are having with industry analysts. If you are early on in your career or do not come from a business background, these conversations can enable you to speak intelligently across a wide range of IT and business related topics. You will be able to interview well when you go onto other opportunities and will develop strong executive presence and business acumen. Working with clients can also provide the chance to add to your professional network more effectively than other inward facing roles. Benefits – The health benefits and other perks are nice. They have an on-site gym in Ft. Myers, ESPP, 401k match (4% I think), HSA contribution, and some other things. The PTO policy is generous, but if you are in sales, you likely won’t be able to use a lot of it. Oh, and the actual pay is below market based on what other companies offer. I hit Winners Circle in 2015 and was just shy of 200% of my NCVI quota and I made $64k. It’s an ok wage, but not the amount they would lead you to believe.
Cons
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.