SMB East, D.C. Metro Area: My Experience
Pros
1. Great benefits and 401k with stock options 2. SFDC looks very good on a resume 3. colleagues (non-management) are very nice, professional, and some of the smartest and most talented sales professionals I've ever met 4. Recognizable brand and market leader
Cons
Front-Line AND VP Management: 1. Common behaviors include: severe micromanagement, lack of trust, zero empathy, heavily critical feedback, lack of accountability, self-serving, and disingenuous 2. Management strategy is executed through fear, dashboards, activity stalking, and participation metrics. 3. 1-on-1 meetings are FBI interrogations. Led through blunt, accusatory questioning on every single detail that psychologically beats you into submission. Even if you have all the answers, they will find a way to make you break. They are able to get away with this because SFDC is a "feedback culture" but in essence, giving your manager feedback leads to a dead end or worse...held against you. This behavior is common which tells me it is being taught to front-line managers. 4. They make every day, week, month, quarter, and year a FIRE DRILL. It's always a "sell or we'll find someone else who will" mentality. 5. I've had multiple managers and VPs no-show calls after prepping with them, inviting them to the meeting, and reminding them about the meeting. "Sorry I got pulled away" was the token response each time. On-The-Job 1. Too many new hires have led to territory saturation which leads to a constant struggle to find new opportunities. 2. Constant AE turnover leads current SFDC clients unwilling to engage with AE's because they've had 3-4 in a calendar year. 3. New territories every year hinders the ability to build relationships and execute longer sales cycles, 4. Asked to sell like you're on Wall Street in the 1990's. It's 2022. No prospect will put up with that anymore. 5. 1-4 leads to a significant majority of reps who miss quota. Those that hit had the luck of the territory draw. It has nothing to do with talent. The most talented reps I've ever worked with in my career didn't hit their number here while others who did aren't sales savants who worked 100-hour weeks. Work-Life Balance 1. SFDC comes first and everything else comes second. Calls for "take time off" and "hang out with your family" come from management who either have no clue what we deal with on a daily basis or say it to "check a box." 2. Managers will make you call open deals 5-6 times a day at the end of a month (early as 730am est and as late as 630pm est) until they answer you. Put yourself in the prospect's shoes...would you do business with someone doing that? 3. The better you are, the more pressure you will feel as management will pin their year on you. This leads to severe mental stress, burnout, and physical ailments. 4. You are a number on a dashboard. Management is focused on their careers and not yours. You get a new front-line manager every year anyway so there is no continuity. 5. You have to produce immediately and never mention territory as a reason why you are not hitting your numbers. This knife-to-throat mentality creates a cycle of toxic anguish that alienates you from reality. In speaking with other former colleagues in different AE divisions, this seems to be a widespread problem and not just localized in one segment/market/area.
