No $$$ in strat/enterprise - Strategic Account Manager Salesforce Employee Review

2.0
Jan 9, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Positive culture, interesting products and great people.

Cons

The quotas are unrealistic in large enterprise. Each year I’ve been here, I’ve sold more revenue and progressively made less money. I don’t think they care that a low % of AEs in large enterprise hit their number. They also seem to devalue the people who do the majority of the work who are the core sellers. As a core seller, you lead the sale and usually you make significantly less than co-primes who have often done very little to influence the sale. You also don’t get paid on renewals (AOV) but get penalized for attrition. This doesn’t really make sense for me or for Salesforce because during attrition windows, we just stop selling. If Salesforce does want us to manage renewals, pay us on AOV, not ACV. The most sensitive thing for salespeople is comp and they’ve come up with the most impersonal way to manage it. They have an NRR team who apply rules that don’t always make sense and penalize you when you’re trying to do things that, in some cases, make sense for salesforce and the customer. There are grey areas and impossible situations, like renewing EOL products and Salesforce needs to consider attrition and clawback exceptions. Feels like the NRR/Comp team is set up to screw us.

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5.0
Jul 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great culture , great managers, great benefits

Cons

Constant executive Leadership turnover , pay

4.0
Jul 9, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I've spent over 8 years with Salesforce in various management and individual contributor roles, all customer or partner facing. Some of the pros: - vibrant, fast paced culture - smart, fun, aggressive colleagues - management is focused on latest tech trends and staying or becoming a leader for many of them - by and large, customers and partners are very positive about the technology - good benefits and perqs - hip urban culture at HQ - a chart-your-own-course mentality that rewards those who aggressively seek out the job they want and pursue it, or sometimes even create it

Cons

After my long tenure and many Dreamforce conferences, I'm nearly fried. To say the culture is fast paced and the focus is always changing is an understatement. The reason Salesforce always seems on top, and chasing the latest trend, and in the press, is because employees are expected to run harder, carry more, cheer loudly, and pivot constantly. It's the world's biggest startup in behavior. But at the same time, with the recent influx of top career sales leaders from Oracle and what appears to be a board-level mandate for doubling revenue, employees are being asked to do even more with even less, fill higher quotas with smaller territories, less help, and the big company bureaucracy is rearing it's ugly head. Worse still is the politics. When you hire a bunch of smart, aggressive people, and put them in an environment of outsized expectations, throw in a bunch of re-orgs and changing management, and sprinkle with uncertainty and constantly changing priorities, you inevitably get people back stabbing each other and throwing others under the bus to appear smarter and more worthy of promotion. The few at the top will get very, very rich. The rest will lose the sense of personal ownership and start to wonder why they've given up health and family

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Salesforce Response
2y
It's not often that you get the opportunity to respond to a review 10 years in but your comprehensive and thoughtful review has managed to hold on as one of our most popular even a decade in :) It’s exciting to see that the things we love most about the Salesforce of today — super smart colleagues, being at the forefront of tech trends and establishing ourselves as leaders in the space, great benefits and perks to name a few — haven’t changed in the past 10 years. We acknowledge the challenges you faced, such as the pace, shifting priorities, and internal politics. Your advice on maintaining our foundational vision while avoiding big-company bureaucracy is helpful as we continue to grow as the #1 AI CRM. Salesforce is committed to balancing growth with employee well-being and staying true to our core values. We appreciate your insights and dedication over the years. Thanks again for your feedback!
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