OsamaBinClosin

Business Development Lead

Valued Contributor

Join Gartner or stay in current tech company?

Hi guys, I am looking for some wisdom from the masses. ATM, I have received an offer from Gartner to join their MSE team as an Account Exec and am in a dilemma as to whether I should make the leap or not. The following summarize my considerations:

1) Current Company (currently here for 2 years): Sales Exec for a FinTech, covering Southeast Asia.

Pros: Good support from Sales Director (am in the good books), opportunity to manage the entire territory on my own, good pipeline, lots of opportunity to connect with key industry prospects.

Cons: Product is pretty much in a shit-state - we're getting battered by competitors, overpriced. Our core product can't be sold temporarily because of a security breach. Lacklustre communication from upper management, entire company lacks a proper structure in terms of knowing how to utilize BD/Marketing. They seem to acknowledge our ridiculous pricing structure but haven't received any insight into how they are going to address this. Universally, my colleagues all agree the product management team are pretty useless. I'm also somewhat overworked, having to pull long hours some days up till pretty late in the night. The reason why is I am now managing the entire region after one dude got fired for being complete trash (100% justified) and another resigned.

2) Gartner:

Pros: This is from an outsider's perspective - lots of opportunities internally to progress/grow/learn. Gartner has been consistently growing the last few quarters, the MSE space which I'm offered is high-growth as well. Better work/life balance (from some people I've spoke).

Cons: Really, the only con right now, is that a) The base salary is about 400 bucks/month lower than what I'm currently making. b) I don't know if my future manager will ever be as good as my current. My manager right now heavily supports me and speaks well of my performance. Hence, I would feel abit guilty leaving him when he told me I'm primed to succeed.

Personally, I am a little burnt out/jaded? by my company as I have very little faith in the product.

Should I make the leap to Gartner? I really need your wisdom. Thank you all!

☁️ Software Tech

🚀 Career Goals

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31 comment

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oldcloser

Arsonist

11

💀

So much in this that could be contingent on so much else. But ignoring all of it. I see an opportunity to work at a respected brand name for the price of $400. Make it up on the other end and it’s a clean winner.

jefe

Arsonist

7

🍁

That’s not much of a cut in your base, and with the state of your current product moving to a well-known brand like Gartner makes sense to me.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

6

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I appreciate that you were able to find some pros in your current role, but without a working, sellable product, that’s a struggle that will burn you out, in addition to being unsustainable for the company as a whole. My vote is Gartner.

braintank

Politicker

4

Enterprise Account Executive

I vote Gartner

GDO

Politicker

4

BDM

I worked for Gartner in London, so take this for what it is. It was a horrible experience because I had a first-time extreme micro-manager as a boss. I got hired for the HT side of the business but they put me in his team because 4 of the 5 people left his team in the last 3 months.

Pros: I really liked the training and the people I had around me were awesome. They have a buddy system and push to learn from top performers around you. Getting promoted is very easy and they do not mind paying a nice chunk of commish when you get a deal in.

Cons: No tech stack at all. We used Excel to distribute leads and they do not really have a working CRM. If you want other stuff like LI navigator it's out of pocket. Their deal desk sucks. The AE role is a mix between AE and AM. You only get a few letters you can prospect into (the first letter of the company is the cut-off). Business development gets the bulk of the territory and leads that come in. I did not get any warm leads during my time there. My manager forced me to put in extremely high forecasts that were not realistic.

You can always DM me if you want more background info.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

4

🦊

Negotiate a higher salary or signing bonus 🤷‍♀️

DataCorrupter

Politicker

1

Account Executive

Agreed, this seems a must.

I'd (personally) never move for less base salary unless I felt very confident that I'd make up for it in the commission.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

Whats the timeline to accept the offer? Gartner is a great logo sure.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

1

Rolling 20's all day

From everything you shared I would say go to Gartner.
You’ve been there 2 years and that’s longer than the average amount of time a rep sticks around at a tech company.
Go somewhere new where you can keep growing and learn new things.

pirate

Big Shot

1

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I have been approached by Gartner and honestly it seems pretty good

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Gartner is well know and respected. It never hurts to have them on your resume. If you're current company is not as big/prestigious, making the jump could make a lot of sense.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

Sales Rep

Back channel to Gartner reps to hear the full story. How many reps hit quota? Average OTE?
How does that compare to your current role?

Osakajoe

1

Biz Dev

100% - you should move to Gartner. There are things like mental health, a better work environment and so on that is worth more than $5K/year. Never sacrifice yourself and your well-being for that $5K. You can make it up elsewhere.

curioussales

1

Account Executive

High turn over of staff. Some making lots of money. That’s it.

I_LOVE_WINE

Executive

1

Enterprise AE

The biggest flag for your current role is the product. If you can't sell it, make the move would be my recommendation. The only thing you'll really miss will be a great manager and you may or may not have that at Gartner but you'll have a better products and brand recognition behind you.

StrategicSolutions

Big Shot

1

Senior Account Executive

I think you have already arrived at your own conclusion. You are ready to move on, but worried the grass might not be greener on the other side. I would make the leap. I spoke w/ someone at Gartner who said Gartner's culture is top-notch. While the salary might be a bit lower, when you are in sales, you can make up the difference by selling more. And how many times do you see a company using Gartner's name somewhere in their marketing. They are the industry leader in their field.Go for it!

SDR2AE

Fire Starter

1

Account Executive

I would definitely go for Gartner. Market leader, and exposure to many business issues across a variety of industries. I have friends at gartner, it’s so fast paced but they all complain about being overworked.

Beans

Big Shot

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Gartner just for resume credit is fantastic, long term win.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

0

Business Coach

"Little faith" says it all.

Thisme

Valued Contributor

0

Account Executive

Gartner

0

Account Executive

In my case, Gartner-Spain only offers Hybrid work and I need to be fully remote. I have been approached by Gartner recruiters 3 or 4 times already but it's not what I need.

bigfella

Tycoon

0

AE (Account Executive)

Jump

Closingcall

Executive

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Gartner is a great company to have on your resume and you will learn a lot about sales in the process. That being said:
Pros:
- Great well known product
- Some well known and reputable sales training
- There are opps for growth
- Having the name Gartner on your resume will open a lot of doors for you in the future
- Fun Winners Circle and events/conferences
- You will learn a lot about the industry and what is important to different personas which will serve you later in your career
- Very relationship driven

Cons:
- Very micro manage environment
- Little to no tech stack
- No BDR team and the CSM team isn't really strategic or well trained
- It is very competitive and pit people against each other (that may be your style, it may not be).
- Pay lower than market rate because they can
- A lot of manual work which could be done by a small investment in sales tools or automated tools
- Teams work in siloes and aren't generally open to helping one another out

It was great for my career when I worked there but it wasn't a healthy or fun environment. That being said, some people absolutely love it and are there for most of their career. Depends on what you want and what kind of sales person you are.

alwayzbizzie

Executive

0

Senior Manager, Mid-Market Sales

$400 less in base salary is nothing. It’s a shame to lose a good manager, but there are things that even a good manager can’t fix. You have to look out for #1.

lajefa

Good Citizen

0

Enterprise Account Executive

All the support in the world can't trump shitty product and crappy management. 400 bucks isn't alot to lose (this is assuming you've negotiated). You should NEVER feel 'guilty' about doing what's in your best interests. And, don't think the manager you're feeling guilty for leaving, hasn't considered doing the EXACT same thing
If you're thinking it then others are also thinking it. Gartner is respected. imho it's a no brainer

Denali

0

Business Development Manager

I would also say jump...Gartner definitely looks good on a resume. If you find a way to make money there, great. If not, you've learned a bunch of new stuff and then you should be able to generate more interesting job opportunities post-Gartner.

Just because the managers at your company like you, doesn't mean you should ignore the product issues and your own burn-out with that organization. Chances are the managers at Gartner will also like you!

They also have a chokehold on so many companies with the whole magic quadrant/symposiums/lead-gen pay-to-play model. They're not going anywhere...

TheHypnotist

Executive

0

Sales Manager

Find out what the path for progressing is within Gartner, what your responsibilities will be, who you will report to, what your KPI’s will be, ask if if you can talk to existing team members, find out WHY there is a position open now at Gartner - due to growth? Did someone leave? Were they fired etc? What is their idea of a successful hire 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years from now? Do your homework to ensure you know what it will mean for you if you jump ship. Repeat the same process with your existing company. Good luck!

0

Director of Business Development

Former US Gartner employee here.
How many years of sales experience do you have?
If you're early on in your sales career, Gartner makes sense. Benefits are great, ongoing training, and there is opportunity to advance either forward or laterally.
Working at Gartner can be a great stepping stone to progress in your career. On the flipside, if you're looking for autonomy and the opportunity to take on more than your initial role, Gartner may not be the place for you. It is a very top down management approach and free thinkers sometimes don't last long.
Based on the current state of affairs with your existing company, Gartner may make more sense to climb the ladder. You will learn, have the ability to earn, and better benefits than you may ever get for a while.
Happy to connect and share my experiences in more detail.

salesforceae

0

Account Executive

My mentor works at Gartner. They were recruiting me in the spring and I considered jumping from Salesforce because people were getting laid off right, left, and center. I reached out to my mentor and she said the following: it's really hard to sell advisory services in this current economy - it's usually the first thing to get cut out of budgets (keep in mind, this was March/April of 2023). You are selling to CIOs and CTOs - they can be a hard bunch to convert particularly considering that Gartner is pretty tight with the entertainment budget. On the plus side, you do get paid for renewals so I thought that was nice (not such thing for me at Salesforce). They have a 60/40 base/commish and apparently there is ample opportunity to hit accelerators. At the same time, my mentor (ex-Salesforce) said she missed her commission paychecks from Salesforce. Her base is much higher though.
I've been in a similar situation (startup with a crappy product, except I was making crap money) and I took the first chance I got to get out. In hindsight, I should have stuck it out a bit longer while searching for something else. I didn't end up pursuing the Gartner opportunity because I couldn't see myself getting excited about selling information and advisory services. There's lot of great SaaS companies out there hiring so if your heart isn't into Gartner, I'd pursue something else. My $0.02.

lilhunter

Good Citizen

0

independent sales consultant

Negotiate to close that $400 pm gap and take the leap!

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