Marketo Commercial CSM org is in full tail spin -2020 - Customer Success Manager Adobe Employee Review

2.0
Feb 24, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Unlimited PTO (but strings attached to take it). Stock options (but Adobe takes their taxes out of your stock credits). Ability to work from home Wednesdays (but can be taken away on management discretion). Co-workers are all very intelligent and great Denver office. Parking and commuter benefits to office off 18th and California Well stocked kitchen with snacks, drinks and food. Lunch provided last two business days of the month. Two kegs tapped on Friday after 3 PM. $360 yearly health credit (Most people used for ski pass) ~$1k dropped into HSA for high deductible healthplan per year Pet insurance offering.

Cons

Commissions not being paid on time because "Someone left the business." Compensation plans not being delivered until a quarter of the way through the fiscal year. Sales targets are increased by 10-20% over last year with less ability to meet them. Senior management never has answers for direct questions and is not genuine or forthcoming with what's really happening from top down decision making. Same Senior Management has been promoted for the team's performance, but creates negative culture putting extreme pressure on FLMs that is then transferred to FLM to CSM relationships. There is a palpable distrust and dislike for senior management throughout the org and cross-functional teams. This makes it difficult for any other team to want to work or support the Commercial CSM org. Crying, confusion, discomfort and overall uneasiness ripples throughout the entire org regularly. Feedback is rarely asked for, and when received goes no where. Renewal team operated without a manager for almost 12 months Layers of middle management have been added. Constantly changing and broken quoting tool. Accounts have changed hands multiple times, which is well known as a major complaint from customers as to why they leave Marketo. CSMs are the catch all for almost everything related to current customers, where more responsibility is added but compensation is not raised. Asking to utilize your unlimited PTO is only approved based on your performance. Favoritism from FLMs to their favorite CSM friends. No on-boarding or mentoring for new CSMs when they join the org. No known promotion track for CSMs. Overall lack of diversity on the team with only two POC in the entire org. Competitors are catching up with Marketo in regards to pricing and functionality which is making the CSMs ability to renew or expand customer much harder. Customers are expected to spend 8% more per year with almost no additional functionality added to their subscription. Auto-renewal language added to contracts as sneaky way to make them stay with the company. Product reliability has been viewed from customer perspective as going downhill. Forcing customers to purchase Professional Services to get basic help utilizing the product. Non-existent training on Marketo product itself. CSMs are expected to "learn as they go" while being the trusted adviser for the customers marketing decision making.

Explore other reviews about Adobe

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Awesome culture. I love going to work every day. People are really nice - exciting to be in the industry where a lot of innovation is happening - good work life balance - flexible RTO - two one-week shutdowns per year, unlimited PTO, global wellness days, great benefits

Cons

- Leadership lost its way. Missed huge opportunities in markets served by Canva and GenAI. Took the wrong bet on commercially safe models, missing out on huge opportunities that were captured by competing GenAI models. No clear strategy or vision from management about how to get back in track. Our products are losing market share every day and management seems to be lime deer in headlights, unsure what to do - Watching stock price deflating nearly every day is disheartening - Decision making is very slow. Takes ages to get things approved. - C-suite is mostly over 50 and often seem out of touch with latest AI and tech trends. Uphill battle sometimes to get them to see urgent opportunities that need to be acted on immediately - Adobe failed to organically develop major products in the last 20 years. Major recent ones; Firefly and Express; have not been successful.

3.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great opportunity to learn from incredibly smart people, many opportunities to continue education, great for independent workers, not so for entry

Cons

Upper management forgets that first line managers need training. You need a thick skin to survive them

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