Toxic company, really hard to fit when you're a Co/Prime AE - Account Executive Salesforce Employee Review

1.0
Sep 15, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Competitive salary, overall it remains higher than the competition and you can make a lot of money if you manage to be successful - A lot of room for internal growth and opportunities given that there a lot of positions and levels - A well-known brand - Brand-new office in Dublin with good coffee

Cons

- Salesforce is a huge machine getting a lot of people in and out, they recruit a lot but have a high employee turnover too, if you're not joining the right team dealing with the right territory at the right time it will be a matter of months for you to leave - Executive leaders will never take accountability, it will always have to be individual contributors to be blamed. That's probably how the company always kept a good employer image - The office is nice but no lunch is provided, the offered snacks and drinks are very unhealthy and options for food around the office are very limited or far. - Salesforce is a performance-driven company, they will not value you and your well-being, they will maybe start caring about you if you constantly exceed expectations. - Prime / Co-AEs (specialised AEs) are always struggling to fit in the collaboration and selling motion. If you're not a Core AE (generalised AE) you will get a lot of internal blockers on the way. Pressure come from every direction and beyond your own manager. - The structure of the sales organisation make it really hard to navigate and act quickly. There are too many hierarchical levels and other sellers you're constantly competing against, even if they're not in your team or selling the same product. - Micro-management is everywhere and in some situations there is a huge lack of trust, it can even come from AVP+ (2 levels above you) - Salesforce is defined as a best-in-class Sales school. They use a lot of good methodologies but there is nothing out of the ordinary. It's still very old school for many territories and a lot of pitching first instead of very deep discovery and objection-handling. I have personally learnt much more in startups and smaller organisations. And for some markets it's shocking how high discounts are givento customers with no proper discovery. - The hard truth is that the best performers are typically the luckiest in terms of books of businesses. - Most decisions are made from top EVP+ in the USA, none of the other leaders outside have much saying. - They constantly talk about customer success and ACV, but they will always push ACV first even uf your product isn't the best fit or it could lead to a very costly and lengthy implementation. - The tools used internally are terribly used, for example Slack's usage has no structure and etiquette, Salesforce's CRM is a maze, there is a lot of their own products not used or poorly implemented. Salesforce spends nothing to properly implement or train its own employees.

Explore other reviews about Salesforce

5.0
Jun 16, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Everything, great culture, good pay, great people.

Cons

Nothing, love the experience at Salesforce.

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
1y
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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