Pros
Gartner provides an opportunity for ambitious sellers to learn the world of enterprise technology sales. Once you learn a bit about how corporate/gov/edu/etc. IT organizations operate, or, how large technology companies operate, your Gartner sale will never really change. The value to you is in the process of learning how these organizations run and make decisions. Which plays right into what Gartner sells, decision support. You’ll continue to get better at spotting opportunities as your “technology decisions to business impact” acumen increases, which will make you a better tech seller. The research and advisory services Gartner provides is served up in written form and with the right license, customers can speak directly with the research authors for slightly contextualized advice. In a nutshell, Gartner provides trustworthy advice on impactful technology decisions being made by senior leadership teams running companies, government, universities, and any other organization complex enough to have a need for organized information technology departments. Getting to interact with C-level people making big decisions will help you get your foot in the door to a very rewarding career in technology sales.
Cons
The Gartner research sale can get a bit boring. They’ve been producing solid research for 20+ years, but the spirit of the sale is always the same. Gartner enjoys a near monopoly in the trusted IT research space and the pricing and treatment of customers reflects that. Furthermore, the strong position in the market results in Gartner not caring much for retention of sales people. There is a bit of a feel that sales people are expendable. Just bring in the next crop. The compensation base is industry standard, but the ability to earn big commission money is greatly limited due to the over deployment of sales reps. You can earn a solid living selling Gartner, but you won’t ever have that special earnings year available else where in the industry. I already alluded to this issue, but it bares another mention. The biggest issue as a sales person at Gartner is their approach to growth. You’ve heard this story before, same quota but we are cutting your territory in half. Then the year after, let’s do that again, then again, then again. By the time it’s done, there are 10 reps selling to what use to be covered by 2. Not only that, but nearly everyone that could buy already has. Since there isn’t anything new about what Gartner sells, there really isn’t much more market to attack. You’ll be managing accounts that have seen 5 reps in the last 7 years. Lack of new product and the squeezing of territories make high earnings potential and year over year success impossible. There are a few decent sales leaders at Gartner, but the majority of them are mid to low grade who enjoy the safety of a company like Gartner and therefore plan to ride out their career there. For someone looking to break into the industry, Gartner is a great place to learn the ropes. For someone looking to avoid long hours and complex sales cycles, Gartner could also be a solid fit. If you want to truly impact a business and not sit on the sideline of the decisions Gartner helps with, then Gartner isn’t the place. It is valuable to see those decisions be made, but it is more rewarding to be the winner of those large decisions rather than spectator. For someone looking for hard work that rewards the effort, Gartner is probably not the long term solution.