Steep learning curve. - Account Manager CDW Employee Review

3.0
Jan 26, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It is a fun laid back atmosphere. You are typically not micromanaged. There is a chance to make a lot of money if you are in the correct segment, like healthcare, MedLar. HIED and K12, not so much. They have great benefits, decent vacation time, and promote having fun at work. They offer a lot of high level technical training, but unless you are already a techno/computer geek, many of the things you sell will be way over your head. They provode a great engineering/architect group to back you up, but it is often very hard to get on their schedules quickly.

Cons

Commission structure is terrible. If you have one bad month or are in a cyclical segement, you may not receive a commission check for several months until you get your average back up. They also take 20% of your spiffs despite charging vendors to even run the spiff. No printer spiffs if you don't sell toner. If you customer is under contract to get toner cheaper somewhere else, you are out of luck. Sales goal are huge, and will change in the middle of the month. I am writing this in late January and I still don't have my sales goal from January, or the rest of the year. Upper management pretends they are interested in listening to your ideas on how to make more money, but they are really not. I spoke with the CEO and Sr. VP's about our international business and us missing out on $30M in business. Their response was to eliminate all international shipping which gave me a 30% pay cut. If you are technical and get an engineering job, great place to work. If you are in sales, it is a great place to learn to sell, but only 20% will make it. They are constantly hiring because of the high turn over.

Explore other reviews about CDW

5.0
Jul 15, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Nice place to work at

Cons

nothing comes to mind now

3.0
Jul 6, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You have the ability to sell full stack solutions, services and software.

Cons

I have worked at CDW for 10yrs and every single year they have changed the comp plan in a way that makes it harder for sellers to make money (constantly moving the goal post). Prior to 2020 CDW had little to no lay offs now it is happening every six months. They say the reasons is to reduce cost and improve efficiencies BUT as a company our sales continue to grow along with the C-levels pockets.

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