Selling a Flip Phone in an iPhone World
Pros
The people I worked with made all the difference. Genuinely great teammates who were collaborative, supportive, and made coming to work worthwhile. That was hands down the best part of my experience at Inovalon.
Cons
The company has really taken a turn for the worse over the past few years. The majority of executives come from a transactional selling background, yet Inovalon operates in a relationship-driven sales environment. That fundamental disconnect is a big reason why the customer base continues to shrink. The commission structure gets smaller and smaller with each passing year, leaving sales reps with little to no incentive to perform. On top of that, you are being asked to sell software that is completely outdated. Other companies in this space are selling the latest technology while Inovalon is still pushing something that feels like a flip phone in a smartphone world. When numbers are down, leadership's answer is to blame the sales team and keep hiring more people rather than addressing the real issues. The culture of recognition is a joke compared to industry standards. While other companies genuinely invest in and celebrate the people who represent them, here you get a pizza party and are expected to be grateful. To make matters worse, reps are now being threatened with PIPs if they speak honestly about the direction of the company or raise concerns about the broken structure. That alone tells you everything you need to know about the leadership culture here. At this point it feels like the entire goal is to inflate the numbers just enough to make the company look attractive for an acquisition, so the people at the top can cash out and walk away while everyone else is left holding the bag.