Federal Sales Management, Not Civilian
Pros
Great compensation plan, excellent benefits, friendly, helpful and highly collaborative corporate services - HR, corporate sales support, customer support team, but not product management. Robust, stable, exceptional products for performance management - security solutions are wanting. A positive experience with helping to advance the sale for standard offered products. Somewhat creative, but usually supportive of new non-standard means and financial plans to achieve customer satisfaction.
Cons
Management - Risk-adverse Federal sales management leadership (non-supportive, critical of strategy development/tactical execution if divergent from their own limited view and perspective of what will be required to win major program, in all of its aspects - technical, partner relationship, engineering resources, corporate product development, etc.), inadequate understanding of major Federal program opportunity strategy development and how to align, organize and pursue with appropriate mix of corporate resources to align product and business resources with needed enhancements for readiness to achieve tactical program advantage and account wins within reasonable lead time frames allotted to deliver against leading edge Federal sales/program opportunities as wins. Too risk adverse, and lacking of experience and know-how to undertake the outside the norm opportunities. If it doesn't fit in the square peg - don't pursue. Product - Some of the enterprise products take an immense amount of time and engineer expertise to implement. Customer engineers must attend company full complement of product training to fully realize all of the product capabilities, which are extensive and valuable to customer needs, when employed correctly. Product management and marketing slow to grasp market opportunities outside of CEO focus, and revenue potential outside existing product lines that if entertained and developed would expand company markets/opportunities and product breadth, significantly. Lots of product management/senior leadership are inflexible, arrogant, and adhere to NIH, and are unwilling to listen to what many very successful, experienced technologists and senior sales folks have to contribute from the field. Senior corporate leadership and management - If not CEO endorsed or spawned, it ain't happening.
