Zones Reviews

Zones provides no support to their sales people. They will tell you about all of these wonderful resources you have at your disposal but what they don't tell you is that your support team averages 2 months of tenure in the industry. They don't tell you that your technical resources are each spread across over 15 sales people (good luck getting help). They don't tell you that every single year the compensation model is changed, in my five years at Zones it was always changed to pay me less and save Zones more. This year they added a clause to the sales force that says if you get an exceptionally high commission they can pay you less based on what they determine you deserve, never mind the fact that if you're getting a high commission it is because you brought Zones a large payday. To anybody that is considering Zones I stress, ASK QUESTIONS, the best salespeople at Zones are the people doing the hiring! Ask them how you get paid commission, the new compensation structure is setup so your inside sales support person determines on every single order whether or not you deserve to get paid commission (I'm serious!!!). Zones sets ridiculous first year quotas that show they have no experience selling themselves then they only pay you if you bring in over 40% of that quota, you could bring in tens of thousands in PROFIT and not be paid a dime. It has always been hard to understand the strategy at Zones (if there is one) but above all else you always knew if you brought in sales you would make money, that is no longer the case. Zones is deep into an identity crisis, the CEO thinks they are an IT Solution Provider but the reality is the only thing Zones is equipped to do well is ship boxes. The CEO thinks that if you tell your sales people out of the blue that they will only be paid commission on selling data center solutions that magically that business will grow when in fact the whole sales team is quitting, fortunately for the employees Zones is a dime a dozen when it comes to IT sales companies.

This will be long but worth a read if you're considering working for this company. It was my experience that YOUR experience(s) once employed will vary greatly based on whether you work in one of their main (Seattle/ Portland) offices or if you're working in the field as an FAE, SA, etc My experience stems from working and an FAE- Field Account Executive. The cons are outlined below: - Terrible travel and expense policy. You are capped per diem between $36-$41 per day for all food and beverage expense. Most travel is to their regional hub cities, so oftentimes it is expensive (i.e. traveling to Disney World in Orlando and eating off of $30/day is almost impossible unless you split meals with colleagues). They do not allow you to leave more than a 15% tip, you are expected to share Uber rides/taxi rides with other colleagues to mitigate costs. You are expected to share hotel rooms while traveling for trainings and sales kickoff events. You are expected to park in the cheapest (or offsite) airport parking available, and they WILL call around and check to see if you're adhering to the CHEAPEST available, even if there's no security or after hours services. You are not allowed to make purchases and expense items bought at your airport of origin, so if your flight leaves at 5 AM, no coffee or breakfast can be expensed. What IS expensed takes an enormous amount of time to go through approvals, and you must provide itemized receipts for every little purchase. They do not approve the following day to day needs: - office equipment for those working from home outside of the company issued laptop - registration to vendor sites (such as Vendormate, can cost up to $200) - Proprietary spending for local events that aren't approved such as - client dinners, stopping by with donuts while prospecting, etc. - Bonus and pay structure is enticing at first, but you will find it is sub-par and Auburn (HQ) will royally screw up any potential leads you have. First of all, you're tasked with working with an inside sales team. This team operates and is managed separately from you, yet you're responsible for both working to bring in new business. They are comped differently, and you're at the mercy of their initiatives/ managers/ incentives for the month or quarter. The bonus is a % commission OFF OF THE MARGIN of your sale. If you make a 300k sale with only a 2% commission (very common) - your payout on that could be as low as $600.00 (before tax). If you're plucked into a territory where you receive ALL prospecting and no buying accounts-- it is going to be a LONG 8-14 months while you build up your business and aren't getting paid anything in regards to bonus. There's no incentives for new leads generated. -Leadership. This is probably the largest con to Zones. The management of the entire company down to the individuals who manage the sales teams is so lacking in direction, common sense, overall human decency and any type of integrity that it is amazing that they haven't had their pants sued off yet. It is the typical "good ol boys" sales club up top, but trickling down to the sales managers is a pool of unqualified, smug and unintelligent individuals who love to promote dissension, poor camaraderie and make it a toxic work environment. They really didn't stand a chance, as their superiors all reek of self importance and lack of originality, but I experienced multiple managers in my time there and none of them had many redeeming qualities, other than the fact that they lived in the PNW and I was in the field. The like to pit reps against each other, pit departments against each other, and cause as much headache for those that aren't in the "cool kids club" as possible. I personally was maligned to another sales rep (by a Sr Manager) for absolutely no reason at all, and the Sr Manager even admitted to me that I was falsely used as an example to try and support their argument. Little things like that add up, making it impossible to have any faith in your direct manager. -Training is something that is done so poorly it's hard to tackle in just a paragraph. You're flown out to Seattle for a month if you're in field sales, and put up in Renton at an extended stay hotel. Renton is (1) not the safest part of town and (2) somewhat out of the way for things we were expected to do after training. But, it wasn't the worst ever so I'll give it a pass, plus there is an IKEA there. "Guest speakers" who come in also present you with "death by PowerPoint" and give you pop quizes on how to identify motherboards or what CPU stands for. After week 2 you're tired, pretty sure your eyesight is going out because of the florescent lights, and wondering if you made a huge career mistake. The best part of it was Friday at 4pm you were released for the weekend-- only to remember you were temporarily living in Renton and trying not to exceed your $30/day for food. - PTO/Vacation leave is "standard" at 80 hrs, but you must borrow against this bank for your first year of employment. IF for any reason you're let go or quit, you owe the company the time off taken. - Last but not least, there is absolutely NO company culture anywhere in this company. Take a tour of their Auburn HQ and you'll be lost in a sea of beige walls, beige cubicles, beige breakrooms. You might see a ping pong table here or there, but it lacks any character, spark or creativity. I've seen prison documentaries that had better designs than HQ. For sitting in the cradle of the IT boom in the PacNorth, there's ZERO tech spark or gadgetry, There's nothing but row after row of disgruntled, bored employees looking to go elsewhere. The best part of the whole office is the fact that there's a Starbucks right across the street from it.