Company: IBM
Date: 2019-08-07
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Disappointment in dysfunctional corporate sales environment
Pros: The health insurance benefits are good.
Cons: I attempted to get hired by IBM for over twenty years.  After nine interviews I finally received an offer from a good boss and mentor.  However, after only 2 months this boss changed roles.  My new boss immediately assigned me a new sales territory.  My sales quota was $2 million annually.  After only being with IBM for 2 1/2 months, this boss called me, out of the blue, and assigned me a requirement to build a sales pipeline of $455,000 EVERY week!  This pipeline would equate to just under $24 million annually.  After our call he asked if I had any questions.  I asked two questions.  First, the weekly pipeline requirement seemed high, does anyone else who works in my role have this high of a weekly pipeline requirement?  Secondly, how can you justify a pipeline so high to a new employee?  The answers I received were the following.  To the first question the response was you are a very experienced sales person and you should be able to build the pipeline.  To the second question the response was you are responsible for achieving the pipeline and if you don't you will be let go.  As an additional comment, I sold deals after only three months on the job, but my new boss did not care of even mention the sales success that I had achieved.  At first I built the $455,000 per week pipeline.  One week was only four days, because of a holiday and I did not achieve the $455,000 pipeline goal.  My boss called me with a human resource employee, who had only recently graduated college and was new to Human Resources.  The call informed me I had three weeks left of employment and then  I would be let go.  Another side note, my bosses, second line manager had a meeting to discuss cleaning up our sales pipeline and ensuring that deals put into our CRM were true deals and realistic.  My problem was I needed to add $455,000 in pipeline every week or lose my job.  I also called my peers, in the same role and asked if they had ever heard of a pipeline requirement of $455,000 per week.  Every sales peer I spoke with stated that is an unattainable pipeline requirement. In short, I was let go for not achieving my weekly pipeline requirement.  My former boss still works for IBM.  I do not know how people like this person have a job with any responsibility.  I do not wish this person any ill will, but feel they need help.