incompetent leadership - Account Executive & BDR Contractbook Employee Review

2.0
26 Jan 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people work within the company, outside of management of course. Relatively attractive tool

Cons

Extremely unprofessional decision-making from the leadership team: Made changes to process, pricing, and contract clauses without any explanation to the team which KILLED deals because of lack of transparency and the sales team not knowing how to accurately explain. All-hands meetings are completely ridiculous. CEO eventually didn't attend them or was off camera for most of them and didn't participate. No career progression at all, not any. Leadership never fixed any real problems and their simple solution was always just to eliminate the workers that they had, especially some extremely talented ones. Continuous lay-offs in the most of unprofessional ways. ZERO Market Fit. The Leadership team decided to move upmarket, which priced CB out for SMB tools as too expensive (PandaDoc, ContractSafe, Concord) and was severally lacking features against Enterprise tools (LinkSquares, Ironclad). The sales team continuously loses deals because of this. The only way the sales team would win deals is by hoping prospects wouldn't carefully research other vendors (Juro). Awful adoption rate for new customers, CS did everything it could and always received MAJOR blame. Sales Targets were nowhere near realistic. Product/Management never listened to Sales Feedback. The market needed several features and items that were extremely consistent across EU & NA markets The US team operated more efficiently and was more successful than the EU team and they only had 10 individuals.

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Contractbook Response
2y
Hello, Thank you for your candid feedback. Your detailed observations help us address areas where we can do better. First, we would like to acknowledge the concerns raised about the decision-making process within our leadership team. We understand that process changes, pricing, and contract clauses can impact our team’s performance and client relationships. We commit to improving transparency and communication to ensure all team members are well-informed and equipped to handle these changes effectively. About the format and engagement in our all-hands meetings, we want you to know that we recognise the importance of these sessions for team alignment and communication. We’re taking steps to enhance the structure and participation in these meetings, ensuring they are valuable and engaging for everyone involved. We’re sorry to hear that you felt there were no opportunities for career progression. We’re reviewing our current approach to ensure that it aligns with the aspirations and potential of our team members. The feedback on our market positioning and product offerings is precious. We understand that a misalignment in market fit can create challenges for our sales team. We’re re-evaluating our market strategy and product development to better align with customer needs and competitive positioning. This includes thoroughly analysing our pricing strategy and feature set compared to SMB and enterprise competitors. We also recognise the crucial role of our customer success team and regret that they have felt unduly blamed. We are committed to fostering a culture where every team member’s efforts are acknowledged and appreciated, and we will address any issues in this area. As for the suggestion to bring in new management, we’re open to evaluating our leadership structure. We will make necessary changes to ensure we have the right people in the correct positions to lead us forward. Your feedback about the performance of our U.S. team compared to our EU team is an interesting observation, and we will look into the practices and strategies that might be contributing to this difference. We are dedicated to creating an environment where every team member feels heard, valued, and empowered to contribute to our success. Your feedback is a vital part of this process. We encourage you to contact our People Team if you’d like to discuss your experiences and suggestions in more detail. Thank you again for your honesty! Best regards, People Team

Explore other reviews about Contractbook

5.0
13 Oct 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- The people are amazing - The product is fantastic - International company means a diverse team and you'll learn so much about other cultures - Lots of opportunities to try new things and stretch outside your comfort zone

Cons

- Scale-ups can be exhausting if you're not good at setting boundaries - International company means sometimes you need to meet at odd hours (but schedules are flexible so it all works out! Just takes some getting used to)

3
2.0
8 Apr 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Flexible work schedule and good work/life balance -Remote in US

Cons

Overall, the biggest issue at Contractbook is an ELT team that is inexperienced, dishonest with employees, and dismissive of any ideas but their own. Most of the company's issues boil down to a complete lack of transparency across the organization, a lack of respect for employees' opinions or feedback, and incompetence on how to operate a business. One thing that Contractbook does well is hire good people. These talents are wasted by constant inaction and indecision, and by refusing to allow employees' voices to be heard. During my time at Contractbook, I witnessed and experienced countless incidents where decisions were made in a vacuum, with no regard for how they impacted employees or the business overall. This list is certainly not comprehensive because it would be impossible to remember every single thing, but here are ones worthy of note: -changing pricing and packaging with no explanation to the team and contracts that went out without explanation to prospects, causing 5-6 deals to be lost as a result -product refusing to address feedback that was constant from prospects, customers, and customer-facing teams -pricing tiers that put Contractbook at a point where we could not compete with cheaper e-signature solutions and a product that cannot compete with proper CLM platforms -cutting marketing budget, specifically in the US market, which left the team with 1/15th of the pipeline needed to achieve numbers -eliminating events as a brand-building initiative -refusing to backfill roles on the US team to allow for continued growth in the market -halting team meet-ups and allowing for zero in-person collaboration for the US team -constant delays and errors in commission payments -missing payroll payments to US team -refusal to honor commissions and incentives earned by employees (on both the sales and CS teams) -setting unattainable and unachievable quotas for sales org -engagement surveys with no addressing of issues, results, or plans for improvements -countless rounds of layoffs and RIFs due to inefficient operations No one at the executive level at Contractbook cares about the well-being or professional development of employees. It is clear that several reviews were pushed out by the organization in Feb 2024, which is yet another attempt by Contractbook to cover up poor business operations and silence the voices of its employees.

2
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