account manager

customer success manager

research associate

senior account manager

account director

Forrester

I would have celebrated 6 years at Forrester this year, but I was part of the January layoff.

I was part of the SiriusDecisions acquisition and it was handled terribly. Instead of a thoughtful integration, the two companies clashed - in philosophy, operations, and culture. We were treated like second-class citizens and lost foundational product and client knowledge when sales and research employees walked. 

Flash forward a year and I was on the first D&I council, thinking things were finally turning around. Wrong - the company was exploiting the free labor of their employees to get D&I off the ground. We received barely any funding or support from the CEO, but they reaped all the benefits of being able to showcase our efforts. Microaggressions from the CEO persisted despite our best efforts, and the majority of us got burned out and left the committee. Take one look at the executive team. White, straight, cis, privileged.

The people and what used to be the brand recognition and trust. When it comes to my role - I truly loved my job. I loved the work I did, the people I worked with and helped, and have the data to back up my success. I’m proud of what I accomplished and thankfully have great relationships with my former colleagues.

Being laid off felt like a betrayal at the time - I had built so many programs and successful campaigns just to be cut the second the economy shifted. 

But now it looks like I was given a lifeboat from a sinking ship. 

Easiest job I have had—maybe ever.  To be fair, only part of that was the modest clock speed and pace of the company; part was being technically overqualified for the role.  (which I had taken chiefly because it let me test an engagement-retention-churn hypothesis, which really bore the fruit I hoped for.)

By far the best parts were client interactions, so-called “inquiries”, an oddly inward-out term stemming from the belief that our research was the main item of value) and (for me) mentoring sellers.   Writing the “research” was dull but manageable, just too much pointless drive for quantity that the clients I served didn’t value.   Tbh we wrote overlong blogs—there were no researchers or strong data sets behind the “research” in the acquired company product line.   Our data wasn’t best practice, it was common practice, and even there only of the clients the firm could coax to share data.  

Genuine desire for inclusive and open culture, deed mostly matched word.  Superb EX group (HR).   Good+ benefits.   Ironically weak sales and marketing strategy; ironically in view of the acquired company product line.  Cobbler’s children.  And the research unit was a tad passive aggressively political in places.  That said I formed quite a few amicable and trusting relationships.  It’s all about the who, right?

Forrester is a research firm filled with some of the best business minds in the nation, all driven by a culture of collaboration. It is also a very flat organization as all levels of employee are required to step up to the plate. There are a lot of resources, opportunities to learn, and people to network if you are up to the challenge. The people of Forrester are its greatest resource and greatest ally.

However, for as much good as Forrester offers, there is also bad. Forrester consistently advises its clients to be flexible and capable of adapting to changing business environments quickly, yet internally management is slow to react to change and even more slow to implement new policy or procedure. There is little communication between offices to ensure that processes are universal.

While overall my opinion of Forrester is extremely positive, the intentionally deceitful manner in which they chose to handle a round of layoffs (which, while unpleasant, are a natural part of any business and should be approached both professionally & truthfully) raises the question of whether Forrester has become just another corporation and whether their values of 3CIQ (Client, Collaboration, Courage, Integrity, and Quality) should, in fact, be 2CIQ.

A typically day is just like any other working day.  Calls with clients, internal calls for advice, meetings, emails, cold calls, prospecting, etc.  They job is very hard to learn right away but there are great sales people on the floor to share knowledge and they are willing to...which is a huge plus.  I learned a lot about selling intangible products.  Everything you sell is based off an idea and story, and you have to sell those to the client well.  That's the hard part though, trying to convince people to spend all this money on something they can't see, or predict the value they will receive.  They have their subscription, and sometimes, that's all they care about/need.  

The office culture is great, in terms of your co-workers.  The managers and director in Nashville aren't the best.  They know how to get results, which is what matters, but they truly don't care about you.  They talk behind their employees backs, gossip, and try and get you to talk about other employees.  This part disturbed me.  No one should be discussing/making fun of your clothing or how you live your life outside of the office walls.  They have created a culture of fear as well.  There have been multiple firings of late and it's making everyone worry they are next.

Forrester has a great company culture and wonderful people to work with. It is an extremely collaborative work environment and you will learn a lot. Continued education of industries and your client's business is a must. A typical day at work is fast paced but not so much that you can't keep up. Unlike most place you will have something to do every hour of the day if you are doing the job correctly. Proactive activity is what helps you win in your role with Forrester as well as collaborating colleagues and especially account team members. The management team are player coaches who help you reason through challenges with clients and craft solutions to help meet their needs. The hardest part of the job is staying on top of everything. Honestly its a lot but it an be done and there are people who do so every day within Forrester. The most enjoyable part is the team atmosphere and everyone's attitude towards celebrating each other's wins and helping the clients achieve their objectives.

Forrester has some very good qualities. Many people have been happy there for years. However, in my experience, they don't practice what they preach (at least not in most departments) and there is some very shady behavior that is allowed by upper management. It's basically a company run by old white men who have a hard time changing the way they think. They even changed their tagline to "Challenge thinking. Lead change." and yet, they don't like their thinking to be challenged unless it comes with an immediate and press-worthy increase in their bottom line. Their HR ("EX") department does very little to resolve reported cases of mistreatment; instead they push it back on you to figure it out yourself. It's okay to throw other people under the bus to get ahead. That's not cool with me.

You work with a lot of great and talented people and in a non toxic and collaborative work environment. You can expect everyone to know their domain and be able to do it well. However the pay is roughly 15-40k less than industry standard. Even if you are promoted and you have a new title your salary will remain significantly below industry standard. This also makes retaining talent very difficult. The best way to get a pay bump is to leave the company and come back. Does not incentivize long term retention. The work force is also not very diverse, especially in management. My recommendation is to work very hard here for two years, make a name for yourself and go find greener pastures and then come back so you get a fair wage.

What is the best part of working at the company?
the people on the individual contributor level and lower level managers are great people 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
the product doesn't seem to fit the customer's desires anymore and the comp plan directly competes with what the customers are wanting 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
beginning in early 2023 the culture went down hill drastically. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
you MUST be an excellent prospector to succeed here. Big portion of the say is prospecting and researching ways to sell more seats in to your existing base. Not too much admin/busy work but quite a bit of time trying to match customer needs with the right research and analysts.

Hard work and dedication are necessary for success at Forrester.  The hard work is worthwhile.  Client success = organizational and personal success. 

I enjoyed learning about and helping clients identify, diagnose, develop and measure solutions for a wide range of challenges. Challenges included making an organization become more customer centric, digital transformation, deliver improved customer experience and adapt to the consumer's mobile mind shift.

I've worked at Forrester Research for almost 5 years, and this is what I can tell you:

Great culture
Great work/life balance
Great value in what we do for businesses
Work never gets boring
Work with brilliant people
Knows how to mold fresh minds into seasoned professionals
All are treated with respect

Bottom line: the best job I've ever had and has changed my quality of life, and afforded many of my dreams to come true. I feel that I am a true contributor, and that I am a value to those I work with both internally and externally.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Account manager 27 salaries reported	$80,160 per year
Customer success manager 6 salaries reported	$91,250 per year
Research associate 9 salaries reported	$66,111 per year
Senior account manager 16 salaries reported	$106,411 per year
Account director 17 salaries reported	$149,109 per year

Working at Forrester: Company Overview and Reviews

Forrester

Forrester Ratings

Popular jobs at Forrester

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected