field executive

executive

account manager

software architect

it executive

Zones

Working at Zones as a Director of ProServices Delivery
A Typical Day at Work A typical day involves overseeing project management operations, ensuring data hygiene, and validating project metrics. Regularly reviewing and updating project end dates in both Tenrox and the PMO Weekly Report is crucial. The role also includes conducting daily or weekly activity meetings and issuing activity reports
What You Believe You Learned Working in this role teaches you the importance of precision and urgency in project management. You learn to drive customer satisfaction by maintaining high standards and meeting goals head-on. Additionally, you gain experience in managing complex projects and navigating organizational dynamics
Management The management at Zones is focused on maintaining accurate project data and ensuring that all tools and reports are in sync. They emphasize the importance of data hygiene and regular updates to project statuses. However, there are some challenges with organizational changes and communication.
Workplace Culture: The workplace culture at Zones is collaborative and supportive, with a focus on improving communication and collaboration between teams. The company encourages innovation and process improvement, aiming to provide customized solutions to meet customer needs. However, navigating office politics can sometimes be challenging.
The Hardest Part of the Job The hardest part is managing fluctuating workloads and evolving processes, which are common challenges in a rapidly growing company. Additionally, there is pressure to adapt to new technologies quickly and maintain high performance standards.
The Most Enjoyable Part of the Job The most enjoyable part of the job is the opportunity to work on innovative projects and contribute to process improvements that boost income and customer satisfaction. The role also offers the chance to collaborate with various teams and develop partnerships with other companies in the AI/IoT space


Zones, Inc. has seen its ups and downs in a highly competitive market. The organization has been around since 1985 and has worked to stay relevant in the ever changing industry of IT. You do not need a technology background to be an account executive, however you should possess a passion for what technology can do for our clients. The following is a review of the inside account executive position by an account executive who has met their goal.

A typical day for an account executive in their first 3 years will consist of 2+ hours of calling medium to large businesses, managing internal cases and project opportunities, working with distributors and manufacturers, and the rest of your time will be spent researching the organizations you're calling into. On certain days you will be called into training to learn the technology and processes of the manufacturers you're selling. 

The work place culture in Portland is inviting and supportive, something you don't see in a typical sales organization.

As an account executive the hardest part of the job could be different depending on your strengths, structuring your day and time management is going to be pivotal to your success.

Like any other sales role your most enjoyable aspects of the position will be winning deals and building long relationships with clients.

The biggest cons, as the inside account executives see to the organization is that the company isn't investing in back filling support staff roles, not approving more spiff opportunities given by manufacturers, and not creating better collateral for account executives to present to clients.

Anyone interested in entering sales out of college should look into this position, but if you are a seasoned sales professional I would advise applying for the field account executive position. However, Zones typically hires from within so be up front with the recruitment staff about the position.

A typical day at Zones, Inc. involves going to my team’s morning meeting where my manager would tell us we had the highest phone activity, quotes sent out, and sales on the floor but it still wasn’t good enough. After being told how insufficient we were, we would hop on the phones for the next 3.5hrs of the day, only to be interrupted by a 15 minute break. I realize this isn't a shock considering I worked in an outbound call center as an account executive. The next half hour of the day consisted of doing paper work if my manager thought our sales teams was productive enough. This half hour is the only time we had to push out quotes, place orders, and send out emails. Then came our one hour lunch, after which we got back on the phones for 3.5hrs, again only to be interrupted by a 15 minute break. At the end of the day we were given another 30 minutes to finish up any paperwork left over from the day. This time could also be taken away if our manager deemed our productivity too low. If at any time during the day one of us did need to push through a quote or an order immediately we would have to get permission from our manager, who deemed how important the quote or order was.

I think the best way to sum up this job came from a manager tell one of their account executives, “You are not paid to think, you are paid to dial.”

My biggest issue with Zones is their hiring methods. I was lured, tricked, and even straight-up lied to during their 'courting' of my just-graduated self. Certain policies, payment structures, and actual job duties were smeared over with the 'It's tough, but rewarding!' mantra. I swear the recruiters chant that in their sleep.

The compensation itself was pretty good but the commission methods aren't what's promised. You end up keeping a rather small amount of commission; however, the base salary is pretty good for an entry level position.

The stress levels - oh my giddy aunt. The Sales managers are so heavily dependent on you meeting your quota that they will LITERALLY breath down your neck if you haven't hit 2 hours of talk time by mid-day. I am NOT exaggerating. Coworkers had breakdowns in the middle of the office because of the pressure and 50% of my team had quit by the time I left. Sometimes, it wasn't even the fault of the account executive. Sometimes you wouldn't be given new business leads in months and expect to make something of nothing. This is not for the light-hearted or downright unlucky.

All and all, if you need the money, take the job. It will be stressful but just talk the heck out of your clients in a happy way and you just might not quit by month three.

But overall stay away from this company. Management love to point fingers instead of coming together to fix whatever issue that came about. The training was really on the go & whenever you had a unique question about how to do your job or a unique task they directed you to the hand booklet AS IF that equates to actually physically doing it. 

So many unnecessary procedures & paper being wasted for data keeping purposes that could simply be fixed if they had RF scanners. Literally if one item was accidentally put into a location next to where it's supposed to be, you'll spend weeks looking for it and creating endless excel sheets trying to find the shortage. Whereas if you had a scanner, it will tell you where that item is exactly even if it's in the wrong location. It's like that company is scared to adapt to be more productive and less wasteful. 

Only great thing about the place is that there are some lovely co-workers that make it worth coming in everyday. Not to mention the hour lunches & quarterly lunches. But this company has a boat load of issues. There's really no job security here. One week you're there and the next they're letting you go because they want someone that they can "plug & play" even though their training is horrendous.

I learned more about IT in 30days of training than I thought was possible. There was a lot of assistance with the trainings, and there are still constant trainings to keep you up to date on the continual IT changes. Management picks and chooses who they want to help out, if you make the favorites list then you're in. However there are a ton of resources that can abe engaged instead so that you are not just relying on on person. The work environment is filled by mostly newly college grads, intelligent and cheerful people. Along with the constant product and sales trainings, you're constantly learning new things about the company that are changing or that turn out to be different than what you were originally told. A typical day at work involves meeting with your team to discuss daily goals, then following up with any customer inquires via emails and phone calls, an hour of training then cold calling leads to persuade them to give you an opportunity at their company's IT business, lunch, more training, then more calling and following up with customer inquires. A lot of the time free breakfast and lunch is provided by vendors to entice you to sell their product more and in effort to expand your knowledge base.

This place had serious, SERIOUS potential. When first hired I couldn't believe my good fortune! The camaraderie with other ambassadors was bar none. Then reality sets in, and not even the amazing amenities offered in the building can save them.
*****PTO: minimal restrictions on usage, VERY understanding of personal lives/last minute situations arising, etc.
**Management: 1/3 are excellent, 1/3 extremely under qualified, 1/3 grossly unprofessional (especially upper level). Selective micromanagement at baffling times.
*Metrics: make no mistake of the fact that they care about metrics, NOT the people meeting them. Unrealistic expectations, with absolutely no incentive to exceed goals as you are not compensated appropriately. Raises? Not honored, even when given a promotion.
**Salary: higher than some places, still not great especially given the lack of raises, etc.
*Benefits: don't bother.

Great place for new graduates to get experience, or those close to retirement looking for extra perks. Not for those interested in working towards a career/future. Make no mistake: this is a place to find a job, NOT build your career.

After being in Training for a month when I first started, it was difficult getting in touch with my manager to find out when I was able to join the team, my work schedule etc. After getting a hold of him, i then did job shadowing for another three weeks.  So, after about almost two months I was finally at my own desk and was giving some work to do.  Shortly after getting all ramped up I was told that our competition plan was changing and commission was being taken away from me. Imagine the world wind I was put through, when I say lack of integrity that was just one example. The lack of management that was provided made the job a bit more difficult when it came to certain things I need assistance with to provide the best service for the customer and only a manager could override, made it an unpleasant experience for not only myself but the customer(s). And that happen way to often. Most difficult part about the job was the lack of integrity from the CEO and down, their motto was making the company as much money as possible even if that means you have to lie/steal from other businesses and companies. I enjoyed the schedule that i had, it made it a little easier to maintain a glance with work and my life outside of work.

I was put into the mix knowing that previous management was gone. It was a time of turmoil and a chance to really change things for the better. I was really looking forward to the challenge. My second week there it was announced my boss was being let go. Already, it was too busy for him to give me proper training. Upper management did attempt to help by sending others in, but overall the training on the computer systems and expectations was lacking. Finally after my third month in I was sent to Chicago for advanced training. Expectations were very high and we often worked Saturdays and hours over what was anticipated. The employees were mostly temps, many which didn't care. The systems this technological advanced company utilize are back in the 90s leading to too many human errors. It seems they really tried to correct, but in the end failed. I was let go after all my best attempts to succeed. Despite the warehouse being on an upward trend of success (better than their other warehouses) they decided that I wasn't seen as a leader. I don't blame it all on them, but not all the blame was to be placed on myself as well. Be wary here. You are expendable.

When I was hired I was told that it was very likely to hit an OTE of 70k - 75k in the first year and that I could expect to make close to 100k the second year. That was simply not true. There were only 2 people in the office who hit those targets. They also lied to my entire hiring class about PTO, which lead to strong distrust. 

Every year Jan/Feb they change the commission structure and it is almost always for the worst. People end up leaving during this period, but Zone's doesn't care because they would rather get someone new to do the work for much less pay.

Half the managers are terrible. You gotta be lucky to land a good manager.Turn over is very high because of this. They won't give you promotions, instead they will take away accounts that you have already established relationship with and "Give you better accounts", which is not necessarily the truth.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Field executive 24 salaries reported	$73,333 per year
Executive 16 salaries reported	$102,188 per year
Account manager 3 salaries reported	$48,000 per year
Software architect 6 salaries reported	$162,500 per year
It executive 13 salaries reported	$92,308 per year

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