Terms

Account Executive

An account executive is a professional responsible for managing client relationships and ensuring the successful delivery of a company's products or services. They act as the primary point of contact between a vendor and a customer, handling everything from acquiring new business and negotiating contracts to maintaining client satisfaction and identifying new growth opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Account executives are pivotal in driving a company's growth by managing the entire sales funnel. They are responsible for both acquiring new business and nurturing existing client relationships to maximize value and ensure satisfaction.

  • Prospecting: Identifying and qualifying potential new clients to build a robust sales pipeline.
  • Negotiating: Discussing and finalizing contract terms to close new business deals.
  • Relationship-building: Cultivating and maintaining strong, long-term partnerships with key client stakeholders.
  • Coordinating: Working with internal teams to ensure client needs are met and services are delivered successfully.
  • Onboarding: Guiding new clients through the initial setup and implementation process for a smooth transition.

Required Skills

Successful account executives possess a unique blend of soft and hard skills, enabling them to manage complex relationships and drive business outcomes. They must be strategic thinkers who can navigate client needs while aligning with company goals.

  • Communication: Excelling at building rapport and articulating value to both clients and internal teams.
  • Sales Acumen: Mastering the art of prospecting, negotiating, and closing deals to consistently meet targets.
  • Project Management: Juggling multiple accounts and deadlines to ensure seamless service delivery.
  • Analytical Thinking: Using data to identify growth opportunities and inform strategic decisions.

Account Executive vs. Account Manager

While the titles are often used interchangeably, their core functions are distinct, focusing on different stages of the customer lifecycle.

  • Account Executive: Primarily focused on acquiring new clients and closing deals. This "hunter" role is often high-pressure and quota-driven but offers higher earning potential through commissions. Enterprises seeking aggressive market expansion or new client acquisition prioritize this role to bring in new business.
  • Account Manager: Responsible for nurturing and retaining existing client relationships post-sale. This "farmer" role is less focused on prospecting and more on long-term satisfaction and growth within accounts. Mid-market companies or enterprises with large, stable client bases often rely on managers to ensure retention.

Career Path

The journey typically starts in entry-level sales or support roles, building a foundation in client management. Professionals then advance to become Account Executives, managing their own portfolios. Further progression leads to senior roles like Senior Account Executive, handling more complex accounts and responsibilities.

With proven success, the path can lead to leadership positions like Sales Director or VP of Sales. These roles focus on broader sales strategy and team management. Specialization in industries like tech or finance also offers a viable career trajectory.

Industry Applications

Account executives are vital across diverse sectors, managing key client relationships and driving revenue growth.

  • Technology: Selling complex software solutions and managing enterprise client contracts.
  • Advertising: Securing new brand partnerships and overseeing campaign execution.
  • Financial Services: Managing high-value client portfolios and selling investment products.

Frequently Asked Questions about Account Executive

What does the compensation structure for an Account Executive typically look like?

Compensation is usually a mix of a base salary and commission, heavily rewarding performance. This structure incentivizes meeting and exceeding sales quotas, with top performers earning significantly through bonuses tied directly to the new business they close.

How much of an AE's time is spent prospecting versus managing relationships?

The balance varies, but AEs are primarily "hunters." A significant portion of their time is dedicated to prospecting for new clients and closing deals, while post-sale relationship management is often handed off to an account manager.

What are the most common tools an Account Executive uses daily?

AEs rely heavily on CRM software like Salesforce to manage their pipeline. They also use prospecting tools for lead generation, communication platforms for outreach, and analytics software to track performance and identify opportunities for growth.

Other terms

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Warm Outbound

Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.

Warm Outbound

HubSpot

HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform with tools for marketing, sales, and service, all aimed at helping businesses grow.

HubSpot

Outbound Sales

Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.

Outbound Sales

Logo Retention

Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.

Logo Retention

Cross-Site Scripting

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a web security vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into trusted websites.

Cross-Site Scripting

Customer Buying Signals

Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.

Customer Buying Signals

Ramp Up Time

Ramp-up time is the period a new hire takes to get fully up to speed and become a productive member of your go-to-market team.

Ramp Up Time

Firmographics

Firmographics are descriptive attributes of organizations, used to segment companies by characteristics like industry, size, and location.

Firmographics

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium tool helping sales teams find and engage with the right leads and accounts on the LinkedIn network.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

GDPR Compliance

GDPR compliance means following the EU's strict data protection laws to ensure the secure and lawful handling of personal data.

GDPR Compliance

Product Recommendations

Product recommendations are a marketing strategy that uses customer data to suggest relevant products, boosting sales and customer engagement.

Product Recommendations

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable income a company expects to receive from its customers over a one-year period.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Application Performance Management

Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.

Application Performance Management

Buyer Intent Data

Learn about buyer intent data, including sourcing and interpreting buyer intent data, & key metrics in buyer intent analysis.

Buyer Intent Data

Sales Prospecting Software

Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.

Sales Prospecting Software

Sales Operations Analytics

Sales operations analytics is the practice of analyzing sales data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire sales process.

Sales Operations Analytics

Data Appending

Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.

Data Appending

De-dupe

De-duping, or data deduplication, is the process of eliminating duplicate copies of data within a dataset to improve accuracy and save space.

De-dupe

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

Sales Dashboard

A sales dashboard is a visual tool that centralizes and displays key sales data, metrics, and KPIs to help teams track performance and goals.

Sales Dashboard

Email Verification

Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.

Email Verification

Account

An account is a company or organization that you're targeting for sales. It can be a prospective, current, or even a past customer.

Account

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.

Dynamic Pricing

Buyer Intent

Learn about buyer intent, including understanding buyer intent signals, strategies to capture buyer intent, & buyer intent vs. customer interest.

Buyer Intent

Sales Demo

A sales demo is a presentation where a sales rep shows a prospect how a product or service works and solves their specific problems.

Sales Demo

Demand

Demand is the economic principle describing a consumer's desire and willingness to purchase a specific good or service at a particular price.

Demand

Objection Handling

Objection handling is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns or hesitations about a product or service to move a deal forward.

Objection Handling

Enrichment

Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.

Enrichment

Salesforce Administrator

A Salesforce Administrator is a certified professional who manages and customizes the Salesforce platform to meet a company's specific business needs.

Salesforce Administrator

Cold Emailing

Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.

Cold Emailing

Load Testing

Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.

Load Testing

Buying Committee

A buying committee is a group of stakeholders within an organization who are jointly responsible for making major purchasing decisions.

Buying Committee

Contact Discovery

Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.

Contact Discovery

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a prospect who has shown interest based on marketing efforts but isn't yet ready for a sales conversation.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Enterprise

An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.

Enterprise

B2B Data Enrichment

Learn about B2B data enrichment, including benefits of B2B data enrichment, implementing B2B data enrichment strategies, B2B data enrichment vs. data cleaning.

B2B Data Enrichment

AI Sales Script Generator

An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.

AI Sales Script Generator

Target Account List

A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.

Target Account List

B2B Data Erosion

Learn about B2B data erosion, including causes of B2B data decay, strategies to combat data erosion, & measuring the impact of data erosion.

B2B Data Erosion

FAB Technique

The FAB technique is a sales framework connecting product features to advantages and then to the specific benefits for the customer.

FAB Technique

Content Rights Management

Content Rights Management involves controlling the use and distribution of copyrighted digital media to protect intellectual property.

Content Rights Management

Channel Partners

Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.

Channel Partners

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface

Account-Based Sales

Account-Based Sales (ABS) is a focused B2B strategy where sales and marketing teams treat high-value accounts as individual markets of one.

Account-Based Sales

Order Management

Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Order Management

Buyer

Learn about buyer, including identifying your ideal buyer, understanding buyer's journey, & evaluating buyer decision processes.

Buyer

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the maximum revenue a company can earn by selling its product or service in a specific market.

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Average Revenue per User

Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.

Average Revenue per User

Cross-Selling

Cross-selling is a sales tactic of encouraging customers to purchase products or services that are related to what they're already buying.

Cross-Selling

Persona Map

A persona map visually outlines a target customer, detailing their goals, behaviors, and pain points to help your team build genuine empathy.

Persona Map

Objection Handling in Sales

Objection handling in sales is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns about a product or service to move the deal forward.

Objection Handling in Sales

Business Development Representative

Learn about business development representative, including skills and qualifications for BDRs, & roles and responsibilities of a BDR.

Business Development Representative

Sales Calls

A sales call is a real-time conversation between a salesperson and a prospect, aiming to persuade them to purchase a product or service.

Sales Calls

Marketo

Marketo is a marketing automation platform used by B2B marketers to manage lead generation, nurturing, email marketing, and analytics.

Marketo

Intent-Based Leads

Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.

Intent-Based Leads

Site Retargeting

Site retargeting is a marketing strategy that shows ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without converting.

Site Retargeting

Customer Relationship Marketing

Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.

Customer Relationship Marketing

Scrum

Scrum is an agile framework that helps teams structure and manage their work through a set of values, principles, and practices.

Scrum

Buying Criteria

Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.

Buying Criteria

Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect correct behavior for a given situation.

Social Proof

Marketing Attribution Model

A marketing attribution model is a framework for assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that lead a customer to convert.

Marketing Attribution Model

Rollback Procedures

Rollback procedures are a set of steps to restore a system to a previous, stable version after a failed update, ensuring minimal disruption.

Rollback Procedures

Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel.

Lead Nurturing

Sales Partnerships

Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.

Sales Partnerships

Commission

A commission is a service charge paid to an agent for a transaction. It's typically a percentage of the sale, rewarding performance directly.

Commission

B2B Intent Data

Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.

B2B Intent Data

AI Data Enrichment

AI data enrichment uses artificial intelligence to automatically enhance and update raw data, making it more complete, accurate, and valuable.

AI Data Enrichment

Consultative Selling

Consultative selling is an approach where salespeople act as expert advisors, diagnosing customer needs to provide the most suitable solutions.

Consultative Selling

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

Demand Generation

Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.

Demand Generation

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.

Affiliate Marketing

Revenue Forecasting

Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.

Revenue Forecasting

B2B Data

Learn about B2B data, including sources and types of B2B data, leveraging B2B data for sales success, & ensuring the accuracy of B2B data.

B2B Data

Inside Sales

Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.

Inside Sales

Microservices

Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.

Microservices

Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short, memorable summary of what you do, designed to be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator.

Elevator Pitch

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Chatbots

Performance Plan

A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.

Performance Plan

Lead Enrichment Tools

Lead enrichment tools are platforms that automatically add missing data to your leads, like contact info, firmographics, and buying signals.

Lead Enrichment Tools

User Interface

A User Interface (UI) is the point where humans and computers interact. It encompasses all visual elements like screens, icons, and buttons.

User Interface

Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a system of integrated software that businesses use to manage and automate their core day-to-day processes.

Enterprise Resource Planning

Programmatic Display Campaign

Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.

Programmatic Display Campaign

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to leads based on their attributes and actions to determine their sales-readiness.

Lead Scoring

Responsive Design

Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.

Responsive Design

Mid-Market

Mid-market companies are businesses larger than small businesses but smaller than large enterprises, often defined by revenue or employee size.

Mid-Market

Applicant Tracking System

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.

Applicant Tracking System

SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.

SEO

Stress Testing

Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.

Stress Testing

Closed Won

Closed Won is a CRM status for a sales deal that has been successfully concluded, resulting in a signed contract and a new customer.

Closed Won

B2B Marketing Attribution

Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.

B2B Marketing Attribution

Request for Information

A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal process for gathering information from potential suppliers before issuing a more detailed proposal.

Request for Information

Sales Engineer

Sales Engineers blend deep technical knowledge with sales acumen, demonstrating a product's value and solving customer problems to drive revenue.

Sales Engineer

Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a model illustrating the customer's journey from initial awareness to the final purchase, narrowing down leads at each stage.

Sales Funnel

Net New Business

Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.

Net New Business

Closed Lost

Closed Lost is a sales term for a deal that didn't go through. The prospect decided not to buy, or the sales team disqualified them.

Closed Lost

RESTful API

A RESTful API is a web service interface that uses HTTP requests to access and use data, adhering to the constraints of REST architecture.

RESTful API

Predictive Lead Generation

Predictive lead generation uses data and AI to find prospects most likely to buy, helping teams focus their efforts on high-value leads.

Predictive Lead Generation

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.

Digital Advertising

Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are websites that look and feel like native mobile apps, offering features like offline access and push notifications.

Progressive Web Apps