Account Executive

An account executive is the middle-man between the company providing a service and the company’s clients (or prospective clients). In other words, they are usually responsible for:

• Selling the company’s product/service and trying to obtain clients/customers (called “an account”)
• Constantly communicating with the customer/client to make sure the company keeps them happy.

The specific role of an account executive varies depending where you work, and some will focus on some areas more than others. Ultimately, their responsibilities is a hybrid of: sales, marketing, operations and sometimes financial analysis.

What Do Account Executives Do?

Though responsibilities greatly vary, here are some of the most common:

• Learning about each client’s needs, industry, and competitors.
• Working with sales to create and negotiate pitches for new clients.
• Discussing projects, goals, opportunities, and more with clients.
• Creating and implementing timelines for projects.
• Reporting on the success or failure of campaigns and using this information to improve upcoming campaigns.
• Working internally on product development and marketing opportunities for companies.
• Presenting quarterly and annual reviews on performance and projects to both clients and management.
• Anticipating and mitigating crises and challenges to each client’s business.
• Training new hires and transitioning accounts as needed.¹https://www.careerbuilder.com/advice/account-executive-career-spotlight

Examples of an Account Executive’s actual tasks:

• Providing support for clients by learning about and satisfying their needs.
• Making cold calls or reaching out to prospects.
• Following up with prospects several times throughout the sales cycle to ensure needs are being met.
• Presenting and demonstrating the value of products and services to prospective buyers.
• Compiling and analyzing data to find trends.
• Developing sales strategies and setting quotas.
• Staying current on company offerings and industry trends.
• Maintaining a database of contact information.
• Building long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with external contacts and internal departments to create a better customer experience.
• Handling complaints and negotiations.²https://www.betterteam.com/account-executive-job-description

What is the difference between Account Executive and Sales?

Sales and account executives are not “different” per se, but an account executive’s role usually includes other responsibilities on top of a sales role. Account executives build lasting relationships with companies/clients and managing their account throughout. Whereas sales people often find and attempt to make deals with clients but do not necessarily communicate as much after the deal is made.³https://study.com/articles/account_executive_vs_sales_representative.html

Typical Account Executive Hierarchy:

What types of Account Executive Jobs are out there?

Account Executives work in a pretty much any industry. However the most common are:

• Advertising
• Marketing
• IT
• Fashion
• Business to business (B2B) services (companies that sell their product/service to other companies rather than individual consumers, i.e. WeWork)

No matter the industry, account executives help their client fully understand what a business can offer and discover what that client is looking for in terms of products or services.⁴ https://www.indeed.com/hire/job-description/account-executive

What are necessary prerequisites/qualifications?

Many employers require applicants for account executive positions to have at least a bachelor’s degree in business or marketing and some level of experience. Some employers also give preference to those with additional abilities, such as strong computer skills and experience with social networking. A number of companies look for candidates who:

• Work well under pressure
• Are well organized
• Are self-motivated
• Communicate skillfully
• Work adeptly with others ⁵https://learn.org/articles/What_Does_an_Account_Executive_Do.html

What types of skills are necessary to be a successful Account Executive?

The most important skills that account executives use are the ones that help them successfully build relationships with clients and customers. Consequently, account executives regularly rely on the following skills:

• Sales: work with sales teams to land new clients and sell to them.
• Communication: explain what is required for each client and update customers on the statuses of various projects.
• Project management: manage clients and campaigns, ensuring projects are completed in a timely manner and to the satisfaction of each client.
• Negotiation: negotiate prices of products or services with clients; renegotiation of contracts is often required with longtime customers.
• Cold calls: call potential leads to convert them into clients.
• Public speaking: account executives must be comfortable speaking to executives at clients’ companies and their own, presenting difficult concepts in understandable ways.⁶ https://www.careerbuilder.com/advice/account-executive-career-spotlight
• Customer relationship management (CRM) software: When you manage multiple customers at various stages of the sales journey, CRM software can track everything from upcoming tasks to prior points of contact.
• Data organization skills: Account executives typically need to know how to use word processing software to write documents and contracts. They also need to know the basics of spreadsheet programs to track goals and quotas.⁷https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/careers/what-does-an-account-executive-do

What are some challenges of working as an Account Executive?

• In sales, rejection is something everyone faces and comes to expect on a regular basis—and it’s not always something you can combat. ⁸https://www.themuse.com/advice/behind-the-scenes-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-sales-account-executive
• Overtime often required for large accounts.
• A lot of pressure to meet deadlines and requirements.
• Very competitive – often competing to get clients’ business.
• Some companies require frequent travel to client(s). ⁹https://learningpath.org/articles/Account_Executive_Careers_Job_Description_Salary_Information.html

What are some benefits of working as an Account Executive?

• After some experience (1-2 years), good compensation.
• Often work in a comfortable environment.
• Always a demand for sales, marketing, advertising specialists.
• Can get exposure to exciting companies since many large organizations have an account executive role.
• Build strong relationships with coworkers and clients.

Typical Salary?

Compensation for the account executive is typically a base salary with a sales commission and bonuses for reaching or exceeding sales targets. As of early 2020, the average base pay for the job was $60,260, with average additional compensation of $31,109, according to Glassdoor.com.¹⁰https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/account-executive.asp

Should I become an Account Executive?

If you are interested in working closely with prospective and current clients and are interested in Sales/Marketing-like roles you should consider a role as an Account Executive. An account executive gains exposure to many different parts of the business and is a great opportunity for someone to join a team/company they believe in (without necessarily creating or being directly involved in the actual product or service).

Many people will become an Account Executive after being in Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Operations or any similar role. Furthermore, typical exit opportunities include those same roles, but often in a more senior position.