The Role of an Enterprise Account Executive

This book primarily focuses on the role of the pre-sale Enterprise Account Executive as opposed to focusing on post sale responsibilities typically associated with an Enterprise Account Director or Enterprise Client Partner. That said, the EAE must have a strong understanding of the post-sale process leading to upgrades and renewals.

The role of the EAE is to land meetings with a DM/DMs to then be able to evaluate our company as a possible vendor to provide a solution to solve an organizational challenge or opportunity. 1. Get meetings with right DMs 2. Win meetings (Pre-DC, DC, PC, Buying Paradigm & Coauthor ROI Call, Proposal Call) 3. Structure pilot tests (hypothesis tests) 4. Lay foundation for upgrade and scale

THE EAE ROLE

The EAE role can be broken down into 4 responsibilities of the EAE. The responsibilities flow in the order of the new client deal process.

1) Get meetings - research, outreach prep, outreach

2) Prepare for meetings - Slide deck creation, PPP

3) Win meetings - Process

4) Post meetings - logistics, recap, next steps

ENTERPRISE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES:

I. GET MEETINGS

Cultivate opportunities from book of business by reaching out to introduce yourself and a new perspective regarding a strategic gap in order to land meetings.

II. PREPARE FOR MEETINGS

Use slides to tell a data-driven story where our platform would be the solution to a strategic problem or opportunity that they currently encounter.

III. RUN A PROCESS TO WIN MEETINGS

Run the enterprise sales process in order to customize a solution to the client’s needs and determine KPIs to track & attribution methodology to prove out ROI.

III. BUILD THE BUSINESS CASE FOR SOLUTION

Coauthor the Buying Paradigm and an ROI model with the client using the client's assumptions in order to evaluate the economics of the solution and build the business case for implementation/piloting.

IV. STRUCTURE & LAUNCH PILOTS

Structure pilot (hypothesis test) along best practice & aligned with buying paradigm and lay foundation for the upgrade upon hitting KPIs.

IV. ONBOARD

Onboard clients and set up a smooth transition to the Client Partner (CP).

ENTERPRISE SALES ROLES:

ENTERPRISE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE – Pre-sale role responsible for winning new business by translating client needs into coauthored solutions.

ENTERPRISE CLIENT PARTNER - Post-sale role responsible for retaining and upgrading the client by coauthoring & reporting on KPIs in order to prove out ROI.

ENTERPRISE ACCOUNT DIRECTOR – Pre & post-sale role that combines the Account Executive & Client Partner role into one. Responsible for winning new business and proving out success.

ROLE OF THE ENTERPRISE AE IN TECH SALES

Translate client needs into solutions by taking a consultative approach to:

Coauthored solutions

Coauthored KPIs

Coauthored Attribution Methodologies

Coauthored Buying Paradigm

Coauthored Proposals & Pilots

The AE moves the client through their buying process whereby the enterprise sales process matches each step in the buying process.

Are they willing to take a meeting with us?

Are they willing to evaluate us as a potential vendor?

Are they willing to test a pilot with us?

Are they willing to upgrade/scale the solution provided that we hit their KPIs?

These key questions require the EAE to take certain steps to move the client through the enterprise sales process, namely:

VETTING STEP

OUTREACH STEP

PRE-QUALIFICATION STEP

DISCOVERY STEP

PRODUCT STEP

PROPOSAL STEP

ONBOARDING STEP

REPORTING & UPGRADE STEP

THE AE ROLE CAN BE BROKEN INTO THE FOLLOWING COMPONENTS WHICH FOLLOW THE PARTS OF THIS BOOK:

I: THE CORPORATE BUYING PROCESS & THE ENTERPRISE SALES PROCESS

II: ENTERPRISE SALES PROCESS

III: SOLUTION BEST PRACTICE

IV: PRODUCT

V: PIPELINE & VETTING

VI: ENTERPRISE OUTREACH

VII: PREPARATION

VII: RUNNING MEETINGS

VIII: OBJECTIONS VS. CONDITIONS

IX. ANALYTICS

X. ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

XI. MINDSET & HABITS

XII. CAREER

1. OPEN SALES CYCLE- Call or set up a quick call or full fledged DC if possible

2. PRE QUALIFICATION CALL – A. Biz as usual B. Growth mode C. Open to evaluating a solution to drive that growth)

3. DC USE CASE & QUESTIONING PROCESS– Quantifying the Need, the characterizationof the need and buying criteria (The DC), DANTE, and forming the value concept of lower CPA/higher ROI by targeting bottom of funnel users (basis for the hypothesis test)

4. COAUTHORED SOLUTION (CONSISTENT WITH NEED AND THE WHY OF CURRENT VENDORS) - Confirming buying criteria and demoing solution that satisfies the buying criteria (The PC aka pitch/demo)

5. COAUTHORED BUYING PARADIGM & PROPOSAL (GUIDEPOSTS) - Pricing in the context of ROI and need-based closing, if NDM with no decision making discretion get it approved first and then work within that approval amount