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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Enterprise Sales Account Manager

💰 $ - $

SalesEnterpriseAccount ManagementB2B

🎯 Role Definition

The Enterprise Sales Account Manager owns a portfolio of large, strategic accounts and is accountable for delivering annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth, renewals, upsells, and expansion through consultative selling and executive-level relationship management. This role requires a strategic thinker with deep commercial acumen, strong negotiation skills, proven experience selling complex solutions into enterprise organizations, and the ability to partner cross-functionally to align product and service delivery with customer outcomes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Senior Account Executive with consistent quota attainment in enterprise accounts.
  • Business Development Manager focused on enterprise or mid-market segments.
  • Customer Success Manager with a track record of account expansion and retention.

Advancement To:

  • Senior Enterprise Account Manager / Strategic Account Manager
  • Director of Enterprise Sales / Head of Strategic Accounts
  • VP of Sales / Head of Revenue

Lateral Moves:

  • Senior Customer Success Manager / Customer Success Director
  • Solutions Consulting / Pre-Sales Architect
  • Strategic Partnerships / Alliance Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Develop and execute comprehensive, territory-level and account-level strategic plans that identify growth opportunities, prioritize high-value targets, and align with corporate revenue goals to consistently exceed quarterly and annual quotas.
  • Own end-to-end enterprise sales cycles, including prospecting, discovery, solution design, proposal development, executive presentations, legal and procurement negotiations, and closed-won deal execution.
  • Build and maintain trusted executive relationships (CIO, CTO, VP-level, and other senior stakeholders) to influence purchasing decisions and secure long-term partnerships and multi-year contracts.
  • Lead complex, multi-stakeholder deal processes by orchestrating cross-functional teams (product, engineering, legal, finance, customer success) to create compelling, customized value propositions and technical win strategies.
  • Drive account expansion through renewals, upsells, cross-sell initiatives, and by identifying adjacent product opportunities, delivering measurable increases in ARR and customer lifetime value.
  • Execute value-based and outcomes-driven selling by quantifying customer ROI, building business cases, and delivering tailored ROI/TPV analyses that justify enterprise investments.
  • Manage and forecast pipeline accurately in CRM (Salesforce or equivalent), providing timely, data-driven updates to sales leadership and participating in quarterly and annual business reviews.
  • Negotiate complex commercial terms, master services agreements (MSAs), statements of work (SOWs), and pricing structures to protect margin while removing procurement obstacles and accelerating time-to-revenue.
  • Serve as the company’s customer advocate by capturing voice-of-customer insights, product feedback, and competitive intelligence to influence roadmap, pricing, and go-to-market strategies.
  • Develop and deliver compelling executive-level presentations, product demonstrations, and proof-of-value / proof-of-concept (POC) programs tailored to enterprise requirements and buying committees.
  • Collaborate with marketing to drive account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns, coordinate targeted outreach, and leverage content and events to accelerate account engagement and pipeline conversion.
  • Implement and maintain account governance practices (QBRs, success plans, milestone tracking) to ensure alignment on goals, drive adoption, and reduce churn risk across complex enterprise deployments.
  • Create and maintain accurate account plans, stakeholder maps, and competitive battle cards to support repeatable playbooks and enable scalable enterprise coverage.
  • Identify and qualify new enterprise logos and strategic prospects via cold outreach, referrals, partner networks, and industry events, expanding market penetration in assigned verticals.
  • Mentor and coach junior sales staff or territory-focused teams on enterprise selling methodologies, negotiation tactics, and opportunity qualification to elevate overall team performance.
  • Coordinate with customer success and delivery teams to ensure smooth onboarding, technical enablement, and customer satisfaction while maintaining accountability for commercial outcomes.
  • Lead renewal negotiations and timing strategies to maximize retention and reduce at-risk revenue, proactively resolving escalations and mitigating contract lapses.
  • Stay current on market trends, competitive positioning, industry regulations, and key customer initiatives to provide strategic counsel and maintain sales momentum in target industries.
  • Drive long-term strategic initiatives such as pilots, strategic partnerships, co-selling arrangements, and executive sponsorship programs that increase share-of-wallet within enterprise accounts.
  • Maintain rigorous sales discipline around activity reporting, opportunity qualification (MEDDICC/MEDDIC or equivalent), and administrative processes to ensure pipeline hygiene and reliable forecasting.
  • Represent the company at industry conferences, analyst briefings, and customer advisory boards to build brand credibility, expand executive networks, and source strategic opportunities.
  • Manage multi-year contract renewals and expansions, ensuring timely commercial negotiations and alignment of service level agreements (SLAs) to customer expectations and company capabilities.
  • Facilitate joint success plans with customers that define business outcomes, KPIs, adoption milestones, and executive sponsors to ensure measurable value realization and long-term retention.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc executive escalations and cross-functional issue resolution to protect revenue and customer relationships.
  • Contribute to the continuous improvement of sales playbooks, pricing models, and negotiation templates based on real-world enterprise deal experience.
  • Partner with product management to translate customer requirements into prioritized feature requests and influence product roadmap decisions.
  • Participate in internal training programs to share industry best practices and enterprise sales techniques with the broader sales organization.
  • Assist in building case studies, references, and customer success stories to accelerate future enterprise opportunity qualification and close rates.
  • Engage with channel and alliance partners to co-sell and develop joint account strategies for large enterprise prospects.
  • Provide input to marketing and demand generation on target account profiles and messaging that resonates with enterprise stakeholders.
  • Lead or participate in pilot and POC programs, coordinating internal and customer resources to validate technical fit and business impact.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Advanced proficiency with CRM platforms (Salesforce preferred) for pipeline management, forecasting, and account planning.
  • Demonstrated expertise in enterprise SaaS sales, subscription pricing models, and recurring revenue commercial structures.
  • Strong contract negotiation and legal-commercial acumen including experience negotiating MSAs, SOWs, and enterprise procurement processes.
  • Solution selling and consultative sales methodology experience with the ability to map product capabilities to complex customer use cases.
  • Financial acumen: ability to build ROI models, TCO analyses, and executive-level business cases to support deal rationale.
  • Familiarity with enterprise procurement, security, compliance requirements (SOC2, GDPR, ISO), and vendor risk assessments.
  • Experience running and evaluating proof-of-concept (POC) and pilot programs, including technical success criteria and customer adoption metrics.
  • Proficiency with sales enablement and collaboration tools (LinkedIn Sales Navigator, SalesLoft, Gong, Chorus) for outreach and call analytics.
  • Data-driven pipeline management skills, including Excel or BI tooling for forecasting, segmentation, and performance tracking.
  • Knowledge of CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) systems, subscription billing platforms, and renewal management best practices.
  • Ability to work with technical stakeholders and product/engineering teams to scope implementation complexity and timelines.

Soft Skills

  • Exceptional executive-level communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence C-suite stakeholders.
  • Strong negotiation and persuasion skills with a track record of closing complex, multi-million dollar deals.
  • Strategic thinking and commercial judgment to prioritize opportunities and develop account-level roadmaps.
  • Relationship-building and stakeholder management skills to maintain long-term client advocacy and internal alignment.
  • High emotional intelligence, resilience, and adaptability in fast-paced, ambiguous enterprise sales cycles.
  • Problem-solving orientation with the ability to synthesize technical and business inputs into actionable plans.
  • Collaborative team player who can lead cross-functional initiatives and mentor junior sellers.
  • Time management and organizational skills to manage multiple large deals and long sales cycles concurrently.
  • Curious, continuous learner mindset to stay current on market trends, product updates, and competitive landscape.
  • Results-driven attitude with strong ownership mentality and accountability for revenue delivery.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

  • MBA or advanced degree in business, technology management, or a related discipline preferred for senior roles.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration / Management
  • Marketing / Sales
  • Computer Science / Information Technology
  • Engineering
  • Economics / Finance

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 5–10 years of progressive B2B sales experience, with at least 3–5 years focused on enterprise account management or complex solution sales.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years selling enterprise SaaS, cloud, or technology solutions into large organizations with demonstrated quota attainment and multi-million dollar deal experience.
  • Proven track record of renewals, upsells, cross-sells, and strategic account expansion within named accounts or vertical segments.
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