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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Inside Sales Account Executive

💰 $ - $

SalesInside SalesAccount ExecutiveB2BSaaS

🎯 Role Definition

The Inside Sales Account Executive is a quota-driven sales professional responsible for generating revenue by qualifying leads, executing high-velocity outbound and inbound sales activities, managing a pipeline, delivering compelling product demos, negotiating and closing deals, and partnering cross-functionally to ensure a scalable, repeatable sales motion. This role focuses on short-to-mid sales cycles (typically B2B or SaaS), leverages CRM and sales engagement platforms, and consistently hits monthly and quarterly targets while maintaining excellent customer experience and accurate forecasting.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Sales Development Representative (SDR) / Business Development Representative (BDR)
  • Customer Success Specialist or Account Coordinator
  • Inside Sales Representative / Junior Account Executive

Advancement To:

  • Senior Inside Sales Account Executive
  • Field Sales / Enterprise Account Executive
  • Sales Team Lead or Frontline Sales Manager
  • Account Executive Manager / Sales Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Customer Success Manager
  • Sales Operations Analyst
  • Product Specialist / Solutions Consultant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Prospect, research, and qualify inbound and outbound leads using phone, email, social selling (LinkedIn), and sales engagement tools; convert qualified opportunities into meetings and pipeline opportunities that meet defined sales qualification criteria.
  • Own a defined book of business or territory and carry a monthly/quarterly revenue quota; consistently plan and execute activities to meet or exceed quota through a combination of new business, cross-sell, and expansion opportunities.
  • Conduct needs discovery conversations and diagnostic qualification to understand buyer pain points, budget, decision-making processes, and timeframes; tailor value-based messaging to align solutions to customer outcomes.
  • Deliver polished, data-driven product demonstrations and solution presentations (live or virtual) that address buyer objectives and show clear ROI; adapt demos to technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Build and manage an active, prioritized pipeline with accurate stage progression in the CRM; update opportunities, activities, and next steps daily to enable reliable forecasting.
  • Negotiate commercial terms, pricing, and contract language within delegated authority; collaborate with legal and sales ops as needed to ensure compliant and customer-friendly agreements.
  • Close deals end-to-end in a high-velocity environment, hand off new customers to implementation and customer success teams, and ensure seamless onboarding for high retention and adoption.
  • Execute targeted outbound campaigns and account-based outreach to create new opportunities; design messaging sequences, A/B test cadences, and iterate based on response metrics.
  • Maintain proactive follow-up cadence with prospects and accounts using multi-channel touchpoints (phone, email, social, direct mail) to accelerate conversion and shorten sales cycles.
  • Use CRM and sales engagement platforms (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft) to track performance, automate cadences, and scale outreach while preserving personalization.
  • Produce accurate forecast updates and pipeline reviews; participate in weekly/monthly forecast meetings with sales leadership and provide evidence-backed deal assessments.
  • Collaborate with marketing to convert MQLs into SQLs, provide feedback on lead quality, and test messaging and campaign creatives to improve conversion rates.
  • Partner with product and solutions engineering teams to scope technical requirements, escalate complex RFPs, and coordinate POCs or pilot projects when required.
  • Maintain deep product, industry, and competitive knowledge to position differentiated value propositions and respond to common objections and procurement questions.
  • Manage time effectively across high-volume outreach, discovery meetings, demo preparation, proposal generation, and closing activities to maximize productivity and pipeline velocity.
  • Prepare and present proposals, SOWs, and commercial documentation, ensuring clarity around deliverables, timelines, and success criteria to reduce friction at contract stage.
  • Leverage customer references, case studies, and ROI data to move deals forward; solicit testimonials and case studies from satisfied customers to fuel marketing and sales motions.
  • Track and improve key sales metrics (conversion rate, average deal size, sales cycle length, win rate, pipeline coverage), and implement micro-improvements to personal sales process.
  • Uphold rigorous CRM data hygiene — accurate contact records, activity logs, opportunity stages, and timeline notes — to support sales ops, reporting, and cross-functional transparency.
  • Own renewal handoffs for initial engagements when applicable; identify early expansion signals and coordinate growth opportunities with account teams.
  • Participate in regular call reviews, role-plays, and coaching sessions with sales leadership to continually refine messaging, objection handling, and closing techniques.
  • Attend industry events, webinars, and virtual conferences to network with potential buyers, represent the company brand, and capture market intelligence.
  • Implement and document scalable sales plays and best practices; contribute to the creation of playbooks, email templates, objection scripts, and discovery frameworks for the inside sales team.

Secondary Functions

  • Provide sell-through feedback to product, marketing, and customer success on feature requests, product gaps, and buyer preferences to support roadmap prioritization.
  • Support ad-hoc sales analytics requests and exploratory analysis to identify high-potential segments and win/loss patterns.
  • Contribute to the organization’s sales enablement content and onboarding materials for new hire ramp-up.
  • Participate in A/B testing of messaging, subject lines, and sequenced outreach to optimize conversion across the funnel.
  • Collaborate in sprint planning and agile adoption when working with cross-functional teams to refine sales-to-customer success handoffs.
  • Assist with territory planning and account scoring models to ensure equitable distribution of opportunities and maximize coverage.
  • Help coordinate logistics for pilot programs and trials, including setting success metrics and monitoring initial adoption.
  • Serve as a mentor for junior SDRs/BDRs and support cross-training programs to accelerate team capability.
  • Engage with finance and legal for order processing and contract clarifications when complex billing or compliance items arise.
  • Lead periodic competitive win/loss analyses and surface insights to product marketing and sales leadership.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • CRM proficiency (Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar) — managing opportunities, tasks, and reporting.
  • Sales engagement platforms (Outreach, SalesLoft) for cadence building and multi-channel outreach.
  • Advanced email and phone selling techniques; multithreaded outreach and account-based selling experience.
  • Strong demo and presentation skills using screen-sharing platforms (Zoom, Teams) and slide authoring (PowerPoint, Google Slides).
  • Pipeline and forecast management — commit/review discipline with evidence-based deal progression.
  • Quote management and familiarity with proposal/SOW creation; basic contracting and pricing negotiation.
  • Data literacy: ability to read KPIs, use Excel/Google Sheets for deal modeling and simple forecasting.
  • Social selling via LinkedIn Sales Navigator and other prospecting tools.
  • Experience selling SaaS or subscription-based solutions preferred; familiarity with subscription billing and renewal mechanics.
  • Basic knowledge of sales metrics and performance dashboards (e.g., average deal size, CAC, LTV).
  • Use of marketing automation insights to convert MQLs and track campaign effectiveness.

Soft Skills

  • Clear, persuasive verbal and written communication tailored to executive and practitioner audiences.
  • Consultative selling mindset: listening first, identifying outcomes, and positioning tailored solutions.
  • Resilience and persistence in high-velocity, rejection-prone environments.
  • Strong time management, prioritization, and organizational skills to manage complex workloads.
  • High emotional intelligence and ability to build rapport quickly across diverse buyer personas.
  • Negotiation and influencing skills to close deals and align stakeholders.
  • Coachability and continuous improvement orientation; open to feedback and structured coaching.
  • Problem solving and creative thinking to navigate procurement, technical, and budget constraints.
  • Collaborative mindset for working cross-functionally with marketing, product, and customer success.
  • Attention to detail and accountability for accurate CRM hygiene, documentation, and contract terms.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or related field.
  • Sales certifications or completion of sales methodology training (Challenger, SPIN, MEDDIC/MEDDICC, Sandler) is a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Communications
  • Information Systems / Technology (for technical SaaS roles)
  • Finance / Economics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years in inside sales, account management, or business development roles; or 1–3 years as an SDR/BDR with demonstrated quota attainment.

Preferred:

  • 3+ years closing deals in a B2B or SaaS environment with a proven track record of meeting/exceeding quota.
  • Experience using Salesforce or HubSpot, sales engagement tools (Outreach, SalesLoft), and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
  • Experience with mid-market or enterprise accounts, multi-threaded deals, and collaborating with technical teams (solutions engineering) is highly desirable.
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