Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Internal Sales Account Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Internal Sales Account Manager (also called Inside Account Manager or Inside Sales Account Manager) is responsible for managing a portfolio of existing accounts and generating incremental revenue through renewals, upsells and cross-sells while delivering exceptional customer service. This role proactively qualifies opportunities, manages the sales lifecycle from quote-to-order, maintains accurate CRM records, collaborates with cross-functional teams (operations, marketing, product and field sales), and consistently meets or exceeds monthly and quarterly revenue and retention targets. The ideal candidate combines consultative selling with strong administrative discipline to drive measurable account growth and reduce churn.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Sales Development Representative (SDR) / Business Development Representative (BDR)
Customer Service Representative or Inside Sales Representative
Junior Account Manager / Sales Coordinator

Advancement To:

Senior Internal Account Manager / Strategic Account Manager
Account Director / Regional Inside Sales Manager
Sales Team Lead or Head of Inside Sales

Lateral Moves:

Customer Success Manager
Field (Outside) Account Executive
Product Specialist / Sales Enablement

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Manage a portfolio of assigned B2B accounts and act as the primary internal point of contact for order processing, service inquiries, renewals and commercial negotiations to ensure high customer satisfaction and retention.
Consistently achieve and exceed monthly and quarterly sales quotas by driving renewals, upsells, cross-sells and expansion revenue through consultative inside sales conversations.
Proactively develop and maintain detailed account plans that include growth strategies, risk/retention mitigation, product adoption initiatives and prioritized opportunity pipelines.
Qualify inbound and outbound opportunities, conduct needs discovery, map customer requirements to product/service offerings, and convert qualified leads into executable sales opportunities.
Prepare and deliver accurate quotes, proposals and pricing approvals in collaboration with pricing, finance and product teams, ensuring margins and discounting guidelines are respected.
Maintain timely, accurate and comprehensive CRM records (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) for all contacts, activities, opportunities, quotes and contract statuses to enable reliable forecasting and reporting.
Build strong relationships with key stakeholders and decision-makers within accounts through regular business reviews, value-focused conversations and executive-level communications.
Drive contract renewals by managing renewal timelines, identifying churn risks early, offering tailored solutions and securing buy-in from internal stakeholders and customers.
Collaborate closely with order management, logistics, finance and operations teams to ensure accurate order entry, timely fulfillment and prompt resolution of billing or delivery issues.
Own monthly and quarterly sales forecasts by updating pipeline stages, probability, and close dates, and participating in sales meetings to provide clear, data-driven forecasting input.
Execute targeted account outreach campaigns and personalized cadences in coordination with marketing and SDR teams to accelerate pipeline creation and conversion.
Identify and prioritize cross-sell and upsell opportunities based on account usage, product fit and customer needs; create business cases and seek approvals for larger expansions.
Negotiate contract terms, pricing and service-level agreements within delegated authority and coordinate escalations to legal or senior management when required.
Analyze account trends, purchasing history and usage metrics to recommend product adoption strategies and upsell motion that align to customer ROI.
Monitor and report key account KPIs (e.g., retention rate, ARR/MRR growth, average deal size, sales cycle length) and propose process improvements to the sales leadership team.
Provide timely post-sale support for implementation handoffs, onboarding and training coordination with Customer Success and Professional Services teams.
Manage complex multi-line orders, bundled product configurations and subscription renewals, ensuring accurate billing codes and contract documentation.
Actively participate in internal cross-training, product launches and enablement sessions to stay current on product changes, promotions and competitive differentiators.
Respond to customer escalations and service issues with a sense of urgency, coordinating appropriate teams to ensure rapid resolution and continuous improvement.
Perform outbound account penetration strategies to expand product footprint within assigned accounts and uncover new decision-makers or buying centers.
Maintain knowledge of competitor offerings, market trends and pricing strategies to inform account-level positioning and objection handling.
Use data-driven insights to identify low-engagement accounts or at-risk customers and execute tailored retention campaigns to reduce churn.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc reporting requests and prepare account-level summaries, win/loss analyses and executive dashboards for sales leadership.
Contribute to process improvement initiatives by documenting workflow gaps, proposing automation with CRM/admin teams and participating in pilot programs.
Assist with special projects such as pricing pilots, beta programs and cross-functional rollouts that impact existing customer accounts.
Train and mentor junior inside sales staff or SDRs on account management best practices, quoting procedures and CRM hygiene.
Participate in product feedback sessions, bringing customer insights and feature requests to Product Management and Engineering teams.
Collaborate with marketing on account-based campaigns, case studies and referenceable customer programs that support retention and growth.
Coordinate with collections and finance teams on past-due accounts and jointly develop payment plans or resolution strategies when needed.
Occasionally represent the company at virtual trade shows, webinars and customer events to support lead conversion and account nurturing efforts.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proven proficiency with CRM platforms (Salesforce strongly preferred; HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics acceptable) including opportunity management, quotes and reports.
Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, basic formulas) for account analysis and forecasting.
Experience preparing quotes, proposals and managing quote-to-cash processes using CPQ or ERP systems.
Familiarity with subscription billing, SaaS renewals and recurring revenue models (ARR/MRR) and related contract management.
Strong pipeline management skills including forecasting methodologies, stage definitions and probability-based revenue modeling.
Ability to create client-facing proposals and presentations in PowerPoint and to tailor materials to decision-maker audiences.
Competence with sales enablement and engagement tools (e.g., Salesloft, Outreach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator) to execute targeted cadences.
Basic data analysis and reporting capabilities using BI tools or CRM reporting modules to identify trends and inform strategy.
Understanding of pricing strategies, discount governance and margin protection in a commercial sales environment.
Familiarity with order entry, inventory checks, shipping/logistics coordination and billing reconciliation processes.
Experience using ticketing or support platforms (Zendesk, ServiceNow) to coordinate issue resolution with internal teams.
Knowledge of compliance and contractual principles relevant to commercial agreements, NDAs and service-level terms.

Soft Skills

Strong consultative selling and relationship-building skills with the ability to influence and negotiate at multiple levels inside customer organizations.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, comfortable facilitating business reviews and presenting to stakeholders.
High level of organization and attention to detail, especially for multi-line order processing and contract management.
Problem-solving mindset with the ability to escalate appropriately and drive cross-functional resolution.
Customer-focused attitude with empathy, patience and a commitment to delivering high-quality service.
Time management and prioritization skills to manage competing demands and multiple accounts simultaneously.
Resilience and perseverance in a quota-driven environment with the ability to adapt to changing priorities.
Collaboration and teamwork skills for working effectively across sales, marketing, product and operations teams.
Analytical mindset to interpret account metrics, identify growth opportunities and make data-driven recommendations.
Ethical judgment and commercial acumen to protect company margins while supporting customer needs.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience in sales, customer service, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Communications, or related discipline.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Marketing
Sales & Sales Management
Communications
Economics

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

2–5 years of inside sales, account management or B2B customer-facing experience.

Preferred:

3–5+ years managing commercial accounts in an inside sales or account manager role, ideally within B2B, SaaS, manufacturing or distribution environments.
Demonstrated track record of meeting quota, driving renewals and growing account revenue.
Experience with CRM (Salesforce preferred), quoting/CPQ tools and subscription billing models is highly desirable.