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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for IT Sales Executive

💰 $50,000 - $120,000

SalesITTechnologySaaSB2B

🎯 Role Definition

The IT Sales Executive sells technology solutions (SaaS, cloud, cybersecurity, networking, managed services, and enterprise software) to mid-market and enterprise customers. This role combines consultative selling, technical understanding, and strong commercial execution to build a pipeline, close new business, manage accounts, and drive revenue against quota. The IT Sales Executive partners closely with pre-sales engineers, product teams, customer success, and channel partners to design and deliver bespoke solutions that meet client business outcomes.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Sales Development Representative (SDR) / Business Development Representative (BDR)
  • Inside Sales Representative or Tele-Sales for technology products
  • Technical Support or Pre-Sales Engineer transitioning to a commercial role

Advancement To:

  • Senior Account Executive / Enterprise Account Executive
  • Sales Manager / Team Lead
  • Regional Sales Director / Head of Sales
  • VP of Sales / Channel Sales Director

Lateral Moves:

  • Pre-Sales Engineer / Solutions Consultant
  • Customer Success Manager / Account Manager
  • Product Specialist / Partner Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Own full sales cycle responsibilities from lead qualification to contract signature for IT solutions, consistently achieving monthly and quarterly revenue quotas through targeted prospecting, solution design, proposal creation and negotiation.
  • Develop and execute a territory plan that includes account segmentation, target lists, multi-channel outreach (cold calling, email, LinkedIn, events) and account penetration strategies to grow pipeline and market share.
  • Conduct in-depth discovery with IT and business stakeholders to understand technical environments, business drivers, budgets and decision timelines, and translate findings into compelling value-based proposals.
  • Work closely with pre-sales engineers and solutions architects to design technical demonstrations, proofs-of-concept (POCs) and tailored solution architectures that address customer requirements and mitigate risk.
  • Deliver persuasive product demonstrations and technical presentations to C-level, IT leadership and technical teams that clearly articulate ROI, TCO and competitive differentiation.
  • Prepare, negotiate and close commercial proposals including pricing, service level agreements, licensing models and statement of work (SOW) terms while protecting margin and managing legal/commercial risk.
  • Manage a high-quality sales pipeline in the CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot or Microsoft Dynamics), ensuring accurate stage progression, opportunity notes, forecast dates and supporting documentation to enable reliable forecasting.
  • Execute cross-sell and upsell initiatives within existing accounts by identifying expansion opportunities, coordinating with customer success, and presenting business cases for additional modules, services or renewals.
  • Lead RFP/RFI responses and proposal development for enterprise procurement processes, coordinating inputs from technical, legal and finance teams to deliver compliant, competitive submissions.
  • Build and maintain strong executive relationships and trust with key client stakeholders to become a preferred advisor for IT strategy, managed services and digital transformation initiatives.
  • Collaborate with marketing to convert demand-generation leads into sales opportunities, provide feedback on campaign effectiveness, and participate in events, webinars and trade shows to generate pipeline.
  • Monitor competitor activity, pricing and product movements to adjust positioning and create compelling differentiators in pursuit strategies and objection handling.
  • Maintain up-to-date expertise on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), cybersecurity stacks, networking, virtualization, and SaaS product portfolios to confidently discuss technical and commercial trade-offs.
  • Prepare and present regular sales performance reports, win/loss analyses and enterprise account plans to the sales leadership team, highlighting growth opportunities and risk mitigation steps.
  • Implement consultative selling techniques and enterprise account planning to map stakeholders, identify buying centers and align solution roadmaps with customer business objectives.
  • Coordinate internal post-sale handoffs to professional services, onboarding and customer success teams to ensure implementation readiness and a smooth transition from sale to delivery.
  • Negotiate partnership agreements and co-selling motions with channel partners, managed service providers (MSPs), systems integrators (SIs) and VARs to expand sales reach and influence.
  • Manage contract renewals, license expirations and subscription billing cycles to minimize churn and secure multi-year commitments where appropriate.
  • Use sales analytics and pipeline metrics to prioritize high-probability deals, optimize conversion rates and increase average deal size through strategic account plays.
  • Conduct POCs and pilot programs, tracking success criteria, customer feedback and outcomes to accelerate decision-making and close deals.
  • Drive pricing conversations including enterprise licensing, consumption-based models and professional services fees, aligning commercialization strategies with customer budgets and procurement constraints.
  • Mentor junior sales team members, contribute to onboarding documentation and share best practices to scale selling effectiveness across the team.

Secondary Functions

  • Provide structured product and market feedback to product management and engineering to influence roadmap prioritization based on customer needs and competitive insight.
  • Support marketing with case studies, customer references and content for demand-generation campaigns that reflect real-world business outcomes and technical success.
  • Maintain CRM hygiene by updating contacts, opportunity details, activity logs and sales collateral to enable organizational knowledge sharing and accurate forecasting.
  • Participate in internal sales enablement sessions, product trainings and certification programs to maintain product knowledge and sales methodology alignment.
  • Assist in contract and legal review cycles by flagging commercial risks, negotiating non-standard terms and coordinating legal/finance approvals for complex deals.
  • Respond to ad-hoc executive customer requests, urgent escalation issues and strategic procurement questions that require rapid cross-functional coordination.
  • Represent the company at industry forums, client advisory boards and partner meetings to strengthen market presence and generate high-quality leads.
  • Support channel enablement initiatives by co-delivering partner trainings, joint meetings and deal registrations to accelerate joint pipeline development.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Proven ability to sell enterprise SaaS, cloud solutions, managed services or cybersecurity products in B2B environments.
  • CRM proficiency: strong working knowledge of Salesforce, HubSpot, or Microsoft Dynamics for pipeline management and forecasting.
  • Technical literacy with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and an ability to discuss architectures and integration considerations with technical stakeholders.
  • Experience running technical demos, POCs and coordinating with solutions architects to translate technical specs into commercial value.
  • Pricing and contract negotiation skills, including familiarity with enterprise licensing models, subscription billing and statement-of-work (SOW) creation.
  • Competency with sales tools and outreach platforms such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Outreach, SalesLoft and marketing automation systems.
  • Strong data-driven sales capabilities: use of Excel, BI tools or sales analytics to model pipeline scenarios, quota attainment and deal economics.
  • Experience responding to RFPs/RFIs and preparing compliant proposals for public and private sector procurement.
  • Knowledge of networking, security fundamentals, virtualization, and common enterprise IT stacks to credibly engage technical buyers.
  • Familiarity with partner/channel sales models, deal registration processes and co-selling motions with MSPs/SIs/VARs.
  • Ability to use CPQ tools and pricing configurators to create complex quotes quickly and accurately.
  • Basic understanding of compliance and regulatory considerations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) when selling solutions into regulated industries.

Soft Skills

  • Consultative selling and active listening — ability to probe for real business problems and align solutions to outcomes.
  • Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills for both executive-level and technical audiences.
  • Strong negotiation and persuasion skills with a track record of closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals.
  • Relationship-building and stakeholder management across distributed buying centers.
  • Resilience, persistence and a positive attitude toward rejection and long sales cycles.
  • Strategic thinking and territory planning with the discipline to execute daily prospecting cadence.
  • Time management and prioritization to balance new business acquisition with account expansion and pipeline hygiene.
  • Cross-functional collaboration skills to coordinate pre-sales, professional services and customer success teams.
  • Problem-solving orientation with the ability to propose pragmatic alternatives that address client constraints.
  • Adaptability to shifting product roadmaps, competitive dynamics and customer priorities.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, Marketing, Engineering or equivalent professional sales experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree plus industry certifications (e.g., cloud vendor certifications, security certifications) or an MBA for senior roles.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Information Technology / Information Systems
  • Computer Science
  • Marketing
  • Electrical / Computer Engineering
  • Telecommunications

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–8 years in B2B technology sales, depending on role seniority.

Preferred:

  • 3–5+ years selling enterprise IT, SaaS, cloud or managed services with documented quota achievement.
  • Experience selling to mid-market and enterprise accounts, navigating procurement and multiple stakeholder buying processes.
  • Prior success working with channel partners, MSPs or systems integrators (preferred for partner-focused roles).
  • Demonstrated ability to close multi-year contracts, manage large deal cycles and execute strategic account plans.
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