Account Executive (AE)(AE)
Quick definition
A sales professional responsible for closing deals, from demo to contract.
Detailed explanation
An Account Executive (AE) is the "closer" in your sales organization - they take qualified opportunities from SDRs and bring them to closed won. AE responsibilities include: giving demos, conducting in-depth discovery, navigating stakeholders, writing proposals, negotiation, and closing deals. In enterprise sales also: relationship building with executives, navigating complex buying committees, and structuring multi-year strategic deals. AEs are measured on quota attainment, win rate, average deal size, and sales cycle length. A good AE combines: product expertise (can confidently demo), business acumen (speaks the buyer's language), consultative skills (helps buyers buy), and closing ability (asks for the business). AE is often the next step for successful SDRs in the sales career ladder.
Synonyms
Examples
An AE receives 30 qualified opportunities per quarter from SDR team (SQLs with booked discovery calls). AE conducts discovery, gives demos, does 2-3 follow-up meetings, sends proposals, and negotiates. Target: 10 closed deals (33% win rate) x €30K ADS = €300K quarterly quota.
Enterprise AE works on 5-10 large accounts simultaneously over 6-12 months. Task: multi-threading (engaging CFO, CTO, VP Sales), navigating procurement, coordinating technical validation, executive sponsorship, and structuring enterprise agreements. Quota: €1-2M per year, 2-3 large deals.
When to use this?
Hire AEs when you have consistent qualified pipeline that SDRs generate. Ratio typically 1 AE : 2-3 SDRs depending on deal size and cycle. For enterprise sales AE can prospect themselves (no SDR), for transactional sales AE can both generate and close (no split).
Match-day approach
Match-day helps you define the AE role, create hire profile, and onboard effectively. We build 30-60-90 day onboarding plans, certification programs, and clear quota ramps (new AEs have lower quota first months). We also implement AE enablement: demo certification, objection handling training, proposal templates, negotiation workshops. We also review AE performance metrics to see where coaching is needed - win rate low? discovery skills. Cycle too long? momentum/urgency skills. Deal size small? upselling/value quantification.
Learn more
Wil je weten hoe je account executive (ae) effectief inzet in jouw organisatie? Neem contact op met Match-day.
Neem Contact Op