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saasmastersf

Regional Sales Director

Fire Starter
Contributor
Personal Narrative

Expansion Roles

I am seeing some opps pop up for expansion AE roles.   Does anyone have opinions on what skill sets are required for that type of role and how it differs from regular AE?  

my other question is how into just Account management? 
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Gasty
Notable Contributor
4
War Room Community Manager
Think about going to an amusement park. You've got two scenarios:

1. 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬:You walk up to someone who's never been to an amusement park before (or to a really awful one). They're looking at the giant Ferris wheel with wide-eyed wonder. You're convincing them to buy a ticket and come in. It's new. It's exciting. But it can be a little scary. Both for you and them. They don't know if they'll like the rides if the popcorn will be up to their standard. You're scared they'd run away at the final moment, or worse - after entering.

2. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬:Now there's someone already in the park. They've been on a few rides already. They're having a good time. You're trying to convince them to buy the all-access VIP pass. That'd let them skip lines, get free food, and access to the super-secret, ultra-cool, only-for-VIPs rides. They already like the park, so they might be willing to spend a bit more to make their experience even better. But, maybe they're quite happy with what they have and don't want to pay for extras they may not use.

So, you're either luring Ferris-wheel fearing rookies into the park (NB) or pushing the already-hooked thrill-seekers to spend on no-lines and free fries(EB).

Either way, you're navigating the popcorn-strewn rollercoaster that is sales.

Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
This is my favorite analogy so far.
Maximas
Tycoon
0
Senior Sales Executive
That's a helluva great clarification,good one Gasty!
bigfella
Tycoon
3
AE (Account Executive)
It's likely a growth role dealing with existing customers. Land and expand baby.
HVACexpert
Politicker
2
sales engineer
Drive that share of wallet up
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
2
Sales Rep
I am primarily focused on net new, but found this post where there is advice on starting to prospect with AM like roles

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/moving-from-new-customer-acquisition-to-account-management
Diablo
Politicker
2
Sr. AE
It’s more about farming the existing client or in other word Account Management. I am net new but my Enterprise AM reps are doing this where they target different teams, geographies etc of the existing clients to expand our footprint.
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
2
☕️
It's a hybrid between New Business and CSM work. It's not order-taking, necessarily, but it can also be more grueling than landing the new logo. You're dealing with customers who are having either successful adoptions or shit implementation, and then trying to derive more cold hard cash from their cold arthritic hands.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
2
🦊
They have the strength of baby fists.
saasmastersf
Fire Starter
2
Regional Sales Director
Thanks. Not prospecting all day sounds nice, but there must be pain hidden somewhere. Any ideas on how comp works on these? I am used to standard 50/50 enterprise SaaS split.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Can vary, depends on how much of your time is spent managing the existing footprint and how much of your comp is tied to either satisfaction or services add in addition to increase in ARR.
Pachacuti
Politicker
2
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
Sounds like farmer roles to me.
YoursTruly
Politicker
1
Account Executive (SaaS)
I moved from new logo to growth (also manage renewals) at a publicly traded SaaS company this year and am super glad that i did. Consolidation is an easier sale at the moment.

Love and miss new logo amd will probably go back in a year or two when budgets open up again.

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