Former AMs who are now AEs - what advice would you give? (Bonus if Prospecting-related)

I'm a few weeks into a new gig as a Regional AE in K-12 EdTech SaaS (company is amazing so far).


Formerly I worked in EdTech SaaS selling software that covers a different school subject. I started as an AM, did very well in New, Renewal and Expansion sales. From there, they put me into a Hybrid AE/AM role where I was responsible for ALL sales in my territory, both New and Renewal. I crushed that, but the majority of my goal was still Renewal (I blew my New numbers out, but that's in part because I maximized when customers got on the hook and am a good closer).


In my new role, I have a heavily weighted New goal since a colleague handles most of the Renewal stuff. I feel a lot more need to prospect than I did before, and that seems to be a pretty universal piece of advice, but unlike many Enterprise-type roles EdTech is much more based around Relationship Selling. Simply smashing out tons emails and dials to "play the numbers game" in hopes you get some sort of engagement isn't very effective when you are selling to Educators, and it does not jive with my style either.


Some additional context: my company has about 10% of market share, but the marketplace isn't too flooded, and our brand is known and respected. We are not the cheapest product, but as far as quality/teaching methodology goes we are on a different level than any competitor at the moment. Basically if I can get someone into a meeting and they are open to change, the product will sell itself. I'd say our biggest hurdle/competitor is status quo and administrators handling teachers with kid gloves and being scared to implement sweeping changes for fear of losing teachers or just having them be uncooperative or unwilling to implement the software properly.


I'm curious if any of you migrated from an AM to an AE role and what adjustments you made (or wish you made) to be successful!

๐Ÿ”Ž Prospecting
๐Ÿ‘‘ Sales Strategy
๐Ÿ’Œ Cold Emailing
4
FromaBlankPerspective
Politicker
1
District Manager
I recently moved from a partner/channel role to a more traditional hunting position, and consistency has been key for me in prospecting. Create a simple multi touch campaign that you can execute on a weekly basis and then rinse and repeat.
BenitoBlanco_
Opinionated
0
Regional Account Executive
When you say a weekly basis, are you moving from set of contacts to set of contacts or are you literally hitting them with a multi-touch cadence every week?
FromaBlankPerspective
Politicker
1
District Manager
Iโ€™m sure this varies by industry/company, but for us what we have seen work best is focusing on 10-15 contacts a week and hitting them each day with something. Example:

Monday - connect on LinkedIn
Tuesday - Call/email
Wednesday - Drop or send something to their office
Thursday - Call
Friday - LinkedIn messageย 

Thatโ€™s just a sample and you can whatever makes the most sense, but weโ€™ve found that this approach yields more answers than just a single touch.
BenitoBlanco_
Opinionated
0
Regional Account Executive
Awesome, thank you for the insight!
Beans
Big Shot
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Pick up the phone.
BenitoBlanco_
Opinionated
1
Regional Account Executive
A phone?! Huh?? Not sure how to use that
Beans
Big Shot
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Worked in channel sales as an AM for med device, and a couple colleagues would never call their assigned partners/accounts.ย 

Just do the e-mail check-in right before QBR's.

And they wondered why their uplifts, renewals, and expansions always lagged.

When I switched to AE the urge to type over dial was there early but the success rate on cold outreach for new biz is so skewed to the latter that you can't have that mindset to succeed.ย 
BenitoBlanco_
Opinionated
0
Regional Account Executive
Oh yeah, that definitely makes sense. I've known some AMs as well who are scared to pick up the phone. There is definitely an art to cold calling someone who works at a K-12 building, but it can be done successfully.
eman
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Fucking prospect
BenitoBlanco_
Opinionated
0
Regional Account Executive
any favorite go-tos you like? (specific, not "call them" or "email them")
eman
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Leverage relationships, who are mutual connections on LinkedIn.ย  Ask them out for a coffee/lunch/happy hour/golf, let them know what you do and then ask who they know that might be interested in your product. Finally, pick up the dang phone and make calls. :)
5

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