R
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RyanJohnLaw

Account Executive

Valued Contributor
Catalyst
Contributor
+2

How many accounts in your name? I’m losing my mind.

I have to take a poll on this. How many accounts does everybody have in their name? As an account executive. I’m trying to explain to my inexperienced leadership that I had 500 at my last company. I currently have 100 and im responsible for an $800,000 annual quota selling $20,000 acv units…

I’m running out of people to call already, and it’s only been four months. On top of that, they just hired a BDR without any discussion to the account executives. We have now 4 AE’S with 100 accounts in their name, each and a BDR with 258 that could have a very easily been dispersed between the account executives. We’re already calling everyday ourselves. Why add a BDR? This seems like basic misstepping. Thoughts?

👑 Sales Strategy
🧢 Sales Management
✌️ Growing Pains
37

84 comments

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Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
10
Director, Revenue Enablement
So between the AEs and BDR there are 658 accounts.... There is no way that you don't have more in your CRM.
Your goal should be to maintain 100 accounts, but if you work them for 6-8 weeks with no traction it's like scrabble. Change out your tiles for new ones and go again.
oldcloser
Politicker
8
vice office chief
Scrabble analogy- winner.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
We have 1,100 total in our CRM. 290 are in 1 BDR’s name, 41 are in another half-BDR’s name. We are not allowed to touch. We have to wait for them to distribute the appts. Even if they take forever cuz they have low skill. Even if they don’t work (one BDR currently has made 7 calls today and it’s 1:15EST).
And then our “strategic AE” who was advertised as our GM when interviewing and not a competitor to us for leads has 64 accounts. The majority of these are the top accounts in the territory since he started the company w the CEO.

And then us 4 AE’s have the remaining accounts in our name. 697 divided by 4.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
There are no more accounts. All of us work solely NYC/NJ…
Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
1
Director, Revenue Enablement
Thats wild. Why the limitation on territory & number of accounts?
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
We sell to construction companies so just a finite amount of companies. Would be fine if only 1-2 of us. 4 in just this territory bananas.
oldcloser
Politicker
1
vice office chief
This really doesn’t sound sane. Unless your ICP really can’t live without the solution AND you have no competition. You got a territory monopoly on lumber?
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
No just delusional Israeli founders…
Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
2
Director, Revenue Enablement
They must be working those mob ties then.

Are your commissions paid in small envelopes full of cash?
sketchysales
Politicker
1
Sales Manager
Anything stopping you going over the border to your neighboring states? Plenty of population to south of you and not to far out if you are selling to construction industry on a quick delivery promise.
Unless of course it's run by the mob then I can understand
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
2
Account Executive
They don’t let us do Zoom meetings 💀 that’s about it.
Everything is done in person so a nice trip to Philly to *maybe* get a sale doesn’t make much sense atm.
Phillip_J_Fry
Fire Starter
1
Director of Revenue
Don't let you do zoom meetings?
LMAO, wut??? Do these people hate making money?
HVACexpert
Politicker
1
sales engineer
ill be honest with you right now. being in person with construction companies goes ALOT farther.
and don't give up on those accounts, it can take awhile to break into the construction industry. But once you do it can be worth while. keep following up.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Sometimes I think so because we also don’t have a marketing department and no interest in creating an inbound machine. “Doesn’t work in construction” 😂
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
I do have to agree that getting a construction Guy on a zoom is NOT easy…
Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
1
Director, Revenue Enablement
@HVACexpert is 💯 on this. Construction industry is face to face business. That ultimately means a lot of time driving from site to site to get the job done. If you only visit once a quarter then your number of accounts is what it needs to be.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Oh we’re calling these guys everyday. My GM’s motto is “drive them crazy”
I’ve literally been told “I feel like I’m being harassed” by a director of construction.
HVACexpert
Politicker
3
sales engineer
it can work but it has to be pointed and where they are at.
if you are just blasting out then its not going to work.

but if you are advertising and buying tables at construction convections. or participating in industry technical societies.

Example: my company and I heavily participate in things like SMACNA, ASHRAE, and MCA, which are all industry driven associations. getting into something similar for your product is a MUST.
oldcloser
Politicker
1
vice office chief
gold, right here.
HVACexpert
Politicker
0
sales engineer
haha! you also have to realize construction probably is behind is some other industries from a technology standpoint when it comes to company operation. many of them are family owned small businesses, run by the same guy for 20 years who complains about email.
Havok99
Big Shot
0
Senior Account Executive
You have it rough my man! Can I ask what you are selling to construction companies?
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
3
Account Executive
Yupp so I’m NYC there’s heavy heavy regulation and massive fines for slip ups. There aren’t too many solutions for tracking worker attendance so a lot of GC’s can’t answer “how do you know who is on your site and when?” Even on $200M sites with 400 workers some GC’s solely use keycards for this (they get passed around like crazy and effectively do nothing) we sell 3D facial recognition cameras for access control to solve for it.
Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
2
Director, Revenue Enablement
I’ve seen Sapranos enough to know they may not want to solve this problem
oldcloser
Politicker
1
vice office chief
Does seem to fit 🤷🏻‍♂️
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
I’ve got a client who just lost $1.3M that would disagree!
Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
1
Director, Revenue Enablement
I don't disagree at all that your solution is a complete necessity. Knowing who is or isn't on your job site is serious. From an L&I standpoint alone there is massive use case to combat fraud for when people claim to get hurt on the job, but weren't even there.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
that’s the main value prop nailed!
Sunbunny31
Politicker
7
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
I’m sorry to say that it looks like it’s time to jump. From what you say, this is not supportable with the number of reps you have, and it’s obvious that something is going to give.
ThatNewAE
Big Shot
2
Account Executive - Mid enterprise
Exactly my point ! This is not very encouraging to begin with.
GDO
Politicker
0
BDM
it's gonna break at some point
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
Sounds like time to move on friend
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
3
Sales Rep
Very interesting to saturate your reps territories
DataCorrupter
Executive
4
Account Executive
The Snowflake model
SaaSsy
Politicker
3
AE
100 with that quota sounds like it should be Enterprise but $20k is so small. With the amount of AEs and that finite number? Get out
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
3
Account Executive
The only solace is that we own the repeat business/relationship for life. No AM’s. Just us. So when they buy again next year (it’s based on construction projects. Some companies will do 2-4 projects a year so deals CAN get to $60k-$100k), we get that commission as well. In 18-24mo $800k a year could be doable with new logos + repeat business.
Being expected to close $200k this quarter on new logos when I started in May, however, is asinine…
HVACexpert
Politicker
2
sales engineer
if you get 100 construction companies buy repeat business you will do very well for yourself.
being successful in a market like NYC will help drive success when you try to penetrate a new market as well. construction people like to hear they weren't the first ones to try out a new product.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
so - now it seems like it might be ok to stay IF you can get some market penetration? And the real complaint is the unrealistic quota for net new business?
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
Sort of yeah. And just being expected to make 30+ calls per day on 100 accounts is a great way to piss people off.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
1
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
No doubt at all. Crazy.
SaaSsy
Politicker
1
AE
Interesting ok, that def makes a difference.
Rocinante
Executive
1
Account Executive
I was gonna say, it sounds like it’s almost entirely reliant on the companies you’re selling into to bring your company new business.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
That is indeed the case.
ThatNewAE
Big Shot
1
Account Executive - Mid enterprise
100 accounts is very less dawg !
I had 250 accounts in my previous company, but the accounts would keep getting added / refreshed every once in a while, so I always had something new to work on. Even if you try multithreading, you will run out of accounts in itself, and then leads.
Try talking to your management to increase the count? This is way too less.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
The problem is that someone would have to get fired for me to get more accounts. We only operate in NY/NJ (and even then the vast focus is on NYC ONLY) so there are only a finite amount of companies we can chase, and 4 AE’s working the same territory.
Diablo
Politicker
1
Sr. AE
Why was this hiring in the first place - were you told as you are too limited in your geog ?
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
I was told there was only 1 other AE… they omitted that I was being hired alongside 2 more.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
They were hiring because they thought they had a lot of accounts. They aren’t immensely savvy and don’t understand that an AE can handle 300-400+ accounts themselves
HVACexpert
Politicker
1
sales engineer
what kind of construction companies are you trying to talk to ? mechanical contractors, electrical, general? manufacturer's representatives? design firms? there could be more to look into.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Solely GC’s and developers
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
No subcontractors
HVACexpert
Politicker
0
sales engineer
why?
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
They don’t call the shots on the solutions we offer. We do access control to gain access to sites. The GC is responsible for this.
HVACexpert
Politicker
0
sales engineer
oh construction site security and access, interesting. are you offering something material like a fencing or wall option? or like digital locks /key card interface or something?
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Yupp. There’s a hardware component which definitely doesn’t help scalability.
We do 3D facial recognition. So there’s a camera. Essentially we’re disrupting against keycards cuz everyone just passes them around and people get on site anyway.
HVACexpert
Politicker
2
sales engineer
cool! so I would suggest going the following routes;
1) bring this to wholesalers, and distributors, and sub contractors. Many of them have outdoor storage that some sort of access control could be useful/beneficial for them. if you find the right distributor or wholesaler, they could help you get into these offices and sell to these contractors, and you might be able to sell a bulk order they could stock or keep on a shelf (if your skids are small enough).
2) have you tried security companies? for instance companies like JCI, Siemens, etc. sell building security that they can integrate into building controls. They could be interested in a product like this as part of their offering.
3) there might be companies who sell or rent fencing, or construction site security options, finding these could be a solid route.

in construction it is about who you know. getting linked up with a manufacturers rep (partner), wholesaler, or distributor might be the best route.

good luck.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
Thank you!!!
1
Self employed
When I sold aircraft parts I had over 1200 accounts internationally, and cut it down to 500-600 to be more manageable.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Thank you for sharing! That sounds like a cool gig.
0
Self employed
You're welcome! It was cool, I enjoyed it, learned a lot about other countries.
pirate
Big Shot
0
🦜☠️ Account Executive
Which accounts out of those make the most revenue? Those are the ones you should be focusing on
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
So far none lol… coming up on month 4 and the sales cycles are roughly 3-5mo so haven’t closed anything yet.
pirate
Big Shot
0
🦜☠️ Account Executive
I mean what companies according to Google have the highest turnover, revenue, profit or budget of they're on the public sector
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Gotcha. Yeah that’s definitely the focus for now. Going to take 3-6mo to break into the giants, as is very normal.
They don’t really understand this and want $200k this quarter per AE. We all started in May lol.
Beans
Big Shot
0
Enterprise Account Executive
25~ With the opportunity to rotate H1 and H2.
Pachacuti
Politicker
0
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
Churn and burn
JustGonnaSendIt
Politicker
0
Burn Towns, Get Money
My peak account list was over 4,500 (SMB / MM Inside Sales role / Territory Coverage)

Today I have 7 (national strategic accounts)
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Lol yeah it’s so tough to decipher. Well, mine are $20,000 units and 3-4mo cycles. Got what it’s worth.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
For**
JustGonnaSendIt
Politicker
0
Burn Towns, Get Money
I would question if there is any upsell option. Are you limited to selling a $20,000 one-time purchase?
Can you get quota credit for multi-year engagement? Upsell to other services or additional licensing?

Having to hit 40 / 100 customers with a win to hit your number is a big ask, unless it's a highly commoditized product and you're the clear leader.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
yes, there’s big upside. I’ll be generous and say the avg account gives us 2 deals a year. So 20 closings needed. Still 20% close rate on 100 GROSS accounts… using only cold outreach.. in my experience that number is closer to 2%-4%
swabianarabian
Fire Starter
0
Teamlead Business Development
why don’t you just leave the place 🥴
goose
Politicker
0
Sales Executive
What are the solutions? Self-source new leads, build an affiliate program to generate leads or referrals? I know people are saying it’s time to leave but this doesn’t seem overly complicated.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
There are no other leads… we have every relevant construction company in NYC/NJ in our CRM.. there are roughly 1100. The problem is that we have 6 people working the 1100, when, in my experience this is enough meat on the bone for 2 people max.
My leadership thinks 100 leads in your name is enough, well, because they think conversion rates are 80%. They think nearly everyone should be saying yes to us and therefore think we’re just drowning in opportunities. The reality is that I’m calling the same people so often that they’re telling me words like “harassed”. I’ve also created 23 opps off the 100 and as far as I’m concerned that’s as good as the list is gonna get. This list will not be refreshed, however. These are my leads. They will be my leads in 3,6,12+ months too.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
We have 6 people working NYC and Hudson County NJ… not even NY state and NJ state… NYC… and a small section of New Jersey that lines the Hudson..
White
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
The answer to the question is really depending on what type of accounts you have. A Key AE will have 3-5 accounts for the whole year while an SMB AE might have 1000s. Two strategic accounts might get you to hit your annual quota, whilst dozens of SMBs won't.
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
For sure, yeah. And I’m not entirely against the possibility that some key accounts will get us there or close. But starting in May with a cold list of 100 accounts and being asked where the $200k quota for 9/30 is seems ridiculous.. on $20k units I’d need to close 10% of my GROSS database in months 0-4. Even though everything is going relatively well in the relationships, they’re just not ready to convert.
Saassales94
Good Citizen
0
Senior account executive
10 accounts. Enterprise SaaS seller at an established 2 billion in revenue company
ApocalyBoom
Opinionated
0
Account Executive
Filling the boundaries of representatives is very interesting
PineappleYa
Opinionated
0
AE
Is there enough product types or growth to do much land & expand?
SalesMama
Executive
0
Senior Account Executive
It seems strange to me that they siphoned off some accounts to be exclusively for the BDR vs allowing reps to share the BDR and drive outreach strategu
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Lol.. yeah..
Goose29
Personal Narrative
0
Sales Executive
We currently have about 20 accounts in our name- working them with a shared BDR
RyanJohnLaw
Valued Contributor
0
Account Executive
Average contract value?
mishatojk
Old School Bravo
0
Enterprise Account Executive
I have four accounts. Count yourself lucky!

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