L
L

Lyceum

Strategic Account Executive

Big Shot
Executive
Opinionated
+6

What pays more? Account Manager or Account Executive

I'm curious to know your guys experience with this. I've been in both roles and they were comped very similarly. This was at the same company though so I'm curious what everone else has seen.



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19 comments

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goose
Politicker
5
Sales Executive
Account executive typically pays more but there is no way to compare the roles in a generic way. Too many variables to consider.
Lyceum
Big Shot
2
Strategic Account Executive
Agreed, I don't mean in general. Let's just look at three variables. 

1. Base salary
2. OTE Commissions
3. Your experience.
goose
Politicker
3
Sales Executive
AM: Base is higher, commissions are lower, added bonuses for renewals and referrals. AE: Base is lower, commissions are higher, limited bonus unless we are talking about escalators. My experience.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
Well generally AEs are paid on new business vs AMs who are paid on existing business. I think it varies depending on the company and their pay structure. 
Lyceum
Big Shot
0
Strategic Account Executive
Yeah for sure. What did it look like at the business you've been in? 
UrAssIsSaaS
Arsonist
4
SaaS Eater
AEs in my experience have a lower base but much higher ceiling and OTE because of the focus on new logos. 
LordBusiness
Politicker
3
Chief Revenue Officer
Generally AE will pay more as it’s focused on net new logo acquisition. Every company is different though
InQ5WeTrust
Arsonist
3
No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL
Base Salary AM's will typically win on. 

Total salary with commission included AE's typically win on. 

OTE will always be higher on AE side as their pool of new logos will always be higher than the pool of current customers. 
Lyceum
Big Shot
0
Strategic Account Executive
Great point. So long as there is work to be done there is money to be made. 
Avon
Politicker
2
Senior Account Executive
Most places I’ve seen, AE has a higher ceiling but lower base salary.
Lyceum
Big Shot
0
Strategic Account Executive
Same OTE? How big of a difference was the salary?
dfelly
Opinionated
2
Regional APAC AE
I've seen on average the AMs will make more money due to higher base particularly if your company has a large install base easier to renew etc sticky product. AEs that are high performing will make more money by a lot but depends how realistic OTE is.
CRAG112
Valued Contributor
1
Account Executive
If you don't have to hunt for new business and don't care for doing that, but can instead focus on relationships and upselling while working with CSM to help you do so (which is a large part of their job anyways) why not do that?

Sales in general, you know what to expect. No base salary increase. Higher quotas. Insane expectations or requests. Etc etc etc. 

Grass not necessarily greener on the AM side. But..... if you can make more and do less, wise man say, you win. 
Diablo
Politicker
0
Sr. AE
Oh boy! I have come across these in different organisation. They are compared similarly in terms of salary.
Lyceum
Big Shot
0
Strategic Account Executive
That's what I've seen too. At my company even commission was comped the same way. The only difference was account managers sold to existing accounts and account executives sold to new businesses. 

Commission percentage on new software and consulting was exactly the same though. 
cw95
Politicker
0
Sales Development Lead
Account manager!
DrunkenArt
Politicker
0
Sales Representative
Depends on the company but AMs make more in terms of base, but AE's will have a much higher ceiling since they can bring in as much new business as they want.
jefe
Arsonist
0
🍁
Agreed with basically everyone here.

I think when deciding the best route for YOU, it comes down to what you prefer/what you're passionate about, and the type of day-to-day work you like best.
Flippinghubs
Opinionated
0
Account Executive
AE

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