Do account executives do their own prospecting?

Often, and always in a small team with no SDR function. Where both roles exist the AE usually still prospects into named strategic accounts, because those need the seniority and the product depth that the closing role has and the development role does not.

What is the right ratio of SDRs to account executives?

It follows from two numbers you can measure rather than a published figure: how many qualified meetings an AE can run per week while still closing, and how many meetings an SDR reliably books. Deal size and cycle length move both, so the ratio is derived per team rather than copied.

JaxSuite AI

What Is an Account Executive?

TL;DR

An account executive, or AE, is the salesperson who owns an opportunity from the first qualified meeting through to a signed contract. The role carries a revenue quota, runs discovery and negotiation, and depends on an SDR or on inbound demand for the meetings that start each cycle.

Where does an account executive take over from an SDR?

At the first qualified meeting, and the handoff is the moment most pipeline is lost. What has to transfer is the context: why this account, what the contact actually said, which problem they named, and what the agreed next step was.

A handoff that transfers only a calendar invitation makes the AE restart the qualification the SDR already did, in front of the prospect. The recipient reads that as two conversations with a company that does not talk to itself.

What does an account executive own that an SDR does not?

The forecast, the commercial terms, and the work of reaching the other people who have to agree. A deal above a small value is decided by several people, so the AE job includes finding the ones who were not in the first meeting.

The quota reflects that scope. An SDR is measured on meetings because that is what the role controls, and an AE is measured on closed revenue because the outcome is now genuinely theirs.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Often, and always in a small team with no SDR function. Where both roles exist the AE usually still prospects into named strategic accounts, because those need the seniority and the product depth that the closing role has and the development role does not.