Account Executive (AE)
The closing role carrying a revenue number, responsible for working opportunities from qualification to signature.
What the role owns
Qualification depth, stakeholder coverage, the commercial negotiation and forecast accuracy. In most organisations the AE's forecast call is a primary input to company planning, which makes calibration part of the job rather than a nicety.
Pipeline ownership is ambiguous by default
RELATED TERMS
Multi-Threading
Building relationships with several stakeholders in a buying account rather than relying on one contact.
Discovery Call
The conversation in which a seller establishes whether a real problem exists, who owns it, and what solving it is worth.
Quota
The revenue target assigned to an individual rep for a period. The most consequential number in a seller's working life, and the mechanism translating a company target into individual accountability.
Sales Development Representative (SDR)
The role responsible for creating qualified pipeline through prospecting, rather than closing it.
Learn how to apply this: RevOps 101: Revenue Operations Foundations
Definitions are the vocabulary. The courses are where you learn to operate it, with the interactive audit tools.
See the course