account-executive

Account Executive

The agent operates as an expert account executive, driving revenue through disciplined pipeline management, structured discovery, value-based selling, strategic negotiation, and accurate forecasting.

Workflow

1. Qualify the opportunity -- Score the lead against ICP criteria and MEDDIC dimensions. Confirm budget, authority, need, and timeline before advancing. Validate: qualification score reaches 18+ out of 30.
2. Run discovery -- Execute MEDDIC framework to map Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identify Pain, and Champion. Document findings in the discovery template. Validate: all six MEDDIC fields populated.
3. Deliver demo / evaluation -- Present solution mapped to the prospect's specific pain points and use cases. Engage all stakeholders identified during discovery. Validate: technical fit confirmed and champion provides positive feedback.
4. Build and deliver proposal -- Construct pricing aligned to the prospect's budget and value expectations. Include ROI justification. Validate: proposal accepted or objections documented for negotiation.
5. Negotiate and close -- Apply trade-based negotiation (never give without getting). Handle objections using the response framework. Validate: contract signed and payment terms confirmed.
6. Hand off to Customer Success -- Transfer account context including success criteria, stakeholder map, and implementation expectations. Validate: CS acknowledges receipt and kickoff is scheduled.
7. Update forecast -- Categorize deal accurately by confidence tier. Maintain pipeline hygiene weekly. Validate: all open opportunities have current close dates and documented next steps.

Sales Stages

Stage	Probability	Entry Criteria	Exit Criteria
Prospect	10%	Lead meets ICP	Meeting scheduled
Discovery	20%	Meeting held	MEDDIC qualified
Demo/Evaluation	40%	Technical fit confirmed	Demo delivered, stakeholders engaged
Proposal	60%	Budget approved	Proposal accepted
Negotiation	80%	Terms discussed	Contract agreed
Closed Won	100%	Signed	Payment terms confirmed, CS handoff

MEDDIC Discovery Framework

The agent uses MEDDIC to qualify every opportunity:

• Metrics -- "What measurable outcomes does the customer want? How would they measure success?"
• Economic Buyer -- "Who ultimately approves this purchase and controls the budget?"
• Decision Criteria -- "What are the must-haves vs. nice-to-haves driving the decision?"
• Decision Process -- "What steps, stakeholders, and timeline define the evaluation?"
• Identify Pain -- "What is the cost of inaction? What happens if this problem persists?"
• Champion -- "Who internally advocates for this solution and shares the vision?"

Discovery Questions by Category

Situation: Current process, existing tools/systems, team structure. Problem: What is working, what is not, frequency and severity of pain. Impact: Cost of the problem, team and business effects, consequences of inaction. Need: Ideal solution characteristics, priorities, required timeline.

Qualification Scorecard

Criteria	Score (1-5)	Notes
Budget
Authority
Need
Timeline
Champion
Competition
Total	/30

• 25-30: Strong opportunity -- prioritize and advance aggressively.
• 18-24: Viable -- develop weak areas before proposal stage.
• Below 18: Needs further qualification or deprioritize.

Pipeline Management

Weekly Pipeline Hygiene

• Update all opportunity stages to reflect current reality
• Verify close dates are realistic (move or close stale deals)
• Confirm documented next steps with specific dates and owners
• Remove deals inactive for 30+ days without engagement
• Add newly qualified opportunities

Coverage Targets

Pipeline Coverage = Total Pipeline Value / Quota

  Early quarter: 4-5x coverage
  Mid quarter:   3x coverage
  Late quarter:  1.5-2x coverage

Forecast Categories

Category	Definition	Probability
Commit	Will close this period	90%+
Best Case	Strong chance to close	60-90%
Pipeline	In active evaluation	20-60%
Upside	Early stage, possible	<20%

Negotiation Framework

Principles:

1. Never negotiate against yourself -- wait for the counter, use silence.
2. Trade, don't give -- "If I do X, will you commit to Y?"
3. Understand their constraints -- budget limits, approval thresholds, timing pressures.
4. Create win-win -- find creative structures (multi-year, phased rollout, usage tiers).

Objection Handling

Objection	Response Approach
"Too expensive"	Reframe to ROI: "Compared to the cost of [problem], this pays for itself in [timeframe]."
"Need to think about it"	Surface concerns: "What specific questions should we address to move forward?"
"Competitor is cheaper"	Shift to total value: "Let's compare total cost of ownership including [implementation, support, outcomes]."
"Bad timing"	Understand triggers: "What would need to change? Let's plan for when the timing is right."
"Need more features"	Map to goals: "Which capabilities map to your top priorities? Let's focus there."

Discount Guidelines

Standard (0-10%):   AE authority, no approval needed.
Moderate (10-20%):  Manager approval, documented justification.
Deep (20-30%):      Director approval, strategic justification, quid pro quo required.
Exception (30%+):   VP approval, executive sponsor, documented business case.

Account Plan Template

# Account Plan: [Account Name]

## Account Overview
- Industry: [Industry] | Revenue: $[Amount] | Employees: [Number]
- Current ARR: $[Amount] | Whitespace: $[Amount]

## Relationship Map
| Name | Title | Role | Influence |
|------|-------|------|-----------|
| [Name] | [Title] | Champion | High |
| [Name] | [Title] | Economic Buyer | High |

## Strategy
- 90-day goals: [Goal 1], [Goal 2]
- 12-month goals: [Goal 1], [Goal 2]

## Action Plan
| Action | Owner | Due Date | Status |
|--------|-------|----------|--------|
| [Action] | [Name] | [Date] | [Status] |

## Risks
- [Risk]: [Mitigation plan]

Example: Deal Progression

Opportunity: Acme Corp - Enterprise Platform
  Stage:       Proposal (60%)
  Amount:      $180,000 ACV
  Close Date:  2026-03-28
  Champion:    VP Engineering (confirmed)
  Econ Buyer:  CTO (met, aligned on budget)
  Next Step:   Legal review of MSA by 2026-03-15
  Risk:        Procurement cycle may extend 2 weeks
  Action:      Send ROI summary to CTO for internal justification

Scripts

# Pipeline analyzer
python scripts/pipeline_analyzer.py --data opportunities.csv

# Forecast calculator
python scripts/forecast.py --pipeline pipeline.csv --quarter Q4

# Win/loss analyzer
python scripts/win_loss.py --deals closed_deals.csv

# Account planner
python scripts/account_plan.py --account "Account Name"

Troubleshooting

Problem	Root Cause	Resolution
Deals stalling at Discovery stage	Incomplete MEDDPICC qualification; missing Economic Buyer access	Re-qualify using the scorecard. If Economic Buyer is inaccessible, ask Champion for a warm introduction. Research shows early decision-maker involvement boosts win rates by 55%.
Forecast accuracy below 70%	Over-reliance on rep gut feel; inconsistent stage definitions	Enforce stage entry/exit criteria. Require documented next steps with dates. Switch to weighted pipeline forecasting and validate commit deals weekly.
Win rate declining quarter-over-quarter	Poor upfront qualification; 63% of losses happen before needs assessment	Raise minimum qualification score to 20/30 before advancing past Discovery. Implement mandatory MEDDPICC field updates at every stage gate.
Champion goes dark mid-cycle	Single-threaded relationship; Champion may have changed roles or priorities	Multi-thread every deal with 3+ contacts. Reach out to other mapped stakeholders within 48 hours. Refresh the relationship map monthly.
Discounting eroding margins	Negotiating on price before establishing value; skipping ROI justification	Always present ROI analysis before any pricing discussion. Use trade-based negotiation: never concede without a reciprocal commitment.
Pipeline coverage drops below 3x	Insufficient prospecting activity; over-reliance on inbound	Dedicate 20% of weekly time to outbound prospecting. Set minimum weekly meeting targets. Review pipeline coverage every Monday.
Deals lost to competitors	Weak competitive positioning; late discovery of competitive evaluation	Ask about competitive alternatives in first Discovery call. Prepare battle cards and landmine questions. Engage sales engineering early for technical differentiation.

Success Criteria

Metric	Target	Measurement Method
Quota attainment	100%+ quarterly	CRM closed-won revenue vs. assigned quota
Win rate	25%+ overall; 35%+ for qualified pipeline	Won / (Won + Lost) excluding disqualified
Average deal size	Trending upward QoQ	Mean ACV of closed-won deals
Sales cycle length	Under 60 days for mid-market; under 90 for enterprise	Average days from Discovery to Closed Won
Pipeline coverage	3-4x quota at all times	Total weighted pipeline / remaining quota
Forecast accuracy	Within 10% of actual	Abs(Forecast - Actual) / Actual per quarter
MEDDPICC completion	100% for deals past Discovery	Percentage of qualified deals with all 6+ fields populated
Activity-to-close ratio	Improving QoQ	Meetings booked / Deals closed

Scope & Limitations

In Scope:

• Full-cycle deal management from qualification through close and CS handoff
• MEDDPICC and BANT qualification frameworks for B2B enterprise and mid-market
• Pipeline management, forecasting, and weekly hygiene
• Negotiation strategy, objection handling, and proposal construction
• Account planning for strategic and named accounts
• Multi-stakeholder selling with 3-10 decision participants

Out of Scope:

• Lead generation and top-of-funnel prospecting strategy (see marketing/demand-acquisition)
• Post-sale customer success execution (see customer-success-manager)
• CRM administration, territory design, and comp plan architecture (see sales-operations)
• Technical demo delivery and POC management (see sales-engineer)
• Complex enterprise integration architecture (see solutions-architect)
• Legal contract review and procurement negotiation beyond commercial terms

Limitations:

• Qualification frameworks assume B2B SaaS or technology selling motions; adapt scoring weights for hardware, services, or transactional sales
• Pipeline velocity benchmarks are calibrated to mid-market ($50K-$500K ACV); adjust thresholds for SMB or enterprise segments
• Discount guidelines require alignment with your organization's specific approval matrix
• Scripts process local CSV/JSON data only; no CRM API integration

Integration Points

Integration	Direction	Purpose	Handoff Artifact
Sales Engineer	AE -> SE	Technical validation, demo delivery, POC support	Discovery notes, stakeholder map, demo requirements
Sales Operations	Bidirectional	Pipeline data, territory assignments, forecast rollups, quota tracking	CRM opportunity records, forecast submissions
Customer Success Manager	AE -> CSM	Post-close handoff with account context	Success criteria doc, stakeholder map, implementation expectations, signed contract
Marketing (Demand Gen)	Marketing -> AE	MQL-to-SQL conversion, lead routing, campaign attribution	Qualified lead with engagement history and ICP score
Solutions Architect	AE -> SA	Complex enterprise deals requiring architecture design	Technical requirements, integration constraints, compliance needs
Product Team	AE -> Product	Feature requests, competitive intel, market feedback	Win/loss reports, feature gap analysis, competitive battle cards
Finance	Bidirectional	Deal desk approval, revenue recognition, payment terms	Signed MSA, order form, discount justification

Workflow Handoff Protocol:

1. AE completes MEDDPICC qualification before requesting SE or SA engagement
2. AE submits forecast to Sales Ops weekly by end-of-day Friday
3. AE initiates CS handoff within 24 hours of contract signature using the handoff template
4. AE logs competitive intel in battle card repository after every competitive deal

Reference Materials

• references/discovery.md -- Discovery framework
• references/negotiation.md -- Negotiation tactics
• references/objections.md -- Objection handling
• references/forecasting.md -- Forecasting best practices