Mid-Market Account Executive

Mid-Market Account Executive Jobs

Becoming a Mid-Market Account Executive is an excellent opportunity for committed and enthusiastic sales professionals to take their sales career to the next level.

In addition to facilitating sales, closing deals, and maintaining positive-growth client relations, they are also expected to provide training and encourage sales growth via SaaS/cloud technology and service delivery to the entire sales department. Their primary target for sales development is among middle-market companies.

What Does Mid-Market Mean?

Typically, the business world categorizes companies into three common categories: small, middle-market, and enterprise. A middle-market business is generally defined as one whose yearly revenue falls between $10 million and $1 billion.

These categories can be further subdivided. In the case of middle-markets, you can find lower middle-market companies that rake in approximately $5 million to $50 million annually, and upper middle-market businesses, which usually bring in between $500 million to $1 billion annually.

Most Mid-Market Account Executives prefer not to restrict themselves to narrow subcategories but, instead, target the whole range of mid-market sales opportunities.

Qualities Needed To Be an Effective Mid-Market Account Executive

The position of Mid-Market Account Executive comes with a significant amount of responsibility. The ideal candidate should possess the following qualities:

• Demonstrate ambition, authenticity, resilience, and the ability to adapt to situations as needed.
• A relentless focus on maintaining and enhancing positive customer experiences.
• A demonstrated knowledge and enthusiasm for their company’s product or service.
• Extensive experience in sales that leans heavily on building relationships with clients.
• Consistent annual earnings that demonstrate past success as an Account Executive managing mid-market industries.
• A proven top sales performer with a reputation for delivering customer satisfaction—preferably with mid-market sectors.
• Ability and willingness to travel to visit customers either on-site or at industry-related events.

Mid-Market Account Executive Responsibilities

The role of a Mid-Market Account Executive covers a wide range of duties beyond general sales prospecting and development.

Responsibilities for this position can include:

• Manage relationships with existing customers.
• Negotiate and close new business opportunities.
• Engage in upselling and cross-selling with existing accounts.
• Search and prospect new clients by phone and email using websites and advertiser databases for leads.
• Perpetuate activity that results in high-volume revenue.
• Work with Account Management and Sales teams to bolster revenue and customer satisfaction.
• Cooperate with various teams, including Account Management, Finance, Marketing, and Legal, Executives, as needed to advance and close deals.
• Create and deliver presentations, product demonstrations, and value-based solution offerings.
• Adapt sales presentation content to target audiences.
• Engage with clients over the phone, through virtual video meetings, or in face-to-face meetings as needed.
• Identify key regional mid-market prospects. Build and manage sales pipelines in those areas.
• Identify target company sizes and engage in prospecting activities, cold calling, and nurturing new business relationships.
• Using a consultative approach, provide strategic advice to help prospects get the most out of a company’s products or services.
• Maintain a professional and positive relationship with colleagues and stakeholders.

How Much Can a Mid-Market Account Executive Earn?

Unsurprisingly, a Mid-Market Account Executive earns considerably more than an SMB Account Executive. Of course, they also have markedly more responsibilities. As with the Account Executive position, a Mid-Market Account Executive’s earnings combine a base salary with a sales commission. In some situations, the position may also come with a signing bonus.

On average, a Mid-Market Account Executive in the United States earns about $160,000 in compensation annually. The amount is roughly split between base salary and commissions, with both amounts increasing with experience and success. Mid-Market Account Executives also sometimes receive bonuses for exceeding performance expectations.

Top Paying Companies Hiring Mid-Market Account Executives

By total average compensation, the top 20 companies hiring Mid-Market Account Executives in 2022 are:

1. Workday ($261K)
2. Paycom ($266K)
3. Google Cloud ($252K)
4. Coupa ($249K)
5. Workiva ($233K)
6. Segment ($230K)
7. ServiceNow ($223K)
8. Braze ($223K)
9. Pendo ($220K)
10. Cloudera ($220K)
11. Aventri ($220K)
12. DocuSign ($218K)
13. Plaid ($217K)
14. Zoom ($216K)
15. Financial Force ($215K)
16. Box ($214K)
17. Twilio ($213K)
18. Human Interest ($209K)
19. SHI ($208K)
20. Slack ($207K)

Other top companies include such familiar names as Amazon Web Services ($205K), FIS ($199K), Autodesk ($198K), GitHub ($195K), and Microsoft ($193K).

Note that these companies are not themselves considered mid-market; some of these companies are among the most successful in the world. They all, however, work with and offer solutions beneficial to mid-market companies across the globe.

Why Target Mid-Market Companies?

It’s more than simply a matter of preference.

While it’s true that inking deals with large businesses pulling in billions of dollars a year in revenue can add to your business’s reputation, a company’s resources run the risk of becoming overwhelmed in dealing with too large a client. Along those lines, if a business puts most of its resources into one major client company, it runs the risk of getting into severe financial trouble should that account suddenly disappear.

That’s why, for many businesses, an ideal target is the mid-market.

These companies are big enough to offer considerable revenue but small enough that you can support multiple accounts without spreading yourself too thin.

In addition, mid-market companies are better prepared to invest in growth strategies that go beyond short-term sales. They tend to understand that success requires combining excellent products or services with superior customer experiences. As their account executive, they are looking to you to help them with those goals.

Defining the Middle Market

The middle market is the business sector with annual earnings usually between $10 million (low middle market) and $1 billion or more (high middle market). At current estimates, approximately 200,000 middle-market businesses are operating in the United States alone. The majority of these companies are privately held or closely held, and their combined annual revenues exceed $10 trillion.

An Alternative Definition

You could also identify some companies as mid-market by the number of employees they have, Companies with 100 to 500 employees would be considered to be in the lower mid-market. Companies in the upper mid-market would have between 500 and 2,500 employees. By looking at employee numbers instead of revenue alone, a Mid-Market Account Executive can study customer segmentation, sales attribution, and demand generation to help determine the best approaches and solutions when engaging with a prospect.

Outside the mid-market definition, you could view small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) as organizations with fewer than 100 employees, while more than 2,500 people would make that business an enterprise.

Looking Beyond the Numbers

When examining a mid-market prospect, another facet to consider is attitude.

Does the prospective client see themselves as a small or large player in the field? Do they seem themselves as, say, no longer small but also not yet big?

Just about any company you can think of has gone through growing pains and experienced plateaus—those moments where they seem to have reached their limit but, in truth, have far greater potential than they realize.

As a Mid-Market Account Executive, it’s up to you to help these businesses realize their full potential and to provide solutions. How can your product or service help this business grow in ways they may not have considered? What’s holding them back, and how can you address that?

That’s why creativity is another essential skill any successful Mid-Market Account Executive must nurture. Through careful study of the prospect, the market, and the product, an effective executive finds ways to help an opportunity succeed.

The Next Step of a Successful Sales Career

Mid-market sales development can be seen as the very definition of win-win.

As a market segment, it’s ideal for many businesses looking to increase sales with growing companies without taking too many risks or spreading resources too thin. It also presents unique challenges to the Mid-Market Account Executive by offering them opportunities to hone their sales skills, creativity, and inter-departmental managing abilities.

As a Mid-Market Account Executive, you’re perfectly positioned to aid in every stage of the deal, from lead generation to customer care and retention.

By cultivating the right skills and putting in the work required, there’s no reason you couldn’t benefit—both personally and financially—from a successful career as a Mid-Market Account Executive.

Whether you are a company looking to hire a new Mid-Market Account Executive, or looking for AE jobs near you, our team is here to help! Contact us now to get started.