Sales Specialist Roles versus Account Management Role
Sales Specialist – this Sales Rep is a product specialist, expert on the solution he is selling. This is his primary expertise and he can be successful regardless which type industry/account/prospect he is selling to. He knows competition well and he is well prepared to position his/her companies product in a superior way, mainly based on product excellence.
Account Manager – this Sales Rep is an expert for a group of Accounts or industry, typically bigger corporations. He knows specific customer needs, requirements, industry specific trends and solution requirements within the industry. In his sales role he needs to sell the whole “product portfolio” of his company to a group of accounts he knows well. He has limited knowledge of all the products to sell, when customers want to go in detail he needs support from colleagues knowledgeable.
Give me your perspective on the following Questions:
In general – in which market/account situations would you use the different roles and why?
Describe pro’s and con’s of each role, their strength as well as their shortfalls
From the customer perpective
From your companies perspective
From the Sales Reps perspective