Account Executive, University Sales

Account Executive, University Sales

At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business. The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team.

We are looking for a Talent Account Executive to join our team and generate new opportunities within Academics vertical. You will have proven experience selling complex solutions to the higher education. You will be responsible for responding to inbound inquiries as well as blanketing your region with outbound activity. You will strategically approach target educational institutions and teams, identify the best technology options and sell LinkedIn's learning and hiring solutions. Although you strive to meet and exceed quota, you will always act in the best interest of the client.

Responsibilities:

Business Development and Sales Management

• Prospect relentlessly to build a pipeline and establish strong personal relationships with prospects.
• Create reliable forecasts and maintain transparency with management on pipeline status.
• Close new business consistently at or above quota level.
• Develop and execute on a strategic plan for the territory, document, and distribute competitive information.

Customer Success and Relationship Building

• Proactively mitigate churn risk by adopting a smart, customer-centric approach.
• Build relationships with multiple stakeholders across the customer's organization, both vertically and horizontally.
• Sell LinkedIn solutions suite across various customer lines of business (LOBs).
• Demonstrate joint accountability with colleagues and cross-functional teams for optimal customer success.

Collaboration, Leadership, and Operational Excellence

• Invest in colleagues by offering coaching and advice when opportunities for improvement arise.
• Develop and circulate best practices as the foundation for team success.
• Be proactive in solving problems outside of your area and take on additional initiatives as needed.
• Seek leadership opportunities and work to help the company achieve broader objectives.
• Maintain discipline in territory and account planning, forecasting, and quota attainment.
• Travel as required (approximately 40% of the time).

Basic Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience in sales
• 3+ years of relevant sales experience selling into education vertical

Preferred Qualification:

• Solution selling
• Ability to multithread and sell to different business stakeholders
• Experience in selling SaaS solutions
• Ability to find, manage, and close high-level business in an evangelist sales environment
• Ability to negotiate and accurate forecasting skills
• Knowledge of software contract terms and conditions with the ability to create fair transactions
• Experience in handling CRM
• Ability to manage CXO relationships and large enterprise accounts
• Ability to assess business opportunities and use data to inform decision-making and persuade others
• Ability to manage a large number of prospect situations simultaneously while positioning company products against direct and indirect competitors

Suggested Skills:

• Solution Selling
• Negotiation
• Forecasting