Consulting Account Executive

Job Description

Responsibilities
Strategy and Planning
• Leads the virtual Consulting account team's contributions to the account vision and strategic approach. Contributes to the overall One Microsoft strategy, driving for agreement with account team on Consulting and Partner strategy. Leverages appropriate tools, frameworks, and methodologies (e.g., 3 Horizons model, customer and industry knowledge) to develop a deliberate approach to position potential modernization and digital transformation outcomes which are aligned with customer's priorities.
• Leads the virtual Consulting account team account-planning preparation, defining Consulting sales priorities and collaborating with Consulting delivery/account-aligned leads to leverage insight and provide input to overall account plan. Leverages 3-Horizon outcomes as a point of view/roadmap for digital transformation. Leads Consulting input to account-team planning sessions, uses the appropriate tools (e.g., account- planning tool), and provides updates per required account-team governance and rhythms. Understands revenue drivers for other (non-Consulting) Microsoft business segments and aligns plans appropriately (e.g., cloud-success metrics, revenue-recognition timelines, etc.).
Customer Realtionship Management
• Drives for agreement with account team on customer and partner stakeholder ownership, including consulting-led stakeholder relationships. Builds and maintains connections with key influencers and decision makers, and leads effective consulting rhythms of connection with customer and partner stakeholders. Leverages the consulting the virtual Consulting account team appropriately.
• Leverages insight from consulting account-delivery team to ensure awareness of status of projects in delivery. Anticipates issues/risks on customer satisfaction, determines the root cause of problems, removes blockers and establishes recovery action plan to improve customer's overall experience.
Business Value Selling
• Proactively builds and maintains up-to-date knowledge of customer's business priorities, risks and challenges, internal landscape (e.g., organization structure, stakeholders, business performance), industry/sector challenges, regulations, trends and futures (e.g., impact of artificial intelligence [AI]).
Leverages Microsoft Consulting go-to-market scenarios to drive intentional customer conversations. Educates senior decision makers of assigned account(s) (e.g., director-level) on Microsoft's value proposition, aligned to the customer s priorities and maturity.
• Demonstrates a deep understanding of a customer's business and differentiates themselves in complex selling environments by sharing insights, reframing the status quo, and quantifying business impact that motivates customers to take action. Brings ideas that trigger transformational customer conversations. Develops complex consulting propositions (e.g., multiple workloads, modernization and digital transformation scenarios) with customers.
Account Team Orchestration
• Orchestrates the consulting-sales relationship with the core account team, working closely with Enterprise colleagues to ensure successful creation, maintenance, and execution of the account plan, and a positive One Microsoft customer experience. Orchestrates the virtual Consulting account team, effectively influencing and collaborating with account-aligned, pursuit and delivery colleagues to bring the best resources to ensure customer success.
Deal Excellence
• Drives the sales cycle from lead qualification through to deal closure, effectively executing per-sales process requirements (e.g., Microsoft Selling Process [MSP], Consulting Lead to Order [L2O] process). Consistently drives deal velocity as a result of executing high-quality lead qualification and close planning.
• Leverages customer connections and the virtual Consulting account team's insight to confirm Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline (BANT) information to determine progression or lack thereof of a lead to become a consulting opportunity and throughout the Microsoft sales process. Leverages trusted customer stakeholder relationships to expand customer thinking. Probes and challenges customer appropriately to determine quality of customer's BANT.
• Gains active contribution from others in building close plans for all qualified opportunities, initially (at qualified stage) comprising the core Budget, Authority, Need and Timeline (BANT) information and commercial strategy for the deal, and progressing to include detailed customer procurement process, risks, issues, etc. Updates the close plan as deal progresses through each sales stage. Obtains consensus and participation from entire account team to the close plan. Executes, updates, and closes on customer-centric actions that achieve alignment between Microsoft and customers.
• Ensures all applicable leads and qualified opportunities are linked to customer priorities in the account plan. Maintains accurate Sales Stage, Forecast Recommendation (e.g., committed, committed at risk) and Due Dates in required systems of record (e.g., Microsoft Sales Experience [MSX]), in alignment with close plan. Consistently delivers on committed forecast recommendations.
• Drives discussions of terms and conditions (e.g., scope, milestones, price) with executive-level customer stakeholders (e.g., CFO, CEO, elected officials, board level) for opportunities in collaboration with the virtual Consulting account team and customer through multiple iterations to ensure agreement. Builds and executes negotiation activities into the close plan for the opportunity, based on guidance from broader team (e.g., legal and business desk).
• Brings experience, insights, and perspectives from customer engagement to Microsoft business to drive deeper customer engagement.

Qualifications

• 9+ years industry sales experience in the commercial or public sector (e.g. Finance, Local Government, etc.)
Bachelor's Degree

10++ years of consulting solution sales experience.