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The differences between account executives, key accounts and commercial account executives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an account executive, key accounts and a commercial account executive. Additionally, an account executive, key accounts has an average salary of $117,015, which is higher than the $75,624 average annual salary of a commercial account executive.
The top three skills for an account executive, key accounts include healthcare, CRM and account management. The most important skills for a commercial account executive are cloud, customer service, and CRM.
| Account Executive, Key Accounts | Commercial Account Executive | |
| Yearly salary | $117,015 | $75,624 |
| Hourly rate | $56.26 | $36.36 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 162,443 | 137,143 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Key Account Executives are responsible for generating sales revenue and maintaining relationships with key accounts of an organization. Their duties include setting sales targets, generating new leads, assiting in developing market strategies, designing and managing sales reporting tools, and working with the strategic communications team to ensure sponsor opportunities are relayed well. They are also involved in promotional content creation, implementing leads, and communicating product knowledge updates to the accounts and sales team.
A commercial account executive is responsible for income growth in new trademark and existing accounts within an assigned area and ensuring all key measures are delivered. Commercial account executives are primarily responsible for the principal generation and opportunity formation. They work with Marketing, Sales Development, Customer Success, and Professional Services departments to proactively develop and implement an area plan. Also, they work with accounts via telephone, email, in person, and other online means. Additionally, they provide direction and guidance to the extended territory team and leadership to ensure individual and team success. Candidates for this position must have executive-level selling skills.
Account executives, key accounts and commercial account executives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Account Executive, Key Accounts | Commercial Account Executive | |
| Average salary | $117,015 | $75,624 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $181,000 | Between $50,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | - | Washington |
| Best paying company | - | VMware |
| Best paying industry | - | Start-up |
There are a few differences between an account executive, key accounts and a commercial account executive in terms of educational background:
| Account Executive, Key Accounts | Commercial Account Executive | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between account executives, key accounts' and commercial account executives' demographics:
| Account Executive, Key Accounts | Commercial Account Executive | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.4% Female, 38.6% | Male, 59.3% Female, 40.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 73.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |