Named account executive vs outside sales

The differences between named account executives and outside sales can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a named account executive has an average salary of $110,050, which is higher than the $77,292 average annual salary of an outside sales.

The top three skills for a named account executive include customer service, business relationships and cloud. The most important skills for an outside sales are customer service, product knowledge, and ongoing support.

Named account executive vs outside sales overview

	Named Account Executive	Outside Sales
Yearly salary	$110,050	$77,292
Hourly rate	$52.91	$37.16
Growth rate	4%	4%
Number of jobs	156,204	333,400
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 83%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age	44	47
Years of experience	-	4

What does a named account executive do?

A named account executive is responsible for handling client accounts in an organization, ensuring that the project team provides timely and high-quality deliverables according to the clients' specifications and business requirements. Named account executives coordinate with the marketing and sales team to increase the public's brand awareness about the goods and services the company offers, attracting potential clients and business partners, and identify opportunities that would generate more resources for revenue and profits. A named account executive must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on reaching out to the clients for any adjustments on the project management procedures.

What does an outside sales do?

An outside sales representative is responsible for generating the company's sales and revenues by offering goods and services to existing and potential clients, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns about the products, and researching on possible leads. Outside sales representatives monitor the current industry trends to identify new business opportunities that would help the business adjust to market changes to achieve profitability goals. An outside sales representative must have excellent communication and customer service skills, immediately resolving complaints and assisting on marketing promotions to gain sales prospects.

Named account executive vs outside sales salary

Named account executives and outside sales have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Named Account Executive	Outside Sales
Average salary	$110,050	$77,292
Salary range	Between $61,000 And $198,000	Between $56,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	-	Arlington, VA
Highest paying state	-	New Hampshire
Best paying company	-	Morgan Stanley
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between named account executive and outside sales education

There are a few differences between a named account executive and an outside sales in terms of educational background:

	Named Account Executive	Outside Sales
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 83%	Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Named account executive vs outside sales demographics

Here are the differences between named account executives' and outside sales' demographics:

	Named Account Executive	Outside Sales
Average age	44	47
Gender ratio	Male, 71.5% Female, 28.5%	Male, 78.3% Female, 21.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 5.5% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.2% White, 72.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	6%

Differences between named account executive and outside sales duties and responsibilities

Named account executive example responsibilities.

Manage new and existing accounts in healthcare industry.
Manage outsourcing contract, including infrastructure support, applications development, and consulting for client experiencing significant growth cycle.
Maintain customers and generate new business through prospecting (cold calls, telemarketing).
Utilize Seibel CRM to track sales and create reports.
Create marketing strategy goals to obtain future AE prospects.
Create marketing models that support the strategies of AE prospects.

Outside sales example responsibilities.

Plan logistical outside sales route, planned/schedule sales calls with web-base CRM program, manage various sales cycles.
Manage and create all content distribute via various social media outlets: Facebook, twitter, feedback blogs, etc.
Perfect the craft of upselling customers.
Prepare material estimates/bids for houses, windows, doors, trusses, etc.
Increase existing customer base and generate new dealer and customer relationships within the HVAC equipment and sales.
Estimate, price, bid and follow up to all mechanical HVAC and plumbing plan and spec projects.

Named account executive vs outside sales skills

Common named account executive skills

Customer Service, 21%
Business Relationships, 18%
Cloud, 17%
Sales Process, 12%
Business Development, 10%
Business Solutions, 10%

Common outside sales skills

Customer Service, 30%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Ongoing Support, 4%
Work Ethic, 4%
CRM, 4%
Flyers, 4%

Named Account Executive vs. similar jobs

Named Account Executive related careers

Named Account Executive related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Sales Industry
Named Account Executive
Named Account Executive vs Outside Sales

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse sales jobs