Tech companies are increasingly going after enterprise sales, but selling to larger accounts from small or even midmarket businesses is not a one-to-one transition. SaaS investments at this level involve many more pieces and have a higher ceiling for failure.
As the top agency for specialized go-to-market (GTM) hiring in the technology sector, Betts Recruiting has seen firsthand how selling in this arena requires a more multi-layered and collaborative approach. Drawing on insights from our new Enterprise Compensation Guide, this comprehensive article explores how to build and scale sales teams for targeting enterprise-sized accounts:
Multi-tier Sales Approach to Enterprise
Tech has changed a lot over the past decade, and how companies buy software has increasingly transformed since the pandemic years. Larger organizations in particular have several levels of approval required before committing to a single SaaS investment. This makes enterprise sales a much more complex process, often requiring multiple tiers of selling – from pre-sales to direct and post-sales – as well as a structured division between account types.
Organizational Maturity Level for Multi-tier Sales
Before you are ready to start building a multi-tier sales team for enterprise accounts, your company should have achieved certain milestones:
- At least $1M in ARR and likely have product-market fit (or on the cusp of it)
- At least two Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) and at least two Account Executives (AEs)
- Established sales processes and proven repeatability in your sales motion
- Sufficient funding to support the increased headcount and longer ramp times associated with enterprise selling
Tier 1: Enterprise Direct Sales
The first tier starts with your frontline sellers; however, it is best to segment accounts on an axis of size and seniority, which allows you to better match experience level with deal complexity level. This approach grants several benefits, including providing a structured career path for more junior sales reps and establishing priority for bigger clients in the event anything needs to be escalated, especially if you rely on a smaller number of accounts for your revenue.
Here is the breakdown of roles that Betts recommends:
- Enterprise Account Executives (EAEs) manage enterprise-level prospects and customers, execute full sales cycles from prospecting to closing, understand business needs and propose solutions, maintain post-sale customer satisfaction, and work with supporting technical and customer success teams.
- Strategic EAEs manage the largest, most strategically important enterprise accounts (typically 2,001-5,000+ employees), handle complex sales cycles requiring consultative selling, focus on new logo acquisition while maintaining existing relationships, and develop long-term strategic partnerships with key customers.
- Directors of Enterprise monitor sales performance against targets, identify growth opportunities, strategize effective techniques to boost revenue, and manage collaborative sales processes for large strategic accounts. They typically handle operational responsibilities while VPs focus on strategy and leadership development.
- VPs of Enterprise establish strategy for new customer acquisition with expansion vision, recruit diverse enterprise sales organizations, maintain key customer relationships, and provide detailed sales forecasting across the organization. This role requires demonstrated second-line leadership experience and proven $20M+ ACV annual quota achievement.
Compensation for Enterprise Sellers
Compensation averages for these roles goes hand in hand with seniority and account size:
- Enterprise AE level ($250K-$500K deals): $150K-$165K base with equivalent variable
- Strategic EAE level ($500K-$1M deals): $165K-$175K base with equivalent variable
- Director level ($1M-$2.5M deals): $200K-$225K base with equivalent variable
- VP level ($2.5M+ deals): $250K-$275K base with equivalent variable
Tier 2: Pre-Sales and Technical Support
For the next tier, we have to take a step back and discuss the pre-sales process for enterprise-sized accounts. While the greater SaaS market increasingly relies on technical validation for most deals, it is a vital function for enterprise customers due to the size of their investments, and virtually every engagement requires it. Your customers will be looking to minimize risk and ensure ROI on implementation, and your success will depend on proving your solution will deliver.
Sales Engineer
Sales Engineers focus on product validation and technical demonstration, providing technology expertise during sales cycles, customizing solutions for specific client needs, and supporting quota-carrying Account Executives through engineering-level conversations. Enterprise AEs will partner closely with SEs to validate initial implementation scope and ensure solutions align with a buyer’s existing infrastructure.
Sales Engineer compensation reflects their specialized technical expertise:
- 1-3 years experience: $120K-$130K base / $30K-$40K variable
- 3-5 years experience: $135K-$150K base / $40K-$50K variable
- 5-8 years experience: $150K-$165K base / $50K-$60K variable
- 8+ years experience: $170K-$180K base / $60K-$70K variable
Solutions Architect
Solutions Architects play a key role in scoping projects and addressing technical challenges to set deals up for success. SAs concentrate on strategic solution design, creating comprehensive architecture aligned with customer strategy and business outcomes, working on fewer but larger complex deals, and bridging the gap between product capabilities and business requirements.
Solutions Architect compensation ranges:
- 1-3 years experience: $120K base / $10K-$20K variable
- 3-5 years experience: $130K-$150K base / $15K-$25K variable
- 5-8 years experience: $150K-$165K base / $20K-$30K variable
- 8+ years experience: $170K-$180K base / $25K-$35K variable
Tier 3: Post-Sales and Customer Success
The complexity – and continued costs – of an enterprise SaaS deal means that the sale will continue well past implementation, requiring ongoing work to optimize and support your client’s software environment and usage. While there should still be involvement from your technical sales reps from time to time, post-sales will be spearheaded by your customer success team for the most part.
Enterprise Customer Success Manager
Enterprise Customer Success Managers focusing on adoption, retention, and expansion represent the critical final tier of a multi-tier enterprise sales structure. Enterprise CSMs differ significantly from traditional customer success roles, requiring:
- Strategic account planning for high-value customer relationships
- Executive-level engagement with C-suite stakeholders for business reviews
- ROI analysis and reporting to demonstrate ongoing value delivery
- Expansion opportunity identification based on usage patterns and business growth
Enterprise Customer Success Manager compensation ranges from $175K-$200K+, reflecting their strategic impact on retention and expansion revenue.
Customer Success Engineer
Customer Success Engineers providing ongoing technical optimization work alongside Enterprise CSMs to ensure technical success:
- Technical health monitoring and proactive issue resolution
- Optimization recommendations based on usage analytics
- Integration support for new features and capabilities
- Training and enablement for customer technical teams
Customer Success Engineer compensation by experience:
- 1-3 years experience: $110K-$120K base / $20K-$25K variable
- 3-5 years experience: $135K-$150K base / $35K-$50K variable
- 5-8 years experience: $150K-$165K base / $50K-$60K variable
- 8+ years experience: $165K-$175K base / $60K-$70K variable
Implementation Consultant
Implementation Consultants ensure smooth onboarding, and serve as the bridge between sales promises and customer reality:
- Project management for complex enterprise implementations
- Change management support for customer organizations
- Training program development and delivery
- Success metrics establishment and tracking
Implementation Consultant compensation mirrors Solutions Architect ranges, reflecting similar technical complexity and customer-facing responsibilities.
Building Your Multi-tier Enterprise Sales Team
Creating an effective multi-tier enterprise sales structure requires balancing specialization with collaboration, individual accountability with team success, and operational efficiency with customer experience. It also takes knowing the right time to start hiring and for which roles, and how to source and attract your right fit candidates that align with your sales motion.
Common Enterprise Sales Hiring Pitfalls
When hiring for enterprise sales and other go-to-market positions, you will want to avoid these key mistakes:
- Over-hiring too early: Building the ideal sales department structure helps ensure you have the capacity you need to cover all of your territories and achieve your revenue goals. Do not scale faster than your pipeline can support.
- Unclear role boundaries: Clearly define roles and communication channels to avoid misunderstandings between different tiers and functions.
- Inadequate training and enablement: Your team structure is just a PowerPoint slide unless you train your sales staff. Invest in comprehensive onboarding and ongoing development.
- Misaligned incentives: Ensure compensation plans reward collaboration and successful handoffs, not just individual performance.
Solving Enterprise Sales Recruiting Challenges
Building multi-tier enterprise sales teams creates unique recruiting challenges that traditional hiring approaches struggle to address effectively. The specialized nature of these roles – from technical Sales Engineers to strategic Enterprise Account Executives – requires candidates with rare combinations of experience, industry knowledge, and proven track records in enterprise selling.
At Betts, our Recruitment as a Service (RaaS) model provides you with the scalability and on-demand expertise you need to staff your multi-layered enterprise sales team efficiently. Whether you need to hire one technical sales specialist or multiple EAEs over the next month, RaaS RaaS offers access to our extensive network of pre-vetted enterprise sales professionals through our Betts Connect platform, unlimited hiring at predictable subscription costs, and specialized recruiting support from our team of enterprise sales hiring experts.
Betts Will Help You Chart the Path to Enterprise Sales Success
The companies that succeed in enterprise sales are those that recognize the complexity of building these teams and partner with experts who understand both the roles and the market. At Betts, our deep experience in GTM recruiting, combined with our scalable RaaS model, gives you the competitive advantage needed to build high-performing teams faster and more efficiently than traditional hiring approaches. Contact Betts here to learn how our enterprise GTM recruitment expertise can help you build and optimize your multi-tier sales team to reach your next level of growth.