Frequently Asked Questions:
What does a Account Executive do?
An Account Executive owns the closing motion in B2B sales: takes qualified opportunities from SDRs (or self-sources), runs discovery, builds business cases, runs demos, and closes deals. They own quota, pipeline coverage, and the relationship through close. The role rewards strong discovery, business-case skill, and the ability to navigate multi-stakeholder enterprise deals without dropping the executive sponsor.
How much does it cost to hire a Account Executive?
AE salaries are heavily commission-weighted, with strong upside. Expect an average U.S. salary of $6,600 per month compared with an average Latin American salary of $2,500 per month, creating potential savings of up to 62%. LatAm has built a strong AE bench, particularly bilingual reps targeting U.S. mid-market and enterprise accounts, with strong U.S.-style sales process fluency.
Can a U.S.-based company hire a remote Account Executive from Latin America?
Yes, AE work has been remote-native at most B2B companies for years. South contracts the AE locally, runs payroll and compliance, and bills you monthly. They join your CRM, dialer, and Slack day one. Time-zone alignment is critical: customer calls and demos run on U.S. business hours, and the AE needs full real-time coverage.
What skills should I look for when hiring a Account Executive?
Strong discovery skill, a structured sales process, and the resilience to keep pipeline moving through 60-90 day cycles. Look for AEs who can walk through a closed-won and a closed-lost with equal honesty. Run a discovery role-play on a real prospect. The signal is genuine listening, MEDDIC-style qualification, and the willingness to disqualify when the deal isn't real.
What tools and software should a Account Executive know?
Salesforce or HubSpot as the CRM. Outreach, Salesloft, or Apollo for sequencing. ZoomInfo, Apollo, or LinkedIn Sales Navigator for prospecting. Gong or Chorus for call review. Zoom for demos. Slack for daily ops. Familiarity with Calendly or Chili Piper for scheduling, Loom for async video, and an enterprise tool like DocuSign for contracts.
How is a Account Executive different from a Sales Rep?
A Sales Rep is broader and often covers SMB or transactional deals: shorter cycles, smaller ACVs, single-stakeholder. An Account Executive typically owns mid-market and enterprise: longer cycles, multiple stakeholders, larger deals, more rigor on business case. Some companies use the titles interchangeably. For $50K+ deals with multi-month cycles, hire an AE.
How can South help me hire a Account Executive?
South vets LatAm AEs through structured interviews, recorded role-play exercises, and reference checks with prior managers. You see a shortlist in seven to ten days, run your own interviews, and onboard inside two to three weeks. South handles the contract, monthly payments, and a replacement guarantee. Schedule a free call here to get started!
Interview Questions:
- Walk me through your largest closed-won deal. Why did the prospect choose you over the competitor?
- Walk me through your most painful closed-lost. What would you do differently?
- I role-play a CFO who pushes back on price in the first 5 minutes. How do you respond?
- How do you build a multi-stakeholder business case for a $200K deal?
- Show me how you'd qualify a lead in 15 minutes using MEDDIC or BANT.
- Walk me through how you'd recover a deal that's been stuck in legal for 30 days.
- What's your approach to a prospect who keeps adding new stakeholders late in the cycle?
- How do you handle a champion who goes dark right before close?
- Walk me through a deal you saved from no-decision. What changed?
- What's the most overrated B2B sales tactic right now, and what's underrated?
Related Roles:
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