Selling as a Team Sport: The Account Executive & Solution Engineer Partnership

Selling at Salesforce isn’t a solo act — it’s more like a well-executed soccer play between a midfielder and a striker. The midfielder, like a Solution Engineer, surveys the field, creates space for opportunities, and makes the crucial pass (in this metaphor, a demo – stick with us!). The striker, like an Account Executive, brings the ball past the last line of defense, takes the shot, and scores the winning goal! Both are critical to the team’s success, and the best teams have strong partnerships between these two playmakers.

In this blog, you’ll meet an Account Executive (AE) and Solution Engineer (SE) on the Small and Medium Business (SMB) sales team for Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud product, whose partnership shows how strategy, trust, and collaboration lead to real-world wins. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at two deals they closed together, and learn why starting off in SMB is a smart move for anyone looking to get in the game and grow a dynamic sales career.

Ready to see how Account Executives can partner with their Solution Engineers (SEs) to make a huge impact? Let’s go.

Meet our powerhouse duo

Alan Roher: From crunching numbers to crushing revenue-driving goals 

While Alan started in public accounting, he quickly discovered his passion lay in generating growth. “What got me excited was how to create revenue – finding avenues to grow and expand.” 

This realization led him from a Sales Development Representative (SDR) role, his entry into sales, where he strengthened his sales skills at multiple startups and Fortune 100 organizations. That experience challenged Alan to learn multiple sales motions, and he rose to the top – landing as a Senior Account Executive at Salesforce. “I always saw Salesforce as the North Star of software sales,” he says. 

Alan brings his startup experience to his SMB customers with a deep understanding of risks and opportunities. He considers himself a problem-solver who helps businesses transform how they go to market.

Erin Baran: The accidental techie turned solution genius 

Erin’s story mirrors Alan’s, beginning in public accounting at a Big Four firm right out of college. Although she loved the problem-solving environment, she knew it wasn’t her forever home. 

Erin then discovered the Solution Engineering role at a software company that specifically sought professionals with accounting backgrounds, valuing their ability to speak to a CFO or speak to an accounting team and understand how the books were balanced. 

Erin admitted, “I had no idea [the SE role] existed. It wasn’t something that I learned about while I was in college”. Now, at Salesforce, she’s thriving: “I’ve really loved being here. I’ve gotten the opportunity to expand my skill set while leveraging my previous experience.”

How AEs & SEs score deals together 

So, how does this dynamic duo operate in the real world of sales? Erin describes their synergy as a balanced team effort, like that midfielder to striker dynamic: “I always like to describe us as being a tag team.” It’s all about complementary strengths and responsibilities:

The AE’s superpowers:

• Relationship Architect: Alan is the expert of building and nurturing trust. He ensures that the right people are in the room and that all sides of the business are talking to each other, facilitating conversations and ensuring everyone’s needs are met.
  
• Discovery Leader: He identifies opportunities and flags challenges, completing deep-dives of the customer’s business needs and initial qualifications of the opportunities Erin can then showcase in demos. “You have to ask the right questions to really understand what people need, and, more importantly, why they need it.”
  
• Project Manager:  Buying complex solutions like Salesforce is not easy for businesses. That’s where Alan steps in and puts on a project manager hat:
  
  “It’s hard for a company to buy anything these days; inside of a business you have multiple stakeholders who each have their own priorities that a few solutions need to solve. At the SMB level, they don’t have unlimited budgets and need to make the most out of every investment, and that’s what Erin and I build out – showing them everything they can get with our products – in the pre-sales phase.” 

The Solution Engineer’s expertise:

• Solution Aligner: After Alan’s initial discovery, Erin takes his findings and determines how Marketing Cloud could be a good fit for the customer and their challenges.
  
• Technical Showcase: She builds out the technical elements of customized demos to show how Salesforce products can address the customer’s unique challenges.
  
• Specialist Connector: Customer needs more than just Marketing Cloud? Erin is the liaison to bringing in cross-cloud specialists.

Erin emphasizes that this partnership is truly collaborative. “Throughout the sales cycle it’s never like Alan is handing it off to me and washing his hands of the customer. He’s adding value throughout by making sure we are always understanding what the customer’s problems are.” 

They both work towards the same goal: clearly articulating how Salesforce can meet the customer’s business’ needs.

Real wins from the sales floor:

Let’s peek into Alan and Erin’s success stories, showcasing the power of their partnership for a long-term and extra-short sales cycle.

The deal expansion: From emails to full transformation

Alan recalls a strategic win with an auction company. Initially, the business said they were just looking for help sending emails more efficiently. But Alan and Erin sensed a bigger opportunity as they continued to ask questions during discovery. “It sounded like there could be more there, so we kept looking.

“We’re not trying to give everyone a blanket product and then walk away. We want to customize a solution that solves multiple pain points for multiple stakeholders, so these small businesses can make the most out of this investment.”

Their collaborative discovery:

• Digging deeper: “We decided not to just give them what they asked for, and to take our time with discovery to learn about the bigger goals that this customer has,” Alan recalls.
  
• The “why” behind the need: As more stakeholders joined the discovery meetings, they brought more concerns to the table. Alan focused on asking questions around why these concerns were important and what was causing those topics to be at the forefront. Where did the pain point originate from? He began mapping deeper business goals, beyond sending emails.
  
• Understanding existing technologies: Alan explained the business landscape to Erin after discovery ended. They then worked together to create a full picture of the technologies already in place that could be a part of their solution.

Alan’s next-level dedication:
Alan chose to travel to the customer and participated in one of the auctions to see what it was like as an end user firsthand. Erin confirms this was a game-changer: “he cared about their success enough to immerse himself, and not only did he learn what their customer experience was, but it built so much trust with our stakeholders.” This firsthand context helped fuel the rest of the conversations.

The result? Together, Alan and Erin uncovered how Salesforce could help with not just emails, but every aspect of the customer life cycle! 

“This deal expansion was only possible because we have a good team that is comfortable slowing things down, that trusts each other to be strategic and find not just a solution, but the best solution,” Alan recalls.

The lightning-fast platform launch

Alan shares an example of why the SMB world is so exciting: these customers are small enough to move quickly. One of Alan’s customers needed a new marketing platform stood up in the next 60 days. To meet that deadline, Alan and Erin had just about a week to put together a solution. Here’s how they tackled it:

• Rapid qualification: Alan’s role was to quickly qualify. “What is the core problem we can solve?”
  
• Trust on tap: Alan then relied heavily on the trust built with Erin. “It was my job to get her what she needed to build an amazing demo, fast. I trusted her to tell me what she needed, and she trusted me to deliver detailed and accurate information.”
  
• Quick turnaround: This partnership allows Erin to quickly build a demo in a matter of days – and they succeeded in creating a solution that won them the deal.

Why SMB sales is a winning move

If you’re looking for a career that’s anything but monotonous, the SMB sales segment at Salesforce is calling your name!

Diverse challenges, dynamic solutions 

Alan highlights the variety of customers that he gets to work with in SMB. “You might be in an incredibly quick sales motion with a customer that has an immediate, urgent problem that they need to solve very quickly.

“Or, you could be guiding a larger 200-person company through a major transformation with a much slower and methodical sales cycle that could take months.” Alan loves the diversity in pace between each customer, saying it feeds both his desire to be a deep-diving problem solver while those quicker deals help keep him motivated. “The exposure to these different customers and deal cycles helps you discover your preferred selling style, and even shape your future career path.”

Become a business acumen expert

Alan emphasizes how being in SMB sales provided him with the opportunity to become deeply knowledgeable about successfully running a business, common challenges, and how Salesforce’s tech stack can fill those gaps. “Salesforce solutions can support every aspect of the business. When you have multiple customers that need help with a variety of problems, the breadth of understanding and the business acumen that you get from working here is going to help you understand every customer after.”

Erin also loves the diverse exposure: “Being in SMB allows you to gain expertise a mile wide and an inch deep in a lot of different areas of business, and a lot of different industries. One moment you could be talking to a law firm, and then in your next call, you’re talking to a clean energy company, then a mom and pop bakery. It allows me to constantly learn not just Salesforce products, but also about how so many businesses work.” 

Make a real, tangible impact 

Erin finds immense fulfillment in the difference her SMB team makes. “Our customers are incredibly appreciative for our solutions, and they tell you that. I think that that’s something that fills my cup. 

I love knowing that I’m making a difference in every one of these businesses’ journeys. Helping them make more money, helping them save money that’s all very fulfilling to me.” 

Get support from the roster

You’re never alone at Salesforce! Beyond your SE partner, there’s a whole network of support:

The Business Value Team

Alan frequently taps into this team, which is composed of folks with decades of consulting experience. They offer big bet swarms where AEs can be advised. Alan finds this team especially helpful for complex longer term deal cycles, as the tenured consultants are familiar with these challenges and can offer uniquely specific discovery prompts that uncover pain points. This team also helps AEs best show value to the customer’s executives.

Cross-Cloud Product Teams

Salesforce embraces teamwork across different product areas. Erin explains: “Salesforce encourages us to sell as a team. At the end of the day we’re incentivized to be able to work together because we all have different specialties.” If a customer shows interest in another product, like Slack, it’s not about competing with another seller. Erin and Alan are able to bring in their Slack counterparts. “We can all win – and the customer wins, most of all. When another product is a part of the solution, that team runs a sales cycle alongside ours. We help each other.”

Be a part of the SMB Sales team

Selling at Salesforce is a collaborative team effort. You’ll be supported by thoughtful and organized team members like Erin and Alan, and given access to a company culture that prioritizes support and continuous learning.

Ready to make a real impact and grow your career? Explore our AE roles today! Your dream team awaits.