On the latest episode of the Sales Readiness Podcast, Ray Makela, Managing Director of Talent Development, was joined by Ethan Radoff, Partner at SBI, to dive into one of the most persistence challenges in go-to-market strategy: the division between the Sales and Account Management roles.
While it’s a topic that’s been covered extensively, it remains a grey area for many commercial leaders. As Ray emphasized at the start of the episode, content SBI has published on the distinction between the two roles continues to resonate because organizations are still grappling with where the line is drawn, and why it matters.
Ethan brought a practical lens to the discussion, grounded in his experience as both a seller and advisor to B2B companies. He noted that as businesses scale, it becomes increasingly difficult for own individual to own the entire customer lifecycle, from lead generation through renewal.
The reality is that sales environments today are more complex. Factors such as product sophistication, customer size, and engagement frequency all influence the type of talent and touchpoint needed to convert and retain customers. This leads to a natural separation between those focused on landing new logos and those tasked with expanding and renewing existing ones.
Ray pointed out that when this distinction isn’t clearly made, organizations end up over-indexing on either net-new pipeline or existing accounts, failing to strike the necessary balance. This imbalance introduces risk, especially in markets where both growth and retention are critical to hitting targets.
Rather than framing the issue as a binary choice between Sales or Account Management, Ethan suggests that companies think in terms of specialization. He described a model where roles are aligned to specific phases in the customer journey, which allows individuals to focus on the KPIs they’re best equipped to influence.
This way of thinking is more in line with the fundamental differences between Sales and Account Management. For example, salespeople are typically measured on pipeline creation, win rate, and deal cycle length. Account managers or customer success leaders are more aligned to net revenue retention, expansion, and advocacy. Each set of metrics requires different behaviors and competencies.
The conversation also covered the implications for sales organization design. Ethan stressed that designing around the customer journey is key to achieving role clarity. As companies grow, they should think about the point at which they need to introduce role separation.
Ray noted that when done well, this structure improved overall productivity. Sellers spend more time focusing on new logos and account managers are able to drive post-sale value (i.e., growth and expansion) instead of being pulled into new business activity.
One of the more nuanced parts of the discussion was about what happens when the roles are defined but execution falls short. Ethan explained that title designation alone doesn’t solve the problem. Companies need to be clear about responsibilities, success metrics, and the handoff process across the commercial team.
In practice this means being disciplined about what each role is accountable for and requires leadership to ensure that incentives don’t unintentionally blur the lines.
Ray reinforced the idea that companies don’t need to completely reinvent their GTM model to see improvement. Even small shifts like role definition or goal alignment can unlock performance gains across Sales and Account Management.
By thinking in terms of specialization, designing around the customer journey, and aligning internal expectations to external needs, commercial leaders can unlock top-line momentum and expansion.
To go deeper into these insights, listen to the full episode, Sales vs. Account Management: Why Role Clarity Matters More Than Ever.