Sales & Key Account Manager

Zoho; Chennai District; On-site; INR 1,500,000 - 2,600,000; Full time

Job summary

CustomerLabs, based in Chennai, is seeking a high-performance Sales & Key Account Manager to generate new business, close high-value digital marketing retainers, and grow strategic client accounts. You will own the journey from prospecting to retention, coordinating with Performance Marketing, Content, Creative, and Strategy teams to tailor solutions.

Prospecting, qualification, pitching, and negotiation lead to long-term relationships with 10–20 clients at target retainer levels.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in any discipline.
• 3–7 years of experience in B2B sales, digital marketing, or agency sales.
• Proven experience selling services, not just products.
• Strong understanding of digital marketing.
• Excellent verbal and written communication.
• Strong negotiation, presentation, and closing skills.
• Experience engaging with senior decision-makers.
• Comfortable working with revenue targets and multiple accounts.
• Experience using CRM tools and sales reporting systems.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage a self-generated pipeline of prospective clients.
• Identify and engage founders, CEOs, CMOs, Marketing Heads, and Business Heads.
• Generate new business via cold calling, LinkedIn, referrals, and events.
• Conduct discovery meetings to understand objectives, budgets, and existing agency relationships.
• Present customized digital marketing solutions and coordinate proposals.
• Lead commercial discussions, negotiate, and close retainers.
• Maintain an accurate sales pipeline and ensure timely follow-ups.

Skills

Communication skills

Negotiation

Presentation

CRM tools

Sales prospecting

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MBA/PGDM in Sales or Marketing

Tools

CRM software

Sales reporting tools

Job description

We're looking for a high-performance Sales & Key Account Manager to generate new business, close high-value digital marketing retainers, and grow strategic client accounts.
This is a hunter + farmer role where you'll own the journey from prospecting and qualification to pitching, negotiation, closing, retention, and account growth. You'll work closely with Performance Marketing, Content, Creative, and Strategy teams to understand client needs and sell the right digital marketing solutions.

What You'll Do

• Build and manage a self-generated pipeline of prospective clients across relevant industries, company sizes, marketing spends, and business potential.
• Identify and engage decision-makers such as Founders, CEOs, CMOs, Marketing Heads, and Business Heads.
• Generate new business through cold calling, LinkedIn prospecting, email outreach, referrals, networking, industry events, professional networks, strategic partnerships, and account-based prospecting.
• Conduct discovery meetings to understand business objectives, marketing performance, customer acquisition challenges, digital marketing budgets, growth targets, and existing agency relationships.
• Present customized digital marketing solutions based on client business needs.
• Prepare proposals and commercial presentations in coordination with the internal team.
• Lead commercial discussions, negotiate, and close high-value digital marketing retainers.
• Maintain an accurate and updated sales pipeline and ensure timely follow-ups throughout the sales cycle.
• Build strong relationships with key decision-makers across existing strategic accounts.
• Conduct regular account reviews and understand client business objectives beyond individual campaigns.
• Identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling across performance marketing, content, creative, additional campaigns, and new digital channels.
• Identify churn risks early and work with internal delivery teams to address client expectations and support renewals.
• Work closely with Performance Marketing, Content, Creative, and Strategy teams to coordinate client requirements and deliver the right solutions.

ROLE PURPOSE

We are looking for a high-performance Sales & Key Account Manager responsible for generating new business, closing high-value digital marketing retainers, and growing strategic client accounts.

The person will be expected to:

Prospect → Qualify → Pitch → Propose → Negotiate → Close → Retain → Upsell

Primary Business Target

The long-term objective is to build and maintain approximately 10-20 clients at the average retainer level, while continuously replacing churn and increasing revenue through upselling and cross-selling.

Must-Have

• Bachelor's degree in any discipline.
• 3–7 years of experience in B2B sales, digital marketing, advertising, media, professional services, or agency sales.
• Proven experience in selling services rather than only products.
• Strong understanding of digital marketing.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong presentation, negotiation, follow-up, and closing skills.
• Ability to engage with business owners, CMOs, Marketing Heads, and other senior decision-makers.
• Comfortable working with revenue targets and managing multiple client accounts.
• Experience using CRM tools and sales reporting systems.

Good to Have

• MBA/PGDM in Sales or Marketing.
• Existing network of business owners or marketing professionals.
• Experience selling digital marketing retainers.
• Experience with performance marketing or lead-generation services.
• Experience managing high-value accounts.
• Experience working in a digital agency environment.

Success in This Role

• Consistently achieve monthly and quarterly new business revenue targets.
• Build a healthy pipeline of qualified opportunities and convert them into new clients.
• Improve average deal value and generate strong gross margin.
• Grow existing strategic accounts through upselling and cross-selling.
• Maintain strong client retention and renewal rates.
• Maintain accurate CRM records, follow-up discipline, pipeline coverage, and revenue forecasts.
• Build and maintain approximately 10–20 clients at the target average retainer level while continuously replacing churn and increasing account revenue.

Why CustomerLabs?

Welcome to the Average Kootam

A place where you’re trusted to own your work, make decisions, learn from the experience, and keep moving forward. You’ll know what you’re working towards, have the freedom to grow into bigger responsibilities, and see the impact of what you do. Teams here don’t work in isolation Sales, Marketing, Design, Engineering, and others work closely, challenge ideas, and build better things together. And when we’re not building, we make time to learn, connect, have fun, and bring the whole Kootam together.

Wanna know more about us? Connect with us:

We're active on LinkedIn , Instagram talking about what we do at CustomerLabs .
Would you like to know our stories? Catch up on what we’re up to on the LinkedIn page of our HR Team - Devarshini , Aswin , Kunguma ! Take a sneak peek at our behind the scenes fun at our team-run Instagram page .

Want to bypass all this and get a coffee with us at our office?

Let us know here!