SMB Account Executive (Sales Intern) Review

I have completed a year-long placement as an SMB Account Executive (Sales Intern). In this role, I was responsible for helping small businesses with their IT needs, across both the corporate and public sector. I managed existing customer accounts as well as generating new business opportunities. In the intern team, we worked towards a quarterly GP team target and individual KPIs.
My daily responsibilities included outreach (calling and emailing customers) and prospecting, hosting customer meetings to scope opportunities or progress projects, collaborating with specialists and vendors, managing pipeline, renewals and customer cadence, and admin tasks like creating quotes, placing orders and dealing with customer requests. Alongside working on my own accounts, the intern team were also responsible for managing and triaging inbound leads through the web and phone for the whole company.
The role centred around communicating with new and existing customers, identifying their IT priorities and challenges, and delivering excellent customer service. Our goal was to build relationships with our customers by educating them on Softcat's offering and how we can add value to their organisation, and work strategically to sell a range of technology solutions across multiple business lines including hardware, software licensing, cybersecurity, data centre and support services.

Yes, we were given a lot of responsibility. Regarding account management, we were given the same level of responsibility on the internship as a permanent account manager. We were given the autonomy and independence to manage our own workload, set our own calendar and completely manage our own customer bases. We were also given additional responsibility through handling the inbound leads for the entire company. In general, the customer-facing sales role gave me a lot of responsibility in terms of managing all communications, projects, cadence, requests, proactivity, meetings, orders and renewals for my customer base of around 100 accounts.

I further developed many of my existing skills, and also learned some new skills.
This role enhanced my verbal and written communication, relationship building, teamwork, presentation skills, leadership, problem-solving, organisation and time management.
The placement also taught me valuable skills in independence and the importance of having the confidence to act on initiative, as well as proactivity - these skills are really important in a sales role where you have a lot of responsibility and autonomy, and need to remain self-motivated.
I also learned industry-specific skills such as collaborating and communicating with a variety of stakeholders (including customers in different roles, vendors and specialists) and being adaptable, qualifying opportunities, as well as understanding how the channel works, developing product knowledge and an understanding of business lines, how to host customer meetings and use internal systems.

I received a lot of support and guidance during the placement - both of the SMB team managers were lovely and happy to help with any problems or challenges. I had weekly 1-1s with my line manager and with my mentor, which were tailored to my needs each week (e.g. help on deals and reviewing pipeline, support with KPI presentations, skill development and handover). The initial training for the role was good, as well as support from the wider business with ongoing development opportunities throughout the course of the placement. Better understanding and support from more senior management would have been helpful.

The company culture at Softcat is special and truly unlike any other place of work. It reflects a balance of hard work and responsibility, with passion for the role and the industry, alongside a strong social culture with fun events, incentives and genuine friendships that extend beyond the workplace. It is evident that they employ people who really embody the Softcat values and contribute to a fun and positive culture. The general atmosphere in the offices is very supportive and collaborative. There's always something to get involved in outside of your main role, whether that's being a part of the culture team for organising office events, being a member of a network (e.g. Women in Business) or getting involved in volunteering opportunities.

I really enjoyed my placement at Softcat - the professional opportunities were invaluable, and the social side of the job and Softcat culture made it a really fun place to work. All of the opportunities during the placement have contributed to my personal and professional development, and have allowed me to gain hands-on experience of a fast-paced sales role, as well as commercial awareness and other transferable skills. I found my role in the SMB team really rewarding, and I have now extended my contract for a month past the internship to help with the handover to the next cohort.

Yes