Position Summary
The Sales and Business Development Executive is responsible for generating new business and leading sales opportunities from initial engagement through to contract execution. You’ll manage a defined portfolio of prospect accounts, selling complex, high-trust solutions that drive real organizational change.
You are also expected to establish a strong market presence by contributing thought leadership, participating in industry events, and building credibility within key vertical markets.
If you’ve succeeded in long-cycle, multi-stakeholder sales and prefer depth over volume, this role is designed for you.
About TalentMap
TalentMap helps organizations drive meaningful change through employee listening. For over 25 years, we’ve partnered with public and private sector organizations across North America to design and deliver employee feedback solutions that actually lead to action.
We offer a unique combination of
- A flexible employee listening platform
- Deep consulting expertise
- A highly tailored, client-first approach
What You’ll Own
- ~500 prospect accounts across 1-2 core industries (e.g., municipalities, healthcare, education)
- 30–40 key accounts where you’ll invest deeply in relationship-building and opportunity development
- Full sales cycle: inbound & outbound → discovery → demos → solution design → proposals → negotiation → close
- Multi-threaded relationships across executives, IHR, IT, finance, and procurement
- Positioning consulting + platform solutions tied to strategic business outcomes and ROI
- Close partnership with Marketing on account-based campaigns and targeted plays
- Contribution to pipeline development
- Disciplined pipeline management and forecasting
- Seamless transition to Client Success team post-sale
Key Responsibilities
Pipeline Development and Account Based Selling
- In collaboration with Marketing, build and maintain a sales pipeline capable of consistently achieving revenue targets.
- Generate qualified opportunities through account-based selling
- Own strategic account planning for target organizations
- Identify, prioritize, and pursue high-value opportunities
- Develop personalized engagement strategies for each priority account.
- Build long-term relationships that extend beyond immediate sales opportunities.
- Collaborate closely with Marketing and Leadership on account-based campaigns and content.
Consultative Sales and Opportunity Management
- Qualify leads using TalentMap's sales methodology.
- Lead negotiations and successfully close strategic opportunities.
- Build executive-level relationships with HR, People & Culture, Organizational Development, Executive Leadership, and Business Unit leaders.
- Develop multi-threaded relationships across buying committees and influencers.
- Lead consultative sales engagements from discovery through contract execution.
- Diagnose client challenges and align TalentMap solutions to measurable business outcomes.
- Develop compelling business cases.
- Navigate procurement processes including RFPs and competitive evaluations.
- Ensure opportunities progress efficiently through the sales pipeline.
- Maintain accurate pipeline records in Salesforce
- Provide an accurate ongoing forecast of sales
Thought Leadership and Market Presence
- Support establishing TalentMap as a trusted thought leader within target markets.
- Represent TalentMap at conferences throughout the US and Canada, industry associations, webinars, and client events.
- Deliver presentations on employee listening, organizational culture, leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, and workforce trends.
- Publish articles, blogs, LinkedIn content, and participate in industry discussions.
- Build and maintain a strong professional network across target industries.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Human Resources, Marketing, Psychology, Organizational Development, or a related field, MBA preferred
- 5-7 years of successful B2B consultative sales experience.
- Proven ability to run complex sales cycles end-to-end
- Proven success selling SaaS and professional/consulting services.
- Experience selling to governments, municipalities, universities and educational institutions, and health care institutions.
- Experience with RFP-driven sales
- Experience with Account-Based Selling (ABS) or Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies. Including: Account research, Stakeholder mapping, Personalized engagement planning, Multi-threading relationships, Long-cycle opportunity management
- Experience responding to public-sector procurement processes and RFPs.
- Existing relationships with local governments, healthcare, or higher education institutions are highly desirable.
- Experience selling employee engagement, employee listening, HR technology, organizational development, leadership development, or consulting solutions is preferred.
- Experience building pipeline as well as closing sales
- Skilled at executive relationships
- Strong negotiation and deal closing skills
- Demonstrated history of consultative sales including Executive discovery, Needs diagnosis, Business case development, Solution selling, Value-based selling
- Excellent communicator including ability to deliver executive presentations, storytelling, proposal development, thought leadership and social media engagement, and public speaking
- Salesforce (ideal) or other CRM
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
- Notion
- Sales engagement tools
- Virtual meeting platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet)
Compensation and Benefits
- Top-quartile compensation with uncapped commission
- Comprehensive benefits package
- Flexible work environment
- Education support and professional development
Bottom Line
If you're looking for inbound leads and quick wins, this isn't the role. If you're a disciplined seller who knows how to navigate complexity, prioritize effectively, and build real relationships, we should talk.
