Salesforce Success Grad to Account Executive

John Sims, now in his fifth year at Salesforce, has just crossed a significant milestone. Recently promoted to Account Executive, John reflects on his journey at Salesforce, which began with a career pivot into the tech world.

During college, John originally envisioned a career at a sports agency. However, after completing a summer internship in the field, a mentor advised him to explore different industries with more opportunities for him to grow. This pivot led John to discover Salesforce, where he was immediately drawn to the company's culture and began seeking a position.

John soon joined the 6-month Success Graduate Program, where he was immersed in the platform and had dedicated time to focus on enablement and onboarding. During this program, exposure to various roles, including those in pre-sales, allowed John to fully appreciate and understand the value of how Salesforce engages with customers. He quickly advanced to the enterprise level, managing a portfolio of clients in success management across various industries.

Transitioning from the program into a full-time role came with a learning curve, as John was now customer-facing and working with complex customer implementations. By leaning into Salesforce's core values like Trust, Customer Success, and Innovation, he grounded his conversations and approached them with a beginner's mindset. One of the main takeaways from the program was to be customer-centric — truly understanding the customer's business, their revenue model, and their customer experiences. John really honed in on this engagement model and was able to flatten the learning curve.

Within just three years, John was presented with the opportunity to transition to the sales side, becoming an Account Director for a top media and entertainment company he had been working with throughout his tenure at Salesforce. For John, a key aspect of success in the new role was to come to the table with a clear point of view grounded in the customer’s business — especially when engaging with executives.

A significant part of his new role involves meeting with executives, offering his point of view on how they can partner with Salesforce more seamlessly to drive their business forward, and then working on a success plan with extended teams to achieve the forecasted outcomes.

From his initial entrance into the Success Graduate Program to his promotion to Account Executive, John has embraced every opportunity that came his way. He recommends that anyone starting out after college lean into new experiences—even situations they feel they may not be ready for—as those challenges are where personal and professional growth happens the most.

Are you interested in learning more about the dynamic intersection of Tech and Sales? Check out our Success Grad Program.