Coaching 10 Enterprise Key Account Managers

Context

Fortinet is a global cybersecurity leader operating in highly complex sales environments, particularly in the public sector, where sales cycles are long, regulated, and involve multiple stakeholders and decision layers.

In this context, a team of 10 experienced sales executives wanted:

To step back from their habits and routines,

To increase their strategic impact,

And to further professionalize their enterprise and key account approach.

Salesrise was engaged in a long-term coaching program (2022–2025) with both the Public Sector sales team and its management.

Objectives

The engagement focused on several strategic goals:

Upgrade the commercial maturity of already senior profiles in complex, high-stakes sales environments.

Support the Sales Manager in building a coherent, aligned, and high-performing team.

Bring an external coaching perspective to challenge habits and reinforce best practices.

Restructure account strategy, shifting from a volume approach (≈200 accounts) to a focused key account model (20–30 strategic accounts).

Support the recruitment and integration of selected sales profiles along the way.

Results

Over the period, results were highly tangible:

Public Sector revenue growth from a few million euros to nearly €30M by end of 2025.

Implementation of a Pareto-driven key account strategy, focusing resources on the highest potential accounts.

Development of a deep, transversal understanding of strategic accounts (horizontal, multi-stakeholder mapping).

A more aligned, mature, and autonomous sales team.

A stronger and more structured management layer to sustain long-term performance.

Beyond the numbers: Fortinet adopted a more surgical, strategic, and predictive sales approach, perfectly aligned with the complexity of the public sector market.