UK

United Kingdom · Sales · Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Telesales Executive

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

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  • Experience bandMid-Level (2-5 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toTelesales Team Lead
  • UK framework levelUsually a coordinator, or early in a professional job

Also advertised as Sales Development Representative (SDR) · Business Development Representative (BDR) · Inside Sales Executive · Account Development Representative

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

ISM Level 2 Certificate in Sales and Marketing Institute of Sales Management · Level 2 · covers 1 of 4 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Telesales ISM Level 2 Certificate in Sales and Marketing

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly
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2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Telesales Executive?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skill this role is being asked for

  • AI-Enhanced Personalisation & Messaging
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Telesales Executive plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

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3What this role really is

A Telesales Executive spends the day on the phone, finding out what potential customers need and how a product might help. The work is about connecting with people, not reading a script. It means listening for real problems and booking meetings for account executives. Often the first person a prospect speaks to, so the call has to count.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Salesforce Sales Cloud Intermediate

Logging all call activities, updating lead and opportunity stages, managing tasks, and running basic personal reports to track your progress. You'll be in here constantly.

Outreach / Salesloft (Sales Engagement Platform) Intermediate

Executing pre-built sequences for calls and emails, managing your daily tasks, and using templates for efficient outreach. You'll use this to make your dials and send your emails.

Gong / Chorus.ai (Conversation Intelligence) Basic

Reviewing your own call recordings for self-coaching, using transcripts to pull key details for follow-ups, and identifying areas for improvement based on AI insights.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator / ZoomInfo (Lead Intelligence) Intermediate

Finding contact information, researching prospect backgrounds and company details to prepare for calls, and building targeted lead lists within your territory.

Calendly / Chili Piper (Scheduling Automation) Intermediate

Using your personal scheduling link to book meetings with prospects, connecting your calendar, and avoiding the tedious back-and-forth of email tag.

Slack / MS Teams (Internal Collaboration) Intermediate

Communicating with your team, participating in deal-win channels, and getting quick answers from Account Executives or support functions. It's how we stay connected.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Lead Prioritisation Follows guidance from Team Lead on which leads to call first. Independently prioritises leads within assigned territory based on qualification criteria and past performance. Consults Team Lead on strategic shifts. Defines and refines lead prioritisation strategies for specific campaigns or market segments. Mentors juniors on best practices.
Call Script/Messaging Adaptation Sticks closely to approved scripts and messaging frameworks. Adapts scripts and messaging on the fly based on prospect responses, within established guidelines. Proposes new messaging ideas to Team Lead. Designs and tests new messaging strategies for specific campaigns or objections. Coaches team members on advanced conversational techniques.
Meeting Qualification Relies on Team Lead or AE to confirm if a meeting is truly qualified. Independently qualifies prospects for meetings using established frameworks (BANT/CHAMP). Escalates ambiguous cases to Team Lead or AE. Defines and refines qualification criteria. Makes final decisions on meeting quality for complex accounts. Trains team on advanced qualification.
CRM Data Entry & Hygiene Logs activities and updates fields under close supervision. Responsible for accurate and timely logging of all activities and updates. Identifies and flags data integrity issues to Sales Operations. Proactively identifies CRM process improvements and trains team on best practices for data hygiene. Leads efforts to ensure data quality.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Meetings Booked
The total number of qualified meetings you successfully schedule for Account Executives each month.
Target · 12-15 meetings per month

If you book 14 meetings in October, you're hitting the higher end of the target, which is brilliant.

Opportunity Conversion Rate
The percentage of your booked meetings that convert into genuine sales opportunities (i.e., the AE accepts them as qualified).
Target · 60% or higher

You book 15 meetings, and 9 of those are accepted by AEs as qualified opportunities. That's a 60% conversion rate.

Talk Time
The total amount of time you spend in actual live conversation with prospects each day.
Target · 2.5 - 3 hours per day

If your Gong report shows 2 hours 45 minutes of talk time today, you're doing well. It shows you're actually connecting, not just dialling.

Dials per Day
The sheer volume of outbound calls you make to prospects.
Target · 80-100 dials per day

Hitting 90 dials by end of day means you've put in the activity needed to find those conversations.

Connect Rate
The percentage of dials that result in a live conversation with a prospect.
Target · 10% or higher

Out of 100 dials, you connect with 12 people. That's a 12% connect rate, which is solid.

Meeting Quality
The overall quality and readiness of the prospects you hand over to the Account Executives.
  • Account Executives consistently give positive feedback on your meetings. Prospects show up prepared and engaged. They understand the value proposition. You'll know you're doing well when AEs are asking for your meetings specifically.
Discovery Depth
How well you uncover a prospect's true pain points, budget, authority, and timeline during your calls.
  • Your call recordings show you asking open-ended, probing questions. You're not just following a script
  • you're genuinely curious. Your meeting notes for the AE clearly outline the prospect's challenges and how our solution fits.
Objection Handling Proficiency
Your ability to confidently and effectively address common sales objections without getting flustered.
  • You'll be able to hear it in your call recordings: you don't stumble when someone says 'no budget' or 'happy with our current provider'. You turn objections into deeper conversations, rather than dead ends. Your team lead will notice you rarely need help with common rebuttals.
CRM Hygiene
The accuracy and completeness of your activity logging and opportunity updates in the CRM.
  • Your CRM records are always up-to-date. Every call, email, and meeting is logged correctly, with clear next steps. Sales Operations won't be chasing you for missing data. It's the little things that make a big difference here.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Hitting Targets & Earning Commission

You're constantly checking your progress against your monthly quota, strategising how to get those last few meetings booked. The thought of exceeding your targets and seeing that commission cheque grow is a huge driver. You'll be the one buzzing after a big win.

You've just booked a meeting with a major prospect, and you know it's going to contribute significantly to your monthly bonus. That's the feeling you chase.

Making a Tangible Impact

You get a real kick out of knowing that the meetings you book directly lead to new clients and company growth. You enjoy seeing your efforts translate into actual business results, not just theoretical work. You want to be a clear contributor.

An Account Executive closes a significant deal that started with one of your cold calls. You feel a genuine sense of accomplishment, knowing you laid the groundwork.

Continuous Learning & Skill Development

You're always looking for ways to improve your pitch, your objection handling, or your discovery questions. You actively seek out feedback, listen to call recordings, and try new techniques. The craft of sales fascinates you.

After listening back to a call, you identify a better way to phrase a particular question, and you immediately try it on your next five calls to see if it works.

What frustrates people
  • The sheer mental and emotional exhaustion of making 80-100+ dials a day and facing constant rejection.
  • Being given a list of 'leads' from Marketing that are clearly unqualified, have wrong numbers, or are in the wrong industry, yet still being expected to hit quota with them.
  • Wasting 20% of your day cleaning up messy CRM records, trying to figure out if a lead is already being worked, or dealing with slow systems.
  • Management changing the script, target persona, or commission plan mid-quarter, forcing you to relearn everything on the fly.
  • The emotional rollercoaster: the high of booking a huge meeting followed by being yelled at by a prospect, all within 10 minutes.
  • Spending hours researching a prospect, having a fantastic discovery call, and then having them completely vanish, ignoring all calls and emails.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, predictable, or low-pressure work environment.
  • Guaranteed immediate success without consistent effort and resilience.
  • A role where you're primarily focused on long-term relationship building with existing clients.
  • A role where you rarely have to deal with rejection or difficult conversations.

8Who you work with

This role directly fuels our sales pipeline. Your ability to consistently book qualified meetings means the Account Executives can focus on closing deals, driving our company's growth. Get it right, and we hit our revenue targets; miss the mark, and the entire sales engine slows down. It's that important, honestly.

Inside the business
  • Telesales Team Lead (for coaching and guidance)
  • Account Executives (who rely on your booked meetings)
  • Sales Operations (for CRM support and data insights)
  • Marketing Team (for lead quality feedback and campaign alignment)
Outside the business
  • Prospective Clients (your daily conversations)
  • Industry Contacts (for networking and market intelligence)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • At least 2 years of experience in an outbound sales role (e.g., SDR, BDR, Telesales Associate), consistently hitting activity targets.
  • Proven ability to conduct effective discovery calls and qualify prospects using frameworks like BANT or CHAMP.
  • Demonstrable experience using a CRM system (ideally Salesforce) for logging activities and managing your pipeline.
  • A track record of meeting or exceeding individual monthly targets for booked meetings or opportunities.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a clear, confident, and persuasive phone presence.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Sales Engagement Platform Optimisation

Simply executing sequences isn't enough anymore. The best reps will understand how to tweak and optimise their outreach within platforms like Outreach or Salesloft to improve their own conversion rates, rather than just relying on what's given to them.

A/B testing sequences · Personalised sequence branching · Data analysis within SEP · Integration with CRM

  • This month: Deep dive into the analytics section of our Sales Engagement Platform. What are your personal open rates, reply rates, and connect rates?
  • Next quarter: Propose and run a small A/B test on a specific email step in one of your sequences, with your Team Lead's approval.
  • Month 4-6: Learn how to build a basic sequence from scratch, understanding all the different steps and options.
  • Month 7-9: Share your personal best practices for sequence optimisation with the wider team during a knowledge-sharing session.

Quick win: Today, review your top-performing email templates in Outreach/Salesloft. What makes them work? Can you replicate that success in other messages?

CRM Data Utilisation for Territory Planning

Simply logging data isn't enough. Future-proof sales professionals will actively use CRM data to make smarter decisions about their territory, identifying untapped opportunities and optimising their outreach strategy.

Advanced CRM reporting · Lead scoring models · Account segmentation · Data integrity best practices

  • This month: Spend an hour each week exploring Salesforce reporting. Can you build a report showing your activity by industry?
  • Next quarter: Work with Sales Operations to understand how our lead scoring model works and how you can use it.
  • Month 4-6: Develop a simple account segmentation strategy for your territory based on company size or industry, using CRM filters.
  • Month 7-9: Present your territory analysis and proposed outreach strategy to your Team Lead, backed by CRM data.

Quick win: Today, create a custom report in Salesforce that shows your top 10 most engaged leads from the last month. What do they have in common?

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly listen to sales podcasts (e.g., 'Salesman Podcast', 'Revenue Collective') to stay updated on industry trends and techniques.
  • Actively participate in internal sales training sessions and workshops, especially those focused on new product features or objection handling.
  • Seek out and implement feedback from your Team Lead during weekly 1:1s and call review sessions.
  • Network with other sales professionals, both internally and externally, to share best practices and learn from their experiences.
  • Read books on sales strategy, psychology, and communication (e.g., 'Gap Selling', 'Never Split the Difference').

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI-Enhanced Personalisation & Messaging

Generic, templated outreach is quickly becoming ignored. Prospects expect highly personalised, relevant messages. AI tools are making it easier to generate these at scale, but you'll need the human touch to make them truly effective.

  • Hyper-personalisation at scale
  • Prompt Engineering for Sales
  • AI-driven sentiment analysis
  • Ethical AI use in sales

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Lead Qualification Frameworks (BANT, CHAMP)
  • Discovery & Needs Analysis
  • Value Proposition Articulation
  • Pipeline Management & Forecasting (Personal)
  • Objection Handling & Rebuttal Strategy

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Telesales Associate (L1) to Telesales Executive (L2)

    18-24 months

    Skills to master

    • Consistently hitting activity metrics, mastering basic objection handling, effective use of CRM and sales engagement tools, strong foundational discovery skills.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Regularly exceeding activity targets (dials, talk time).
    • Demonstrating consistent improvement in call quality and conversion rates.
    • Receiving positive feedback from Account Executives on meeting quality.
    • Proactively seeking feedback and implementing coaching points.
  2. 2

    SDR/BDR at Another Company (L1) to Telesales Executive (L2)

    2-3 years of relevant experience

    Skills to master

    • Transferable skills in outbound prospecting, lead qualification, and CRM usage. Quick adaptation to our product, market, and sales processes.

    You're ready to move on when

    • A proven track record of hitting and exceeding targets in a previous SDR/BDR role.
    • Ability to articulate complex solutions clearly and concisely.
    • Strong understanding of sales fundamentals and a desire to learn our specific approach.
    • References that speak to your resilience and coachability.
  3. 3

    Customer Service/Support (L1) with Sales Aptitude to Telesales Executive (L2)

    Often requires 2-3 years in customer service plus additional internal training/shadowing (total 3-4 years)

    Skills to master

    • Exceptional communication and problem-solving skills, deep product knowledge, ability to pivot from reactive support to proactive sales, developing resilience to rejection.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently high customer satisfaction scores in previous roles.
    • Identified by managers as having strong persuasive abilities or an interest in sales.
    • Successfully completed internal sales training programmes or shadowing opportunities.
    • Demonstrated ability to handle difficult conversations and maintain composure.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to managing a telesales team, moving into a senior account executive role, or working in sales operations.

16Pay and demand

Pay & demand

Typical pay £30,495 a year Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 (provisional), under the Open Government Licence v3.0

The figure is the median for full-time employees in the ONS occupation this job title codes to (Telephone salespersons), from the April 2025 survey, about six months old when published, as ASHE always is. It is that occupation's middle, not this role's. Half earn more.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Telesales Executive is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Telesales, worked against Telesales Executive.

Telesales Level 2

Applied to your work in Telesales Executive

This unit aims to equip learners with the skills to effectively conduct telesales. Learners will be able to prepare for sales calls, establish rapport with customers over the phone, identify customer requirements, present products, handle objections, progress the sale, and ultimately close the sale.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

Start my Telesales Executive plan, free
See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Telesales Executive
  • Lead Qualification Frameworks (BANT, CHAMP)
  • Discovery & Needs Analysis
  • Value Proposition Articulation
  • Pipeline Management & Forecasting (Personal)
  • Objection Handling & Rebuttal Strategy
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

17The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Telesales Executive is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Senior Telesales Executive (L3)

    2-3 years in the Telesales Executive role

    From L2 to L3

    • Advanced CRM Reporting Building custom reports to analyse territory performance and identify trends.
    • Sequence Optimisation Proposing and implementing A/B tests for outreach sequences.
    • Complex Discovery Leading deeper, multi-threaded discovery conversations with multiple stakeholders.
    • Market Intelligence Gathering Systematically collecting and sharing insights on competitor activity and market trends.

  2. Account Executive (L3)

    3-4 years in the Telesales Executive role (or combined L1/L2)

    From L2 to L3

    • Full Sales Cycle Management Owning the entire sales process from qualification to close.
    • Forecasting & Pipeline Management Accurately predicting revenue and managing a larger, more complex sales pipeline.
    • Contract Review Understanding and negotiating commercial terms.
    • Cross-functional Collaboration Working closely with legal, product, and customer success teams to close deals.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, a lot of sales work can feel like a grind. But what if you could ditch the tedious tasks and spend more time actually selling? Our AI Productivity Hub is designed to do just that, giving you a serious edge.

We're not talking about replacing you; we're talking about making you a sales superstar. For a Telesales Executive, AI isn't some far-off future tech—it's here, and it's ready to handle the boring bits, freeing you up to focus on what you do best: connecting with people and booking those crucial meetings. Imagine a world where your admin is cut in half, and your call prep is done for you. That's the reality we're building.

Automated CRM Updates

Forget spending ages logging calls and updating fields after every conversation. Our AI tools listen to your calls, transcribe notes, and automatically update Salesforce. It'll even suggest the next best action, so you never miss a beat. Honestly, it's a game-changer for admin.

Real-Time Call Coaching

Imagine having a super-smart coach whispering in your ear during a live call. Our conversation intelligence (think Gong) gives you real-time prompts for objection handling or key questions to ask. Post-call, it flags your best moments and areas for improvement, making every call a learning opportunity.

Instant Prospect Research

Before a call, an AI agent can quickly pull together a one-page briefing doc on your prospect. It'll summarise their LinkedIn, recent company news, and potential pain points. No more frantic Googling; just a concise overview so you can jump straight into a valuable conversation, feeling completely prepared.

Smart Follow-Up Drafting

After a great discovery call, AI can draft a personalised follow-up email for you, summarising the key discussion points, outlining next steps, and even attaching relevant case studies. You just review, tweak, and hit send. It's like having a personal assistant for your inbox.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Telesales Executive?

Common routes in include Telesales Associate to Telesales Executive (18-24 months), SDR/BDR at Another Company to Telesales Executive (2-3 years of relevant experience) and Customer Service/Support with Sales Aptitude to Telesales Executive (Often requires 2-3 years in customer service plus additional internal training/shadowing (total 3-4 years)). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Telesales Executive progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior Telesales Executive (2-3 years in the Telesales Executive role) and Account Executive (3-4 years in the Telesales Executive role (or combined L1/L2)), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Telesales Executive?

Increasingly, AI-Enhanced Personalisation & Messaging. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

Read the Zavmo manifesto to understand how you will be taught Meet your tutors

Or try another one

18Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 3

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.
This job at other levels
More jobs in sales

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

The skills built in telesales, resilience, communication, problem-solving and understanding customer needs, transfer to other kinds of work. This can lead into field sales, sales operations, customer success, or marketing roles focused on lead generation or demand generation.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my Telesales Executive plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.