Inside Sales Manager (ISM) – Outbound Partnerships & Institutional Outreach

About India Market Entry (IME):www.indiamarketentry.com

India Market Entry (IME) is a leader in market entry strategy and business expansion in the

Education Sector in India. We excel in assisting international clients to establish themselves

in the Indian market. Our mission is to build lasting relationships with customers through

intelligent sales engagement, value-based selling, and deep market understanding.

About the Role

As an ISM – Outbound Partnerships & Institutional Outreach, you will be responsible for

identifying and engaging potential strategic partners, Higher Education institutions,

publishers and other relevant organisations through structured, targeted outreach.

The role will primarily involve email-led prospecting, supported by calls, LinkedIn and other

appropriate channels, to identify the right organisations and decision-makers, initiate

meaningful conversations, understand their requirements and create opportunities for

strategic partnerships and business development.

You will engage with stakeholders such as Deans, Directors, Vice Chancellors, Heads of

Departments, Publisher Heads, Business Heads, HR/L&D Leaders and other senior

decision-makers.

This is a target-driven, research and outreach-focused role that requires strong

communication, persistence, follow-up and the ability to convert cold/warm outreach into

meaningful business conversations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Target Account Identification

● Research and identify potential Higher Education institutions, publishers,

strategic partners and corporate organisations.

● Build and maintain a targeted database of organisations and relevant

decision-makers.

● Identify the right stakeholder within each organisation based on the nature of the

opportunity.

● Prioritise accounts based on relevance, potential and business opportunity.

2. Email Outreach

● Plan and execute targeted email outreach campaigns to prospective organisations

and decision-makers.

● Develop personalised and relevant email communication based on the organisation

and potential opportunity.

● Manage structured follow-up sequences to improve response and meeting rates.

● Experiment with messaging, subject lines and outreach approaches to improve

effectiveness.

● Coordinate with Marketing/GTM teams on campaigns and communication assets

where required.

3. Strategic Partnership Outreach

● Identify potential partners for institutional tie-ups, content partnerships,

distribution, learning programmes, technology partnerships and other

strategic opportunities.

● Initiate conversations with potential partners and understand their business

requirements.

● Qualify the opportunity and assess strategic fit.

● Coordinate with senior team members for discussions involving high-value or

strategic accounts.

4. Higher Education Outreach

● Reach out to universities, colleges, business schools and other Higher

Education institutions.

● Identify relevant decision-makers and initiate conversations around potential

collaboration and business opportunities.

● Understand institutional priorities, requirements and decision-making processes.

● Generate qualified meetings for the relevant GTM/Sales team.

5. Publisher & Content Partner Outreach

● Identify relevant educational publishers and content organisations.

● Approach publishing, business development and senior leadership teams regarding

potential partnerships.

● Understand their portfolio, market presence and potential areas of collaboration.

● Develop and maintain a pipeline of potential publisher partnerships.

6. Prospect Qualification & Meeting Generation

● Conduct initial conversations to understand the prospect's requirements, interest and

potential fit.

● Qualify organisations before passing opportunities to the relevant senior stakeholder.

● Schedule meetings with GTM Sales, GTM Marketing, Co-Founder, Sales

Enablement or other relevant team members.

● Ensure the meeting handover includes sufficient background, stakeholder details and

context.

7. Follow-up & Relationship Nurturing

● Follow up consistently with prospects across email, calls and LinkedIn.

● Maintain relationships with interested prospects who may not have an immediate

requirement.

● Develop long-term engagement with strategic accounts.

● Ensure no potential opportunity is lost due to inadequate or delayed follow-up.

8. CRM & Pipeline Management

● Maintain accurate records of all organisations, contacts, outreach and interactions in

the CRM.

● Track the complete outbound funnel:

Target Account → Contact Identified → Outreach → Response → Meeting →

Opportunity → Partnership / Sale

● Maintain clear next actions and follow-up dates.

● Ensure 100% CRM hygiene and timely reporting.

9. Market Research & Intelligence

● Research target organisations, market developments, competitor activity and

potential partnership opportunities.

● Capture insights from conversations with prospects.

● Identify new sectors, account types and channels for expanding outreach.

● Share market feedback with Marketing, Sales and Product teams.

10. Continuous Improvement

● Track outreach performance and analyse response and meeting-generation rates.

● Identify what messaging, industries and stakeholder profiles generate better results.

● Suggest improvements to targeting, outreach and follow-up processes.

● Continuously build and refine the target account database.

Candidate Profile

Experience

● 2–5 years of experience in Inside Sales, B2B Business Development, Lead

Generation, Institutional Sales, Partnerships or Outbound Sales.

● Experience in email-led prospecting and account-based outreach is strongly

preferred.

● Experience engaging with Higher Education institutions, publishers, EdTech

companies or corporate organisations would be an advantage.

Preferred Industry Exposure

● EdTech

● Higher Education

● Educational Publishing

● Corporate Learning & Development

● Education Services

● LMS / Learning Technology

● Professional Education

● Content / Publishing Partnerships

Skills Required

● Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

● Strong business email writing skills.

● Good research and prospect identification ability.

● Comfortable initiating conversations with senior stakeholders.

● Strong B2B sales and business development orientation.

● Persistent and disciplined in follow-ups.

● Strong CRM knowledge and data-management discipline.

● Good understanding of email outreach and prospecting.

● Comfortable working with activity and outcome-based targets.

● Strong ownership and ability to work independently.

Preferred Market Exposure

Preference will be given to candidates with experience working with institutions in:

● Mumbai

● Delhi

● Noida

● Gurugram

● Bengaluru

● Hyderabad