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What does an account and product manager do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read

Account and Product Managers are responsible for managing key account relationships, developing new business opportunities, and overseeing product planning and marketing. Their duties include establishing product strategy, producing market requirements document (MRD) and product requirements document (PRD), evaulating enterprise partnerships, and undertaking product demos. They are also involved in contract negotiation, increasing sales pipeline, acting as the point of contact to key accounts, and tracking key performance metrics. Account and product managers also set product pricing, produce revenue forecasts, and prepare an overall budget. They assist in sales staff training and help create sales tools.

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Account and product manager responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real account and product manager resumes:

  • Manage and report on program ROI, expense to budget, and other key financial metrics.
  • Manage accounts while providing excellent customer service, help build financial relationships, redirecting calls in upselling credit per customer needs
  • Define data capture needs for back-end CRM and lead-generation activities.
  • Initiate and maintain relationships with target OEM accounts to create a pull-sales strategy.
  • Analyze all inventory adjustments and all inventory levels for bond stock for all OEM key accounts.
  • Conduct regular account appraisals to accelerate customer adoption by working closely with the customer to educate and assess cloud technology needs.
  • Increase ROI by encouraging and coordinating the replacement of lower revenue products with more profitable business while maintaining overall volume.
  • Develop a robust SaaS model for switch software features and upgrades and lifecycle for Springtide solutions.
  • Evangelize Linux and virtualization across the Americas.

Account and product manager skills and personality traits

We calculated that 13% of Account And Product Managers are proficient in Product Line, Product Management, and CRM. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.

We break down the percentage of Account And Product Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Product Line, 13%

    Executed the streamlining of Hamilton's operations to create a company culture that was conducive to growing our accessory product line.

  • Product Management, 10%

    Provided sales and product management expertise for electronic components supplier concentrating on optical interconnect products.

  • CRM, 8%

    Use of all Microsoft Office products and CRM software.

  • Account Management, 7%

    Thrived in account management; held accountable for customer sales growth and decisions on how to handle customer issues.

  • OEM, 4%

    Analyzed all inventory adjustments and all inventory levels for bonded stock for all OEM key accounts.

  • Customer Satisfaction, 4%

    Developed and implemented Quick Response procedure to customer requests which improved customer satisfaction and resulted in additional business awards for Inland.

Most account and product managers use their skills in "product line," "product management," and "crm" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential account and product manager responsibilities here:

Creativity. One of the key soft skills for an account and product manager to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what account and product managers do because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." Additionally, an account and product manager resume shows how account and product managers use creativity: "manage 10 product lines and $7m in inventory. "

Interpersonal skills. Many account and product manager duties rely on interpersonal skills. "managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization.," so an account and product manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways account and product manager responsibilities rely on interpersonal skills: "maintain excellent interpersonal relationships with customers, provide excellent customer service and product training. "

Organizational skills. This is an important skill for account and product managers to perform their duties. For an example of how account and product manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an account and product manager: "ensured organizational goods or services consistently met client needs provided sales quotations as well as sustaining and renewing client contracts. ".

Analytical skills. For certain account and product manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of an account and product manager rely on this skill, as "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what account and product managers do: "analyze market trends, fluctuations and anticipated movements while providing insight to customers in order to gain business. "

Communication skills. Another crucial skill for an account and product manager to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what account and product managers relies on this skill, since "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." How this skill relates to account and product manager duties can be seen in an example from an account and product manager resume snippet: "delivered consist sales growth and drove customer acquisition through successful communication and negotiation with partners. "

Most common account and product manager skills

The three companies that hire the most account and product managers are:

Compare different account and product managers

Account and product manager vs. Manager, account executive

An account executive manager is responsible for handling client accounts and leading the account management procedures to promote the client's brand image in the market and maintain the highest satisfaction. Account executive managers work with the marketing and sales team to identify sales and promotional strategies that would increase revenues and product profits. They also review the current market trends to develop business opportunities according to client needs and public demands. An account executive manager coordinates with the clients for regular updates and informs them of business plan adjustments as needed.

The annual salary of managers, account executive is $22,667 lower than the average salary of account and product managers.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between account and product managers and managers, account executive are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like account management, sales presentations, and product knowledge.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between account and product managers and manager, account executive. For instance, account and product manager responsibilities require skills such as "product line," "product management," "crm," and "oem." Whereas a manager, account executive is skilled in "sales process," "customer service," "virtualization," and "c-level." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Managers, account executive earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $87,422. On the other hand, account and product managers are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $94,565.The education levels that managers, account executive earn slightly differ from account and product managers. In particular, managers, account executive are 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an account and product manager. Additionally, they're 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Account and product manager vs. Sales representative and account manager

A sales representative/account manager is responsible for supervising client portfolio accounts and maintaining long-lasting relationships with business partners. Sales representatives/account managers meet with existing and potential clients to discuss new services offered by the company, as well as addressing their requests for review. They also handle the account budgets, developing strategic procedures and marketing techniques to improve the brand image in the market, generating more revenues and profits for the business. A sales representative/account manager identifies business opportunities by following trends to provide public demands and interests.

On average, sales representative and account managers earn a $24,525 lower salary than account and product managers a year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Account and product managers and sales representative and account managers both require similar skills like "product line," "account management," and "oem" to carry out their responsibilities.

Each career also uses different skills, according to real account and product manager resumes. While account and product manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "product management," "crm," "customer relationships," and "strategic direction," sales representative and account managers use skills like "customer service," "business relationships," "sales process," and "flyers."

Average education levels between the two professions vary. Sales representative and account managers tend to reach similar levels of education than account and product managers. In fact, they're 4.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Account and product manager vs. Inside sales account manager

An inside sales account manager oversees the operations and workforce performance within an inside sales team, ensuring efficiency and profit growth. Their duties revolve around monitoring sales progress, devising new strategies to identify new business and marketing opportunities, maintaining records of all transactions, identifying inconsistencies and errors, performing corrective measures, producing sales forecasts, and supervising accounts. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team to reach sales targets, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

An average inside sales account manager eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of account and product managers. The difference in salaries amounts to inside sales account managers earning a $29,529 lower average salary than account and product managers.By looking over several account and product managers and inside sales account managers resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "product line," "crm," and "account management." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from account and product manager resumes include skills like "product management," "customer relationships," "strategic direction," and "national accounts," whereas an inside sales account manager is more likely to list skills in "customer service," "powerpoint," "salesforce," and "outbound calls. "

Inside sales account managers make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $80,276. On the other hand, account and product managers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $94,565.inside sales account managers typically earn similar educational levels compared to account and product managers. Specifically, they're 4.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Account and product manager vs. National accounts sales manager

A national accounts sales manager is responsible for maintaining healthy business relationships with clients by managing and monitoring the performance of their accounts. National accounts sales managers establish reasonable sales targets and develop techniques that would maximize sales staff productivity and efficiency. They conduct data and statistical analysis with the current market trends to identify business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources and increase profitability. A national accounts sales manager negotiates contracts and agreements with clients and ensures their brand consistency in the market.

National accounts sales managers tend to earn a higher pay than account and product managers by an average of $1,940 per year.While both account and product managers and national accounts sales managers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like product line, crm, and account management, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. An account and product manager uses "product management," "customer relationships," "strategic direction," and "post sales." National accounts sales managers are more likely to have duties that require skills in "healthcare," "sales strategies," "sales quota," and "business relationships. "national accounts sales managers enjoy the best pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $103,530. For comparison, account and product managers earn the highest salary in the technology industry.In general, national accounts sales managers hold similar degree levels compared to account and product managers. National accounts sales managers are 2.4% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of account and product manager

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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