Account director vs director of client relations

The differences between account directors and directors of client relations can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become an account director, becoming a director of client relations takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a director of client relations has an average salary of $116,480, which is higher than the $114,728 average annual salary of an account director.

The top three skills for an account director include account management, project management and work ethic. The most important skills for a director of client relations are project management, client issues, and healthcare.

Account director vs director of client relations overview

	Account Director	Director Of Client Relations
Yearly salary	$114,728	$116,480
Hourly rate	$55.16	$56.00
Growth rate	5%	8%
Number of jobs	132,260	63,226
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Average age	46	42
Years of experience	8	4

What does an account director do?

An account director is responsible for managing client accounts, monitoring budgets, and sales forecasting. Their goal is to maintain stable account management strategies, meet clients' demands, develop healthy professional partnerships that would generate revenues, increase profitability, and achieve the organization's long-term goals objectives. Account directors supervise the account management staff, ensuring the project's successful completion with the highest efficiency and accuracy. An account director also plans training programs to maximize their performance and productivity, especially when dealing with deadlines and clients' requests.

What does a director of client relations do?

A director of client relations is responsible for maintaining healthy business partnerships with clients, offering the company's quality services to boost brand awareness for the target audience on various market platforms. Directors of client relations identify the clients' needs, as well as their long-term goals, to strategize business techniques and project management procedures that would help the clients reach their maximum objectives. They also handle budget allocation for different teams, ensuring that each department receives adequate resources for operations.

Account director vs director of client relations salary

Account directors and directors of client relations have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Account Director	Director Of Client Relations
Average salary	$114,728	$116,480
Salary range	Between $82,000 And $158,000	Between $82,000 And $163,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	Washington
Best paying company	BuzzFeed	Cambridge Associates
Best paying industry	Professional	Technology

Differences between account director and director of client relations education

There are a few differences between an account director and a director of client relations in terms of educational background:

	Account Director	Director Of Client Relations
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 74%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	Stanford University

Account director vs director of client relations demographics

Here are the differences between account directors' and directors of client relations' demographics:

	Account Director	Director Of Client Relations
Average age	46	42
Gender ratio	Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1%	Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 75.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	7%	16%

Differences between account director and director of client relations duties and responsibilities

Account director example responsibilities.

Manage coordination with HCP agencies for launch.
Manage the development and creation of print and broadcast advertising and in-store merchandising.
Manage relationships with all GPO pharmacy, medical device, and physician preference teams.
Manage client accounts as well as introducing cross selling into other verticals to increase the portfolio.
Manage RFP / RFI process and drive all opportunities that provide a consultative, long-term solution and support.
Increase clients SEO rankings and achieve first page placement both locally and nationally for highly search phrases for a client.

Director of client relations example responsibilities.

Manage social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn to network and gain more exposure to the firm.
Develop RFP responses, participate in sales presentations, and manage major existing accounts such as Wal-Mart and Exxon-Mobil.
Manage projects for extensive keyword research and develop a comprehensive SEO strategy.
Join sales team to help with SaaS transformation.
Design and implement sales and marketing strategies that introduce the organization into the national group Medicare market.
Develop KPI standards for collectors and sales team base upon clients needs to promote efficiency and collection results.

Account director vs director of client relations skills

Common account director skills

Account Management, 9%
Project Management, 7%
Work Ethic, 7%
Healthcare, 7%
Digital Marketing, 5%
Email Marketing, 4%

Common director of client relations skills

Project Management, 9%
Client Issues, 7%
Healthcare, 6%
Account Management, 5%
Business Development, 5%
Client Relations, 4%

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Account Director
Account Director vs Director Of Client Relations

Updated January 8, 2025

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