Account director vs director of sales and marketing

The differences between account directors and directors of sales and marketing can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both an account director and a director of sales and marketing. Additionally, a director of sales and marketing has an average salary of $117,348, 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 sales and marketing are customer service, product development, and strategic sales.

Account director vs director of sales and marketing overview

	Account Director	Director Of Sales And Marketing
Yearly salary	$114,728	$117,348
Hourly rate	$55.16	$56.42
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	132,260	132,459
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	8

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 sales and marketing do?

A director of sales and marketing's responsibilities revolve around overseeing the sales, budgets, and all programs related to marketing. They must implement budget goals and revenue targets, evaluate the progress of the various teams, participate in securing sales and reaching out to high profile clients, and even negotiate contracts. Furthermore, they have the discretion to assign pricing and discounts, strategize ways to build a more substantial client base, and lead a team of skilled professionals to boost sales and improve client satisfaction.

Account director vs director of sales and marketing salary

Account directors and directors of sales and marketing have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Account Director	Director Of Sales And Marketing
Average salary	$114,728	$117,348
Salary range	Between $82,000 And $158,000	Between $73,000 And $188,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Urban Honolulu, HI
Highest paying state	New Jersey	Hawaii
Best paying company	BuzzFeed	Quidel
Best paying industry	Professional	Manufacturing

Differences between account director and director of sales and marketing education

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

	Account Director	Director Of Sales And Marketing
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Account director vs director of sales and marketing demographics

Here are the differences between account directors' and directors of sales and marketing' demographics:

	Account Director	Director Of Sales And Marketing
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1%	Male, 62.1% Female, 37.9%
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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between account director and director of sales and marketing 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 sales and marketing example responsibilities.

Manage business advertising efforts including Google AdWords, Facebook and local print media.
Lead company's management functions and legislative initiatives for nationally recognize brand in quality healthcare management.
Utilize expertise to select appropriate technologies for target communication; manage messaging/design initiatives focuse on ROI improvement.
Achieve operational efficiency by analyzing advertising and promotional spending to identify vehicles, channels and messages that generate target ROI.
Provide project management over cloud base hosted solutions design for the SMB market.
Create policies and procedures for Medicare department relating to all aspects of the business.

Account director vs director of sales and marketing 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 sales and marketing skills

Customer Service, 10%
Product Development, 5%
Strategic Sales, 5%
Lead Management, 5%
Business Development, 4%
Sales Process, 4%

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Account Director vs Director Of Sales And Marketing

Updated January 8, 2025

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