How To Become A Client Relations Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a client relations manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Annemarie Franczyk

Client relations managers are employed to ensure someone who focuses on building and maintaining business relationships are crucial for the successful functioning of a business enterprise or organization. Essentially, they manage accounts and see to it that key clients are satisfied with the company's services.

As a client relations manager, you might work for marketing, advertisement, or sales, where managing large accounts is what keeps a company afloat. You will do everything in your power to fully understand your clients' needs and expectations and mediate these towards your managers.

Needless to say, your communication skills will make or break a successful career here. A bachelor's degree in marketing or public relations or a similar area might be expected of potential candidates. But your experience in the field will be your real asset, as well as your customer service skills.

What general advice would you give to a client relations manager?

Annemarie Franczyk

Associate Professor, Buffalo State College

Never settle and never settle down. Both notions suggest dropping where you are and staying put and being hopelessly stuck. When you're hopelessly stuck, you're not learning, growing and advancing. Always look for the next opportunity to do something interesting. Take chances. If you do, you will have a lifetime of no regrets.

ScoreClient Relations ManagerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $85,115

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.7

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 5.09%

Black or African American 5.85%

Hispanic or Latino 9.02%

Unknown 4.66%

White 74.96%

Gender

female 63.38%

male 36.62%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

8.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.3

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a client relations manager

Explore client relations manager education requirements

Most common client relations manager degrees

Bachelor's

71.1 %

Associate

12.3 %

Master's

8.7 %

Start to develop specific client relations manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Client Relations	15.15%
Customer Service	8.14%
Business Development	5.95%
Project Management	5.18%
Customer Satisfaction	5.11%

Complete relevant client relations manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New client relations managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a client relations manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real client relations manager resumes.

Research client relations manager duties and responsibilities

Produce and manage KPI, billing and accrual reports for client.
Manage consulting and education SaaS implementation engagements for learning XBRL and the software to be in compliance with the government regulators.
Manage vendor relationships including contracts, negotiations and oversight.
Maintain all account, contract, & opportunities information in SalesForce.

Prepare your client relations manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your client relations manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a client relations manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable client relations manager resume templates

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