What does a client relationship manager do?
Client Relationship Managers handle special client accounts for the company. They are usually assigned to essential clients or corporate accounts. They ensure that the company keeps these clients engaged. Client Relationship Managers work hard to build professional working relationships. They give special attention to the assigned client accounts and provide clients with updates on company services and promotions. They tend to any concerns that clients may have, and they ensure that these concerns are properly addressed and resolved. Client Relationship Managers are entrusted to build and strengthen the company's relationship with a client. As such, they are expected to be professional, friendly, and collaborative.
Client relationship manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real client relationship manager resumes:
- Manage the delivery of OLA's and SLA's performance standards and client KPI measurements for the midrange team.
- Facilitate client relationship with healthcare entities including hospitals, manage care organizations and payers.
- Manage large-scale CRM implementations that utilize an 803.11b wireless infrastructure and a handheld computing platform.
- Exceed commercial loan and swap origination goals while simultaneously managing rehabilitation strategies for criticize bank assets.
- Major responsibilities include client acquisition, client management, cross-selling and risk management.
- Participate in corporate sponsor internal training regarding healthcare trends and compliance as required.
- Deliver corporate financial initiatives with an additional $100k in revenue by cross-selling additional products.
- Engage in territory's continuous improvement project to generate standardize and simplify processes for loan origination and servicing.
- Strengthen key customer relationships through senior level conversations leading to a new infrastructure solution providing more flexibility and a future platform.
- Funnel management and forecasting for new and existing accounts using Salesforce.com.
- Collaborate with c-suite on new product development and go to market strategy as well as training up sales team.
- Leverage strong operational experience and relationships within the company to provide excellent service for customer.
- Uncover and leverage unique insights into security trends and business impacts of processes and technologies to maximize efforts.
- Partner with other Nielsen division on custom research and marketing initiatives to produce actionable recommendation on future business planning.
Client relationship manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Client Relationship Managers are proficient in Customer Service, Client Service, and Client Satisfaction. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Leadership skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Client Relationship Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 13%
Establish and maintain strong relationships with existing and potential clients through sound customer service, timely communication and relationship management skills.
- Client Service, 6%
Provided top-level client service and solution recommendations to increase client satisfaction and portfolio growth.
- Client Satisfaction, 6%
Project managed data conversions, new program implementations, custom financial reports, and other customized project requests exceeding client satisfaction.
- Client Facing, 5%
Drafted client facing product documentation and employee training materials.
- Product Knowledge, 5%
Demonstrated insurance experience and specific product knowledge.
- Service Delivery, 5%
Communicated areas of opportunity needed to enhance and improve branch and centralized operations, and service delivery to customers.
Common skills that a client relationship manager uses to do their job include "customer service," "client service," and "client satisfaction." You can find details on the most important client relationship manager responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. One of the key soft skills for a client relationship manager to have is customer-service skills. You can see how this relates to what client relationship managers do because "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." Additionally, a client relationship manager resume shows how client relationship managers use customer-service skills: "foster strong relationships and work very closely with customer support/developers and it developers on both new business processes and api development. "
Leadership skills. Another essential skill to perform client relationship manager duties is leadership skills. Client relationship managers responsibilities require that "sales managers must be able to evaluate how their sales staff performs and must develop strategies for meeting sales goals." Client relationship managers also use leadership skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "liaised between clients, manpower leadership and recruitment personnel to ensure consistent communications and quality service delivery. "
Analytical skills. client relationship managers are also known for analytical skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to client relationship manager responsibilities, because "sales managers must collect and interpret complex data to target the most promising geographic areas and demographic groups, and determine the most effective sales strategies." A client relationship manager resume example shows how analytical skills is used in the workplace: "analyze data and host quarterly business reviews with the client displaying summary of physician, patient services and pharmacy performance. "
Communication skills. A big part of what client relationship managers do relies on "communication skills." You can see how essential it is to client relationship manager responsibilities because "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical client relationship manager tasks: "collaborated on inter-departmental communication to effectively provide customer support. "
The three companies that hire the most client relationship managers are:
- MassMutual95 client relationship managers jobs
- Bank of America93 client relationship managers jobs
- Deloitte83 client relationship managers jobs
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Compare different client relationship managers
Client relationship manager vs. Sales manager/sales trainer
A sales trainer or manager provides training for the sales staff. The target of the training is to improve the sales figures and meet target sales. Sales trainers collect data that allows them to understand the effectiveness of the existing sales strategies. They also set clear goals and priorities, get rid of demands that do not drive revenue, and allow their teams to focus on activities aligned with the significant goals. It is also their responsibility to research and develop marketing opportunities.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a client relationship manager are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "client service," "client satisfaction," and "client facing." On the other hand, a job as a sales manager/sales trainer requires skills like "training materials," "sales management," "sales process," and "training classes." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Sales managers/sales trainer tend to make the most money working in the pharmaceutical industry, where they earn an average salary of $116,149. In contrast, client relationship managers make the biggest average salary, $101,935, in the technology industry.On average, sales managers/sales trainer reach similar levels of education than client relationship managers. Sales managers/sales trainer are 2.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Client relationship manager vs. Account manager
Account managers are employees who act as the bridge between the company they represent and the client of the company. They are assigned to handle specific clients so that the company will be able to tailor-fit any product or service according to the clients' requirements. Account managers are responsible for maintaining a harmonious relationship between the two parties by ensuring that any agreement made is amenable to both the company and the client. They are also responsible for ensuring that the company will be able to provide the needs of the client within any limitation that the client may have. Account managers also ensure that the company's reputation and well-being are always considered in any dealings.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that client relationship manager responsibilities requires skills like "client service," "client facing," "service delivery," and "portfolio." But an account manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "healthcare," "crm," "work ethic," and "sales process."
Account managers earn a lower average salary than client relationship managers. But account managers earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $76,412. Additionally, client relationship managers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $101,935 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Account managers tend to reach similar levels of education than client relationship managers. In fact, they're 4.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Client relationship 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.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from client relationship manager resumes include skills like "customer service," "client service," "client satisfaction," and "client facing," whereas a national accounts sales manager is more likely to list skills in "national accounts," "healthcare," "crm," and "product development. "
National accounts sales managers earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $103,530. Comparatively, client relationship managers have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $101,935.When it comes to education, national accounts sales managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to client relationship managers. In fact, they're 3.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Client relationship manager vs. National account manager
A national account manager is an individual who is responsible for maintaining strong relationships with key accounts from a particular region. To ensure long-term success, federal account managers must act as a liaison between customers and the internal team by achieving the customers' needs and requirements. They must identify and create attractive strategies to bring new customers and gain revenues. Also, candidates for national account managers must possess excellent interpersonal skills and experience managing national accounts.
Types of client relationship manager
Updated January 8, 2025
