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The differences between customer account executives and customer success managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a customer account executive, becoming a customer success manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a customer success manager has an average salary of $93,820, which is higher than the $61,741 average annual salary of a customer account executive.
The top three skills for a customer account executive include quality customer service, customer accounts and inbound calls. The most important skills for a customer success manager are client facing, cloud, and account management.
| Customer Account Executive | Customer Success Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $61,741 | $93,820 |
| Hourly rate | $29.68 | $45.11 |
| Growth rate | -4% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 277,757 | 95,053 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Average age | 40 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 8 |
The role of account executives is to support both new and existing client accounts. They are responsible for building and maintaining positive relationships with new and existing clients. They are often the point of contact for brand teams and clients. They are expected to fulfill other duties and responsibilities, which include developing new business prospects, designing and maintaining account plans for clients, and coordinating account activities. To become a successful account executive, you should have excellent strategic planning skills, solid sales skills, and attention to detail.
A customer success manager works to understand repeat customers and prioritize their long-term needs. Primarily, they manage the customer relationship and give them prompt value propositions. They act as mentors to customers by educating them about the sales process and ensure efficient transaction processing. Their tasks include advocating for the company, onboarding customers to the products, follow-up on renewals, and encouraging cross-sells and upsells. Additionally, they build relationships with the customer and the support team as well as advocating customers' needs.
Customer account executives and customer success managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Account Executive | Customer Success Manager | |
| Average salary | $61,741 | $93,820 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $143,000 | Between $61,000 And $142,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | California |
| Best paying company | Okta | VMware |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Technology |
There are a few differences between a customer account executive and a customer success manager in terms of educational background:
| Customer Account Executive | Customer Success Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between customer account executives' and customer success managers' demographics:
| Customer Account Executive | Customer Success Manager | |
| Average age | 40 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 40.6% Female, 59.4% | Male, 54.9% Female, 45.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 14.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 6.8% White, 55.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | 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% |