How To Become A Customer Account Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a customer account manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Jerri Lynn Kyle

Customer account managers handle company resources and coordinate all the teams and activities of the company. They are responsible for liaising with customers and overseeing the day-to-day account activities of a company's customers. Customer account managers earn a median hourly salary of $32, roughly $66,000 per year.

Customer account managers act as the middle man between the company and the customers to ensure that they are satisfied with their business dealings with the company. They also help the company in retaining its customers by acting as the company's mouthpiece. Part of their duties includes handling the company's resources and coordinating all the teams and activities in their work line.

Customer account managers typically hold a bachelor's degree in management, business administration, economics, marketing, or other related fields. They are expected to handle multiple projects effectively and possess strong communication, time management, and analytical skills. They are also required to be proficient in using computer software applications and the ability to relate interpersonally.

What general advice would you give to a customer account manager?

Jerri Lynn Kyle

Senior Instructor, Internship Coordinator, Missouri State University

1.Don't be discouraged! Jobs are out there but you might not get your dream job starting out. It's a journey, so try to make the most of every stop.
2.Start building your professional credibility, both with how you perform your job, and how you interact with your coworkers.
3.Finally, be confident, but at the same time be teachable and coachable. Your degree doesn't make you an expert. Sometimes you realize you don't even know what you don't know, and that's okay. You aren't going to know everything and that's why you need to be coachable.

ScoreCustomer Account ManagerUS Average

Salary

3.6

Avg. Salary $45,951

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.0

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.64%

Asian 5.33%

Black or African American 10.95%

Hispanic or Latino 17.71%

Unknown 4.74%

White 60.63%

Gender

female 40.63%

male 59.37%

Age - 48

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 - 48

Stress level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a customer account manager

Explore customer account manager education requirements

Most common customer account manager degrees

Bachelor's

56.0 %

Associate

17.8 %

High School Diploma

14.5 %

Start to develop specific customer account manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	25.92%
Customer Accounts	16.69%
CRM	10.39%
Collections Process	8.31%
Persuasion	8.25%

Complete relevant customer account manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer account 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 customer account manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer account manager resumes.

Research customer account manager duties and responsibilities

Lead project of reducing checks process by leveraging ACH payments resulting in a savings on head count.
Manage inventory logistics which includes coordinating inventory levels with production schedules and international delivery deadlines.
Assist in managing transaction logistics including quote comparison, term negotiation, facilitation and arrangement of delivery of automobiles to customers.
Decrease staff time (and payroll) with customer issues by launching CRM and leading regional implementation and training.

Prepare your customer account manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your customer account 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 customer account 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 customer account manager resume templates

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