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

What is a customer business manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Kim Roberts

A customer business manager initiates and maintains client relationships. They set production, sales, and other marketing goals. They must know brands, products that clients want, and what they oversee. They may also be responsible for overseeing client relationships and learning what customer's preferences are.

They will need a good knowledge of their customers to give business services to those customers. A customer business manager may work in the supply chain management process if products are manufactured on a large scale.

To be a customer business manager, you need a bachelor's degree in business or communications. There are some customer business managers with master's degrees, which can only help you climb the ladder. You will also need experience in roles like sales representative, account manager, or customer service representative. You can expect to make $84,000 per year.

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

Dr. Kim Roberts

Professor of Operations Management, Website

Business-related occupations offer attractive salaries and offer a variety of disciplines, such as accounting, contract management, cybersecurity, finance, human resources, logistics, marketing, management, operations, sales, and more. However, business careers are often demanding, requiring long work weeks and travel.

Skills
leadership
communication
innovation
adaptation
critical thinking
problem solving
emotional intelligence
empathy
teamwork
cultural competence
conflict management
ethics and social responsibility

ScoreCustomer Business ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $100,453

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.5

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 8.15%

Black or African American 3.04%

Hispanic or Latino 8.67%

Unknown 5.32%

White 74.58%

Gender

female 42.75%

male 57.25%

Age - 38

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 - 38

Stress level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a customer business manager

Explore customer business manager education requirements

Most common customer business manager degrees

Bachelor's

69.3 %

Associate

12.6 %

Master's

8.1 %

Start to develop specific customer business manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	28.46%
Sales Volume	8.99%
CRM	7.06%
Category Management	4.71%
Customer Satisfaction	4.67%

Complete relevant customer business manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New customer business 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 business manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real customer business manager resumes.

Research customer business manager duties and responsibilities

Manage retail sales force to execute both Unilever and customer shelf and display standards.
Leverage shopper marketing resources with leading Hispanic retailer in Houston area to drive incremental sales, while achieving target ROI.
Handle 175 SKUs totaling $250 million in POS.
Deliver better compliance and trade ROI.

Prepare your customer business manager resume

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

Build a professional customer business manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your customer business manager resume.

Apply for customer business manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a customer business manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do customer business managers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

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2 stars

1 star

Customer business manager reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019

Cons

- 24 X 7 on the toes - Manage across categories, across vendors - Keep all vendors happy, which you cannot - Failure of any cross-functional team will make you suffer from every angle