Account Manager
An account manager is a vital position in the company, responsible for managing relationships with clients. Other than managing the daily running of a given account, account managers are the key client contact points, tasked with ensuring client’s needs are understood, planned for, and ultimately met, resulting in the generation of sales for the company. Account managers achieve this through interpersonal skills, project management, and organizational ability.
Below, Links International will take you through a comprehensive account manager job description. If you’re interested in becoming an account manager, you’ll be able to discover what it’s like to work in the role, what kind of account manager salary you can expect, as well as the various paths your career could take. For companies looking to hire an account manager, you’ll learn which attributes are the most important ones to look out for, helping you to make your hiring process more efficient and ultimately more successful.
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What Is Working as an Account Manager Like?
As an account manager, you’ll be working in close contact with the client or clients you’re assigned to. You’ll also liaise closely with upper management in your own company, acting as the interface between the client and the firm you work for in order to ensure that goals are met and exceeded on both sides of the relationship.
Account Manager Job Duties & Responsibilities
These are some typical duties and responsibilities you’ll find yourself carrying out in the capacity of an account manager:
- Coordinating operations with other departments working on the same account, e.g. sales, marketing, and HR
- Composing plans and strategies for helping the client achieve their goals
- Acting as the mediator and managing the situation in the case of any conflicts with clients
- Overseeing workable budgets between the client and your company
- Generating sales for the accounts you work with
- Representing the company’s scope and ability to the client
- Maintaining a close relationship with the client, and identifying potential for new sales opportunities
- Negotiating the terms of any new arrangements in your company’s business relationship with the client
- Managing a portfolio of different clients without neglecting any of their needs
Account Manager Skills & Qualifications
An account manager is a versatile, challenging position, for which you’ll need some specific skills and attributes in order to succeed.
- Many account managers hold degrees in business, communications, or a related field, while many also have a background in marketing and media studies
- The ability to function in a number of different environments, since travel often plays an important role in an account manager’s career
- Excellent interpersonal, negotiation and communication skills are required, as you’ll need to be able to build up and maintain solid, long-term relationships
- Problem-solving abilities are crucially important to the position, as in the case of any conflicts or other issues it’ll fall to the account manager to help resolve the difficulty
Account Manager Career Path
Once you’ve graduated from university with a bachelor’s degree in business, communications, or marketing, you’ll likely need to spend between two to five years in an entry-level sales or customer service position, although the amount of time will vary depending on your level of performance. This is an important step along the path, as it will present you with the opportunity to sharpen and refine your interpersonal and communication skills, as well as giving you a taste for the kinds of problems you’re likely to encounter while working as an account manager. Once you begin working as an account manager, it’s possible to improve your credentials even further by completing account management-specific courses in various institutions.
There are many opportunities for upwards mobility in an account management position. If you prove to be an effective account manager, you’ll be able to become an account director, which is essentially a management position during the course of which you’ll oversee other account managers and their own operations. Eventually, you may even be able to rise to the level of a director of account services as a whole, which is a top-level position that requires managing an entire account management department.
Account Manager Salary Guide
Account managers typically have several years of experience, with higher salaries available to more experienced managers who have shown themselves to be proficient in the role. Here’s what an account manager salary will look like in different locations:
| Position | No. of Year Experience | Hong Kong Monthly Salary (HKD) | Singapore Monthly Salary (SGD) | China Monthly Salary (RMB) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experienced Account Manager | 10-19 | 42k-60k | 7k-9k | 21k-40k |
| Mid-Career Account Manager | 5-9 | 30k-40k | 4k-6k | 10k-20k |
You can find more information about current salaries, salary trends in 2020, and more in Links International’s salary guide.
If you’re looking for a job as an account manager, you can find a list of relevant positions on the Links International job search page. If you’re an employer looking to hire an account manager, Links International can help you recruit the perfect candidate for the role — simply navigate to the recruitment page and get the search started.
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