Account manager job description
Let’s imagine the following situation: A customer who bought a high-performance laptop for his business a few days ago suddenly finds himself with nothing. Everything worked smoothly. But suddenly the device stopped working when it started up. Black display, fan, and motor make no noise. The problem: There is unsecured professional data on the computer that he still needs today. Urgent!
What happens when this justifiably excited customer, who fears the loss of all his data, calls the responsible customer service representative? Correct! He expects competent advice and quick problem-solving.
Does it read: “Send in the device, we will check it!”, the buyer will not be exactly satisfied. He wants to keep working on his laptop. Now! In this respect, many things are required at the same time as a customer advisor at such a moment:
- Perception: He must understand the problem presented.
- Psychological skills: he has to try to calm the customer down.
- Solution-oriented: Ideally, he manages to guide the customer to a total reset and reboot with a specific key combination so that a few seconds later the start-up melody of the computer sounds, and the customer is happy about the great advice.
Account managers can be found in virtually all business areas and industries. In these for example:
- Electronics
- Multimedia
- Technology
- Insurance
- Finance
They are the interface between a company and the end-user. They represent their employer externally and with their competent advice, they shape the image that consumers get of them.
Account manager duties and responsibilities
- Customer loyalty through fast, competent, and appropriate advice on-site or on the phone
- Exact knowledge of the individual products and their functions
- Complaint and complaint management
- Creation of customer balances
- Elaboration of advisory methods
- Follow the market developments
- Documentation and statistical evaluation of customer satisfaction
- Development of strategies to improve the quality of advice
- Creation of turnover tables
- Structuring and updating customer data
- Creation of performance calculations
- Acquisition
Budding customer advisors have the best opportunities in the job market. The work-life balance is not always balanced despite regular working hours. Especially when you work in complaints management, customer advisors sometimes need thick skin. Because dealing with disappointed customers all day is not always easy.
Incidentally, the customer advisor should not be confused with the customer advisor. While customer service only revolves around short-term questions from customers about the company, a product, or a service, customer service includes active customer loyalty.
Here you take care of existing and corporate customers who approach a company with highly specific questions. Some of the tasks also relate to offering and creating individual solutions for customers.
How do you become an account manager?
The prerequisite for being able to work in the job of customer service is usually a business degree or completed commercial training.
For example, the following job profiles are possible:
- Industrial clerk
- Office management assistant
- Businesswoman for dialogue marketing
- Marketing communications merchant
After that, a lot depends on on-the-job training. Depending on the industry in which you gain a foothold, intensive seminars and workshops are called for, which on the one hand impart in-depth knowledge of the respective products or services and on the other hand promote the consultant’s advisory qualities.
For example, the schedule includes:
- Product training
- Psychological interviewing
- Counseling training
- Telephone training
It is important that a prospective customer advisor already has relevant professional experience in the area in which he is to advise customers in the future. This gives him the necessary professionalism and expertise.
Employer: Who is looking for an account managers
Account managers can work in practically any economic sector. Here for example:
- Pharma
- Cosmetics
- Engineering
- Electronics
- Technology
- Telecommunications
- Insurance
- Banking
- Healthcare
Salary: How much does an account manager make?
What do trained account managers earn? As in other professions, gross monthly income depends on factors such as: company location, size of the company, age of applicant, work experience, additional skills.
Map of account manager salaries
The darker areas on the map show where account managers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
- Median Annual Salary: $64,327
- Top 10% Annual Salary: More than $96,000
- Bottom 10% Annual Salary: Less than $44,000
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Entry opportunities: the prospects for account managers
Our world is becoming faster and more complex. As soon as a new service is on the market, it is almost out of date again. It’s even faster in the product world. In this respect, users and consumers depend on the availability of highly competent experts who can familiarize them with new applications or advise them in the event of problems. In this respect, the job of customer service is currently experiencing a real boom.
Application: How do account manager score
Customer advisors who work out the following hard and soft skills in their application documents have a good chance of an application being successful:
- Solid education
- Very good expressiveness
- Communication skills
- Quick grasp
- Detailed product knowledge
- Psychological skill
- Resilience
Career: The development opportunities as an account manager
The classic career path of a customer service representative is as follows:
- Junior Account Manager: The main tasks include acquisition and customer management.
- Account Manager: Account Managers take care of larger customers.
- Key Account Manager: Key Account Managers look after the most important and largest customers of a company and sometimes lead a team.
