Customer Relations Manager: who is this and what does it do?

The success of a business depends largely on the ability to attract and retain customers. This will not only make the business stable, but also significantly expand it. There are many ways to work with clients. You can, for example, create a customer service at the enterprise in the form of a call center. But issues requiring personal or in-depth communication through outsourcers cannot be fully resolved.

Therefore, in most enterprises, in conditions of a significantly increasing number of customers, in order to maintain constant contact with them and improve service, a post of customer service manager is introduced into the staff.

At first glance, two positions — a sales manager and a customer service manager — are not much different. However, the functionality of the client manager is much wider: from searching, attracting and long-term retention of new customers to the process of full support of contractual relations during the transaction and after fulfillment of contractual obligations. The effectiveness of the professional activities of this specialist is crucial for the profitability and image of the company.

The customer service manager begins to contact interested customers when they are not yet real counterparties, advises them on all positions of interest and purchase conditions, product features. It happens that a client is interested in only one position from the product line, but in the process of communication he can be interested in other positions of the assortment.The client manager professionally identifies the needs of the client and focuses on the acquisition of those options that can solve the problem more successfully. It is very important to be able to form a partner's need for the services of his company. The client’s repeated appeal to the company indicates that the account manager is successfully coping with his professional duties.

In the modern market, it is important for manufacturers to attract and retain corporate customers who use volume purchases in their activities, which guarantees a cost-effective long-term cooperation, which for many years or even decades will bring a significant part of the profit to the supplier’s balance.

Recently, the position of a manager for working with key clients has become very significant - large consumers of the products offered, able to provide the supplier with the greatest income. It is through their requests that key partners are able to encourage suppliers of goods and services to change the direction of their business development in a market environment, apply innovations and always remain relevant and in demand in their market niche. It is managers who work with key clients that bring their home company a considerable income and, as a result, overfulfilment of profit indicators.

An employee of this qualification influences the formation of prices according to special conditions, the system of discounts and offered bonuses in partnership with customers, is developing provisions in contracts. It is this specialist who does everything possible to find and apply an individual approach to each partner. Building such an approach and taking into account all the wishes of the client is an important component of high-quality service, providing a sustainable competitive advantage and the key to long-term partnership.

An efficiently working manager for working with key clients is always ensured career growth. Subsequently, he will be able to take the position of head of sales, development director or commercial director. A new position is determined by the number of successful and repeat transactions. The professional activity of the client manager involves the assertion of mutual commercial interests. In addition, the client manager remembers all the nuances of the interaction of partners.

The list of functions of the client manager is determined by the job description. The main of all functional responsibilities is the complete support of customers.

Standard Responsibilities:

• mail and workflow;
• interaction with contractors and partners;
• receiving incoming calls and emails;
• multi-channel informing partners about new products and promotions;
• providing a high level of service of the services provided.

Key features are:

• customer search, meeting with them and negotiations;
• consultation on contractual issues;
• receiving and processing orders and tracking the timeliness of their implementation;
• conclusion of contracts and execution of all related documents to them.

The specialist’s work cycle consists of stages.

• Customer base formation in the data bank, replenishment of information and regular changes to the information system. Of particular importance for this are accumulated personal relationships with potential customers from the target audience of competitive companies. An updated customer base, in addition to the existing one, can give a quick stimulating effect to the development of the customer acquisition process.Among the methods for attracting potential partners and increasing interest, the manager uses calls, meetings, advertising campaigns, presentations, and then, processing the incoming stream, receives and processes customer orders.
• Make an appointment by phone.
• Preparing for the meeting and further negotiations according to offers of interest to customers and accepting an offer.
• Establishment of contact: the manager proves to the client the mutually beneficial nature of his proposal, discusses the draft contract, and coordinates the differences.
• Identification of needs:
  • introduces the entire product line;
  • agrees orders in the presence of the range.
• Presentation of goods or services - invites customers to exhibitions, fairs, presentations of new products.
• Work with objections. Using feedback, the manager establishes all cases of customer dissatisfaction, their complaints, and takes measures to eliminate them.
• Closing a deal. Prepares meetings at which contracts are concluded.
• Post-contract transaction support:
  • carries out all necessary actions to support the execution of the contract;
  • ensures the completeness of the provision of goods or services;
  • controls the observance of the rights of partners by the departments of the enterprise.
• Taking recommendation using recommendatory marketing techniques as a key promotion strategy. Formation of a positive reputation of the company with customers to create their sustainable flow and stimulate repeated calls.

In order to optimistically look at the development and prosperity of their business, companies strive to strengthen relations with existing customers and acquire ties with new stable partners. Creating a new relationship to obtain an even larger target segment, sincerely interested in interaction, is entrusted to the customer service manager. He searches for them, using all sorts of channels and platforms to attract new acquaintances and friendly contacts.

The most effective way to develop, allowing you to solve a wide range of tasks to strengthen the image, increase sales and identify a circle of consumers interested in business partnerships, is participation in exhibitions, fairs and presentations. They provide an opportunity to meet with all existing and new customers, establish personal contact with hundreds of domestic and even foreign partners, allow you to grab attention, outline the course and demonstrate the potential of your business. This is a proven methodology that does not fail for many years in strengthening existing reliable ties and in acquiring new consumers.

Besides, The job functions of this specialist also consist in predicting the prospects for cooperation, business reputation and the reliability of the potential customers attracted. Each problematic potential client has a number of signs that give it out even before the start of cooperation.

The position of a client manager implies that he is simply obliged to study the entire assortment of products and know perfectly the full range of services offered, be able to demonstrate their strengths at presentations, skillfully drawing attention to the competitive advantage in order to interest potential clients in cooperation. Excellent knowledge of the product being sold is a significant advantage for product promotion.

To ensure financial prosperity and well-being of the enterprise, the first and very important step of an effective strategy should be taken - conduct a market analysis of customers using traditional or innovative methods. Market segmentation and identification of promising groups of potential consumers for the types of products provided by the company will allow you to determine your target audience with its needs and requirements.

The results of the analysis can show which measures to attract the attention of customers to the activities of the company will be effective and how it will be possible to apply them. The client manager makes the development of methods for finding possible consumers and develops communication schemes coordinated with the results of the analysis.

To build an effective competitive strategy, the account manager monitors competitors, to understand the goals of their companies:

• makes an analysis to identify their weaknesses and strengths;
• identifies opportunities and considers hazards;
• studies all aspects of their business activities.

The manager maintains constant communication and ensures interaction with existing customers, with small retail chain stores and large retailers through an interactive dialogue via fax, e-mail, chat or traditional mail. When compiling monthly reports, analyzing the results of his professional activities, he must make his most effective achievements in motivating clients to cooperate in accordance with the sales promotion programs approved by the company.

To ensure smooth operation, client managers, in matters of their competence, interact with all the main and auxiliary divisions of the company. An experienced client manager is often trusted with questions of quality control of services entrusted to him by clients from related departments.

Everything related to the rights and responsibilities of the customer service manager is included in the job description:

• have all the confidential information that contributes to the solution of professional tasks;
• to offer management ways and methods to increase the efficiency of their work, the growth and development of the enterprise;
• require management to create optimal conditions for the performance of their duties;
• make decisions and take actions within their competence.

This employee is largely responsible for the image, business reputation of the company, contributing to a long-term partnership. It happens that a company loses its customers as a result of dishonest fulfillment or non-fulfillment by a client-manager of his labor functional responsibilities for customer service.

therefore he is responsible for all cases of violation of his duties, non-compliance with the requirements imposed on him by the employer in local regulations, negligence and offenses. This entails measures established by labor law. For violations committed, the manager shall be held liable within the framework established by the Administrative or Criminal Code.

The job description describes all qualification characteristics or, in other words, the requirements for the position of this specialist. He should know all the provisions of the current legislation relating to the conduct and implementation of entrepreneurial activity, as well as the theory of economic and business processes and management decisions, financial analytics of modern companies.

Every client manager must have an understanding of the basic modern principles, methods and elements of marketing and advertising. In addition, the specifics of its enterprise, the range and quality characteristics of products. Employers strive to find a smart and active employee who can make sure that all issues are resolved clearly on time, and even VIP clients feel that there is a person who cares about solving problems with their needs. In addition, they are primarily looking for a person with a high level of sociability, which he himself knows how to see problems and find a solution for them.

The manager’s professional standard assumes the correlation of a certain level of qualification with the education that a specialist has, and also determines specific requests for the candidate’s practical experience. The professional standard describes the labor functions of this employee.

Work tasks:

• control;
• control;
• reporting.

Important professional skills include the ability to make the right decisions in ambiguous and controversial situations. The manager should be sociable and abide by the rules of ethical conduct. He must have the ability to work autonomously and in a team.

In addition to professional and communication skills, the client manager must be able to properly develop a loyalty program. A successful employee in this area should be able to establish all contractual and accompanying processes in the office and monitor the work of sales units.

Therefore, it is desirable to have:

• experience in organizing business negotiations;
• Ownership of business etiquette.

In practice, employers, when hiring a specialist, present him with the following requirements:

• higher education;
• computer literacy;
• correct speech;
• sales experience.

And from personality traits of character:

• activity;
• positivity;
• focus on results.

Sometimes you need a good knowledge of a foreign language, the presence of a license to drive a car and the availability of your own transport. The list of personal traits that will help to fulfill the requirements in the respective position: organizational inclinations, honesty, punctuality, independence, patience and flexibility.

The professional standard determines that the education of the applicant should be Higher professional in the specialty “Management” or secondary special, but necessarily supplemented by refresher courses in management. High career lability is becoming an increasingly popular tactic for professional development. Many specialists change their careers by relearning and discovering new areas. At the same time, there are more and more opportunities for education and self-education. Therefore, higher professional economic, legal or psychological education is allowed. An alternative to a second higher education, which takes several years, can be additional training in the field of management theory.

It is very important for business development if client managers periodically improve their skills at various training events, courses, trainings and online courses. To build a successful career, to become a senior or leading manager and even to take a leadership position as the head of the customer service department, a specialist needs to strive to grow his professional level.

Professional growth means knowledge of the theory of sales, products and services offered by the company. To be noticed by management, you must strive to become competitive in comparison with specialists of this level in other companies. Focusing on tasks, speed of reaction, attention to details and good memory are extremely important for this. And in order to have the necessary skills for quality work, the specialist has the right to rely on periodic training at the expense of the employer.