Sales account manager

Description

Sales account managers serve as intermediators between clients and the organisation, managing both sales and long term relations with the client. They have knowledge about products and services and develop contracts with customers.

Other titles

The following job titles also refer to sales account manager:

sales coordinator
sales development manager
relations manager
client sales manager
assistant sales account manager
advertising account executive
sales manager
trainee account manager
customer relationship administrator
graduate sales account manager
key account manager
business development manager
assistant account manager
trainee sales account manager
salesperson
national account manager
sales representative
advertising account manager
senior sales account manager
customer relationship manager
customer relations manager
senior account manager
client administrator
relations administrator
graduate account manager

Minimum qualifications

Bachelor’s degree is generally required to work as sales account manager. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

  • the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
  • the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
  • the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Sales account manager is a Skill level 3 occupation.

Sales account manager career path

Similar occupations

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to sales account manager.

department store manager
advertising sales agent
call centre supervisor
ICT help desk agent
commercial sales representative

Long term prospects

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of sales account manager. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of sales account manager with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

ICT account manager
technical sales representative in agricultural machinery and equipment
technical sales representative in chemical products
technical sales representative in electronic and telecommunications equipment
technical sales representative in hardware, plumbing and heating equipment

Essential knowledge and skills

Essential knowledge

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of sales account manager.

Characteristics of products: The tangible characteristics of a product such as its materials, properties and functions, as well as its different applications, features, use and support requirements.
Customer service: Processes and principles related to the customer, client, service user and to personal services; these may include procedures to evaluate customer’s or service user’s satisfaction.
Product comprehension: The offered products, their functionalities, properties and legal and regulatory requirements.
Company policies: The set of rules that govern the activity of a company.
Characteristics of services: The characteristics of a service that might include having acquired information about its application, function, features, use and support requirements.

Essential skills and competences

These skills are necessary for the role of sales account manager.

Apply company policies: Apply the principles and rules that govern the activities and processes of an organisation.
Ensure customer focus: Attitude that puts customers at the centre of the business in all cases.
Study sales levels of products: Collect and analyse sales levels of products and services in order to use this information for determining the quantities to be produced in the following batches, customer feedback, price trends, and the efficiency of sales methods.
Perform data analysis: Collect data and statistics to test and evaluate in order to generate assertions and pattern predictions, with the aim of discovering useful information in a decision-making process.
Perform customers’ needs analysis: Analyse the habits and needs of customers and target groups in order to devise and apply new marketing strategies and to sell more goods in a more effective way.
Implement customer follow-up: Implement strategies that ensures post-sale follow up of customer satisfaction or loyalty regarding one’s product or service.
Forecast account metrics: Make predictions on the movement of account measurements and data which give insight into an organisation’s financial state in order to aid analyses and evaluate potential risks.
Prospect new customers: Initiate activities in order to attract new and interesting customers. Ask for recommendations and references, find places where potential customers can be located.
Negotiate price: Arrange an agreement on price of products or services provided or offered.
Manage contracts: Negotiate the terms, conditions, costs and other specifications of a contract while making sure they comply with legal requirements and are legally enforceable. Oversee the execution of the contract, agree on and document any changes.
Use customer relationship management software: Use specialised software to manage company’s interactions with current and future customers. Organise, automate and synchronise sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support, to increase targeted sales.
Maximise sales revenues: Increase possible sales volumes and avoid losses through cross-selling, upselling or promotion of additional services.
Produce sales reports: Maintain records of calls made and products sold over a given time frame, including data regarding sales volumes, number of new accounts contacted and the costs involved.
Maintain customer records: Keep and store structured data and records about customers in accordance with customer data protection and privacy regulations.
Build business relationships: Establish a positive, long-term relationship between organisations and interested third parties such as suppliers, distributors, shareholders and other stakeholders in order to inform them of the organisation and its objectives.
Keep records on sales: Keep records of the activities of the sales of products and services, tracking which products and services were sold when and maintaining customer records, in order to facilitate improvements in the sales department.

Optional knowledge and skills

Optional knowledge

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of sales account manager. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Consumer protection: The current legislation applicable in relation to the rights of consumers in the marketplace.
Accounting techniques: The techniques of recording and summarising business and financial transactions and analysing, verifying, and reporting the results.
Employment law: The law which mediates the relationship between employees and employers. It concerns employees’ rights at work which are binding by the work contract.
Competition law: The legal regulations that maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive behaviour of companies and organisations.

Optional skills and competences

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of sales account manager. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Speak different languages: Master foreign languages to be able to communicate in one or more foreign languages.
Deliver a sales pitch: Prepare and deliver an understandably constructed sales talk for a product or a service, identifying and using persuasive argumentation.
Adapt to changing situations: Change approach to situations based on unexpected and sudden changes in people’s needs and mood or in trends; shift strategies, improvise and naturally adapt to those circumstances.
Use content management system software: Use software that allows publishing, editing and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface.
Use communication techniques: Apply techniques of communication which allow interlocutors to better understand each other and communicate accurately in the transmission of messages.
Pose questions referring to documents: Revise and formulate questions in regards to documents in general. Investigate about the completeness, confidentiality measures, style of the document, and specific instructions to handle documents.
Perform market research: Gather, assess and represent data about target market and customers in order to facilitate strategic development and feasibility studies. Identify market trends.

ISCO group and title

1420 – Retail and wholesale trade managers

 

 


 

 

References
  1. Sales account manager – ESCO
Last updated on August 8, 2022