Significance

• Customers are needed in all businesses to build a profitable enterprise. The job of client relations manager entails building trust, confidence and goodwill with customers. CRMs must understand the needs of their customers and articulate the ability of their company to meet the clients' needs with products or services. Managers often have critical responsibilities in client acquisition, customer satisfaction and client retention.
  
  

Function

• The day-to-day tasks of client relation managers center around meeting the needs of their clients. The primary focus is on developing and maintaining relationships with customers. CRMs must have the skills to analyze work flow, evaluate systems and formulate plans. Usually, client relations managers are required to recommend strategies and communicate the desires of clients to other members of a project team to ensure understanding of the clients' challenges and goals. Client relations managers also are charged with monitoring progress against a set of benchmarks and metrics.
  
  

Types

• You can find client relations managers working in all sectors of the economy, including retail, transportation, construction and health care. CRMs are also employed in settings such as in utilities, hospitality, wholesale, and engineering and information technology. Some CRMs spend a majority of their time in the field working one-on-one with a portfolio of clients. Other managers may be in charge of an office staff or a call center. All have the same basic function: to engage clients and build the relationship into a mutually profitable one.
  
  

Considerations

• Many client relations jobs require the applicant to possess at least a bachelor's degree in the field. However, some employers may accept a combination of formal training and practical work experience. Job candidates will usually possess direct experience in areas such as prospecting, proposals, presentations and sales cycles.
  Multitasking, team-building skills and working with senior and executive management are also important considerations.
  
  Strong written and verbal communication skills are a prerequisite. Some knowledge and practical experience in information technology may also be required. In October 2009, a client services manager with 4 to 9 years of experience can expect a median salary range of $43,158 to $66,211, according to PayScale.com.
  
  

Expert Insight

• One of the leading experts in client relations management, Andrew Sobel, says there are six essential tasks a client relations manager should master: aspiration setting, relationship strategy, client leadership, team leadership and growth, ambassadorship, and quality assurance and commercial. Sobel says that aspiration setting involves setting ambitious goals for the relationship with the customer, while always putting an emphasis on the client's needs.
  
  Team-building involves pulling together the resources of an organization to provide quality service. On quality assurance, he says the customer relations manager's role is to ensure "high quality work at all times" and to ensure the companies "profit standards are met."