Trade guide

Key account manager

Do you have excellent interpersonal skills and a flair for business? Do you want to work in sales and marketing and occupy a key position within a company? Becoming a Key Account Manager could be the ideal option for your professional future. But you still need to know what it’s all about.

Quick access

Présentation
Missions
Compétences
Avantages
Salaire
Formations

See our training courses

The business

What is a Key Account Manager?

Its role

A key account manager is simply what we commonly call a key account manager. As the name suggests, this is a job that requires you to manage the potential customers of the company you work for. In other words, you have to develop their loyalty in order to help ensure that the company’s business runs smoothly.

Its field of action

Winning and retaining the trust of a company’s biggest customers is particularly important if it is to continue to grow and stand up to the competition. As a Key Account Manager, you will have to use your creativity and common sense to maintain good relations between the company and its customers.

The functions

What does a Key Account Manager do?

Keeping the best customers to ensure the company’s viability is one of the most difficult tasks you can undertake. Yet this should be your main objective as a key account manager. To achieve this and do your job properly, you have a large number of tasks to perform, including the following:

identify the different needs of customers

Ensuring the smooth running of all company operations and interactions with customers

seek out new customers and interesting markets

assess customer satisfaction

negotiate with key employees

guarantee compliance with all aspects of commitments

ensure the quality of the service the company provides

look after the company’s interests

See our training courses

Qualifications

The qualities and skills needed to be a good key account manager

You need to develop certain qualities if you are to meet customers’ expectations every time and keep the company’s most attractive business. These include interpersonal skills, which are essential if you are to do your best work as a Key Account Manager. With this asset, you are better prepared to negotiate and retain the trust and therefore the loyalty of a potential customer.

To be a good key account manager, you also need to be organised. In fact, in this job, you are often required to manage the portfolios of several important customers for the company at the same time. To do this, you need to be diplomatic and master the art of communication. Technical skills are also important if you are to fulfil your role as Key Account Manager to the full.

Among other things, you need to master sales cycles to ensure that they run smoothly. If your company operates internationally, excellent language skills are also essential.

The benefits

What are the advantages of being a Key Account Manager?

The great advantage of being a Key Account Manager is that you are often in contact with important people in the field of sales and marketing. If you excel at your job, your network can grow very quickly. As a result, you’re more likely to come across new and interesting opportunities.

Secondly, the role you play within a company as a Key Account Manager is one of the most important. That’s what makes it a stable and well-paid job. Also, by taking on major challenges, you gain experience more quickly and can then develop rapidly throughout your career.

List of other international opportunities.

Remuneration

Key account manager: salary and career development

If you start out as a junior key account manager, you can earn at least 36,000 euros a year. With more experience, your annual salary can rise to 75,000 euros. If you become an expert in your field, you can even earn up to €80,000 or more a year. If you’re even more ambitious, you could also consider taking on an even bigger and better-paid job. For example, you could become Key Account Manager or Sales Director.

See our training courses

Up to

80 000€

Salary per year

Training courses

What studies do you need to become a key account manager?

Our training courses

If you want to secure your place as a Key Account Manager in a company, the best way is to follow the right training at a good business school. At INSEEC, we can help you achieve your goal by offering you a range of programmes and specialities.

For example, you could opt for a Master of Science in Business Development & Business Engineering, an MSc in Trade Marketing, Distribution and Business Development or another course in the Business division. Don’t hesitate to consult our FAQ for answers or to contact our teams.