Should You Consider A Career In CRM?

The digitalization of modern business has given rise to the increased importance of CRM managers within organizations in order to maximize profits in today’s market. Responsible for the development, execution and refinement of multi-channel customer relations, CRM managers can expect an average salary of around $84,000 per annum. This is a natural career progression for customer service representatives who have gained a firsthand grasp on customer profiles and are ready to start using large chunks of data to draw up profitable marketing campaigns.

In terms of performance, the role of the CRM manager is highly measurable and large corporations are now experiencing a massive ROI as a result of implementing CRM strategies as part of their business model. The Bank of America is one of the top CRM employers in the US, possibly in response to the loss of 650,000 customers due to poor CRM management in 2011.

What Skills Are Required to Be A Successful CRM Manager

CRM sits under the marketing department of a company and therefore a solid understanding of marketing is essential in order to succeed in a CRM role, however, the following skills will certainly help you along the way:

Communication skills – It is the job of the CRM Manager to not only ascertain the most effective channel for communicating to the database, but also, to make the customer feel valued and well advised. However, it does not end there as CRM Managers also need to effectively communicate within the organization, acting as a link between specialist departments.

Project management skills – Running effective CRM campaigns requires detailed project management skills as you oversee the time frames, various departments, technological requirements, and measurement and analysis of all campaigns.

Creative skills – Knowing how to communicate to your database and what kind of creative you should use with your communication in order to maximize the ROI is a key component.

Analytical skills – This is not just limited to behavior reporting and consumer analytics but also the measurement of each component of campaigns that are run. This can include purchase history, consumer type, consumer behavior and consumer demographics.

CRM Software – CRM managers need the technical ability to operate with CRM software in order to effectively analyze, profile and report on the database. There are multiple CRM systems available but a basic knowledge of how to operate a basic system is crucial.

As well as this, a successful CRM Manager will need strong organizational skills, attention to detail and management skills as you will often be responsible for a team of people.

Typical Duties for A CRM Manager

• Data analysis and reporting on the lifecycle of the current database as well as customer profiling.
• Planning across all channels for the effective execution of marketing campaigns.
• Consistent management of marketing calendars.
• Implementation and Management of loyalty programs.
• Conversion of visitors into profitable customers.
• Identification and win back strategies for lapsed customers.
• Testing of all multichannel marketing communications and campaigns.

With a strong focus on loyalty and retention, you can leverage consumer behavior, lifestyle, transactional, and demographic data in order to deliver multichannel marketing communications that serve to increase lifetime value.