The account manager career
The term Account Manager often appears in sales job adverts, though this English-language job title doesn’t always make clear what the role actually involves. The Account Manager manages and develops relationships with a portfolio of clients. Duties, skills, how the role differs from a salesperson, career progression and training: discover what you need to understand this career and the paths to get there.
In brief
An Account Manager manages and develops a portfolio of clients over the long term. Their role isn’t limited to selling: they maintain the relationship, identify new needs, retain clients and grow the value of the accounts they are responsible for.
At Excelia Business School, Bac+5 programmes help develop the sales, relationship and strategic skills needed for this type of role, where performance rests as much on revenue growth as on the quality and durability of the client relationship.
What is an account manager?
An Account Manager is responsible for managing and developing a portfolio of clients. Their objective is to build a lasting relationship, understand each client’s needs, ensure their satisfaction and identify new business opportunities within the accounts they are responsible for.
This career therefore sits at the crossroads of sales management, client relations and business development. Unlike a role mainly focused on prospecting, the Account Manager works with a long-term logic of account follow-up and development — skills notably developed in Excelia Business School’s Bac+5 programmes.
What does an account manager do day to day?
Understanding the client’s needs comes first: the account manager listens, analyses usage and anticipates difficulties, before coordinating the teams who implement the solution, so that commercial commitments are met.
Negotiation also plays an important part, particularly when the contract is renewed, when the price, scope and terms may change. Project management and client relationship follow-up are also part of the role, skills developed at Excelia Business School at Bac+5 level. Monitoring account indicators then rounds out their responsibilities.
What is the difference with a salesperson?
The difference mainly lies in the role played in the client relationship. A new-business salesperson looks for new clients, approaches prospects and guides them through to signature. The Account Manager mainly works with existing clients: their role is to maintain the relationship, retain the client and develop the account over time.
This distinction varies, however, from one organisation to another: an Account Manager can also develop an existing account by offering new products or services, while a salesperson may continue to follow up with their clients after signature. At Excelia Business School, these related roles notably come under marketing and sales: business developer, sales manager, sales engineer or sales director.
What skills do you need to become an account manager?
Interpersonal ease matters, but it isn’t enough. Succeeding in this career calls for two registers: listening and negotiation on one hand, analysis and rigour in follow-up on the other. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be extroverted to succeed as an account manager: a more reserved profile, comfortable with figures and analysis, can thrive just as well in this role.
This career also requires a solid understanding of the business and the challenges of clients’ sectors, in fields as varied as IT, industry, consulting or energy. With experience, this combination of relationship and analytical skills can notably lead to a Key Account Manager role, overseeing a company’s most strategic clients.
You don’t have to work out this dual register on your own: our careers guidance quiz helps you place your profile among management careers, in just a few minutes.
What career progression is there after the account manager role?
The Account Manager role offers several career progression opportunities. With experience, an account manager can go on to become a Key Account Manager and oversee a company’s most strategic clients, or move into managing a sales team. According to APEC (Association Pour l’Emploi des Cadres), for this senior profile, 80% of gross annual salary offers fall between €35,000 and €75,000, with an average of €53,000.
Other career paths can lead towards sales management or business development. Marketing and sales in fact cover several distinct roles, of which client relationship management is one dimension. To find out more, Excelia Business School also presents other marketing careers that are hiring.
How do you become an account manager?
The most direct route is through a Bac+5 management programme. Excelia Business School prepares you for these roles with Excelia Business School’s MSc in Marketing and Sales Management, a Bac+5 Master of Science (MSc), accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and leading to a Grade de Master, which deepens understanding of the client sector’s technological challenges: IT, industry, consulting, energy. The precise arrangements can be found on the programme page.
This MSc is one of the Marketing Master of Science (MSc) programmes. Offered in French or English depending on the pathway, it also opens onto a double degree with the Master in Management (Programme Grande École), for certain pathways. Excelia Business School holds the quadruple accreditation EQUIS, AACSB, AMBA and EFMD Master: fewer than 1% of business schools worldwide hold all four accreditations. The Excelia network has 53,000 graduates.
Discover the MSc in Marketing and Sales Management
Frequently asked questions
- What is the French term for an account manager?
The French term is responsable de comptes clients: the person in charge of managing and developing a portfolio of existing clients, once the contract has been signed, rather than looking for new ones.
- Does an account manager only work with businesses?
The role is mainly found in B2B (business-to-business) relationships, where managing a portfolio of accounts is most structured. What defines it is less the type of client than the logic of a portfolio followed over time.
- Do you need sales experience to become an account manager?
This isn’t an absolute prerequisite: a Bac+5 management programme, focused on marketing and sales, prepares you directly for this career. What matters more is the ability to understand the technological challenges of the client’s sector, a requirement that becomes greater if you aim, with experience, for a key account manager role.
- What is the difference between an account manager and a key account manager?
The key account manager oversees a company’s most strategic clients, while the account manager manages a broader and more varied portfolio. Moving from one to the other is often a career progression, alongside related roles such as sales manager or sales director.
- Does this career exist outside marketing and sales?
Yes: the account management logic is also found in technical or consulting roles, wherever a client relationship lasts over time. The role calls on cross-cutting skills, useful well beyond a single sector: complex negotiation, project management, digital marketing.
