What does a National Account Manager do?
A national account manager is an individual who is responsible for maintaining strong relationships with key accounts from a particular region. To ensure long-term success, federal account managers must act as a liaison between customers and the internal team by achieving the customers' needs and requirements. They must identify and create attractive strategies to bring new customers and gain revenues. Also, candidates for national account managers must possess excellent interpersonal skills and experience managing national accounts.
National account manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real national account manager resumes:
- Achieve ROI optimization for key retailers nationwide; employ consultative sales methodology.
- Managed/Analyze individual account POS numbers to assist in forecasting, manage inventory and overall category management.
- Manage OEM relationship from a proactive consultative role proposing strategy and tactics for client base on research data and marketing/engagement metrics.
- Improve sales process documentation by utilizing CRM to better communicate with field sales staff in idealizing customer interactions.
- Close multi-million dollar deals with DOD agencies.
- Provide enterprise class products including servers, storage, networking, virtualization, and, datacenter solutions.
- Design a toll free cloud base application that divert consumer calls that eliminate long hold times and or busy signals.
- Leverage as a product and network specialist by field GAM's on customer visits to add value and close business.
- Produce major PowerPoint presentations for internal executives.
- Design creative promotional materials using PowerPoint and other tools.
- Managed/Analyze individual account POS numbers to properly forecast and inventory.
- Develop cost models to identify ROI savings and contract implementation.
- Maintain and update CRM system for accurate forecasting and pipeline transparency.
- Review critically and analyze current payroll, benefits and tax procedures in order to implement changes leading to best-practice operations.
- Assist in initiating personnel requisitions; monitor overtime and attendance records; assist in preparing and monitoring employees' payroll.
National account manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of National Account Managers are proficient in Account Management, Customer Service, and National Accounts. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of National Account Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Account Management, 9%
Maintained clear communications with department managers and account executives and provided comprehensive account management to ensure client needs were being met.
- Customer Service, 9%
Project Manager for installations, provided direction and worked closely with customer call center to ensure total customer service and satisfaction.
- National Accounts, 8%
Developed inventory reporting specific to National Accounts, identifying transferred product, which resulted in significant cost savings in freight.
- Healthcare, 6%
Developed hospitality and healthcare purchasing consortium focused on maximizing savings on purchases within multiple products and service product lines.
- CRM, 4%
Improved sales process documentation by utilizing CRM to better communicate with field sales staff in idealizing customer interactions.
- Customer Relationships, 4%
Retained and built new business primarily in the beverage industry on a national basis through extensive travel building solid customer relationships.
Common skills that a national account manager uses to do their job include "account management," "customer service," and "national accounts." You can find details on the most important national account manager responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a national account manager to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "sales managers must collect and interpret complex data to target the most promising geographic areas and demographic groups, and determine the most effective sales strategies." Additionally, a national account manager resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "established database for direct sales reporting, increasing productivity. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling national account manager duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly." According to a national account manager resume, here's how national account managers can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "direct sales of billing and customer support solutions for emerging telephone and communications suppliers (clec/icp/ip) providers in southeast us. "
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of national account managers is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday national account manager duties, as "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "acquired new customers through direct business-to-business and indirect sales. "
Leadership skills. For certain national account manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "leadership skills." The day-to-day duties of a national account manager rely on this skill, as "sales managers must be able to evaluate how their sales staff performs and must develop strategies for meeting sales goals." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what national account managers do: "assumed sales leadership for product line and increased first year target revenue from $6m to $10m. "
The three companies that hire the most national account managers are:
- ConvergeOne78 national account managers jobs
- ICF54 national account managers jobs
- Restaurant Technologies40 national account managers jobs
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Compare different national account managers
National account manager vs. Manager, account executive
An account executive manager is responsible for handling client accounts and leading the account management procedures to promote the client's brand image in the market and maintain the highest satisfaction. Account executive managers work with the marketing and sales team to identify sales and promotional strategies that would increase revenues and product profits. They also review the current market trends to develop business opportunities according to client needs and public demands. An account executive manager coordinates with the clients for regular updates and informs them of business plan adjustments as needed.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a national account manager are more likely to require skills like "national accounts," "crm," "customer relationships," and "relationship building." On the other hand, a job as a manager, account executive requires skills like "virtualization," "post sales," "sales territory," and "account executives." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Managers, account executive tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $87,422. In contrast, national account managers make the biggest average salary, $99,747, in the technology industry.On average, managers, account executive reach similar levels of education than national account managers. Managers, account executive are 0.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.National account manager vs. Sales manager
Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, national account manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "national accounts," "healthcare," and "customer relationships." Meanwhile, a sales manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "sales performance," "work ethic," "multitasking," and "sales associates." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, sales managers achieve similar levels of education than national account managers. They're 2.1% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.National account manager vs. Account executive/sales manager
An Account Executive/Sales Manager manages client accounts, building positive client relationships in the process. Part of their job is to secure sales, which requires them to conduct research and analysis to find new business and client opportunities, generate leads, offer products and services to clients through calls and correspondence, arrange appointments, and process payments. There are instances where they must assist clients by resolving issues and concerns, ensuring client satisfaction. Moreover, they are also responsible for developing sales plans and strategies while implementing the company's policies and regulations among staff.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from national account manager resumes include skills like "national accounts," "crm," "customer relationships," and "sales growth," whereas an account executive/sales manager is more likely to list skills in "account executives," "sales professionals," "real estate," and "business sales. "
Account executive/sales managers earn the best pay in the media industry, where they command an average salary of $51,472. National account managers earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $99,747.When it comes to education, account executive/sales managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to national account managers. In fact, they're 1.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.National account manager vs. Business development account manager
A business development account manager is in charge of developing strategies to identify new business and client opportunities, ensuring sales growth and customer satisfaction. They typically perform research and analysis to gather data, coordinate with analysts and experts, produce sales and progress reports, and maintain records of all transactions. Furthermore, a business development account manager must build positive relationships with clients and secure sales by reaching out to customers through calls, correspondence, or appointments. They may offer products and services, process payments, and handle inquiries or concerns.
Types of national account manager
Updated January 8, 2025
