Ultimate Job Toolkit for CRM Managers

Want to take the CRM realm by force but not quite sure how to do so? Our top recruiters were able to share their insights about the latest job title sweeping the job front: CRM Managers. Our Ultimate Job Toolkit for CRM Managers gives you an inside look at the responsibilities, skills, and experience CRM Managers need to stand out in today's job market.

CRM Manager job description:

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM often falls under the marketing umbrella as it focusses on client interactions, future and current customers, and optimizing and streamlining relationships with clients and customers whether it be in a digital or traditional manner.CRM Managers also plan and deliver CRM strategies across the company, supporting customer retention and loyalty. They must collaborate with other departments such as sales, marketing and tech. Similarly, our Senior Recruiter, Georgia Marogiannis, says CRM Manager responsibilities include analyzing data to find ways to retain an established customer base and attract new customers (retargeting), as well as assist in the rollout of such measures.

Skills CRM Managers need:

Georgia notes that CRM Managers will have to work across platforms and be comfortable using tools like Salesforce (ExactTarget)*, Marketo, Sailthru, Iterable, and Hubspot (the exact tools will vary from organization to organization). In addition, Bri McGee, Senior Recruiter, says CRM Managers need to be extremely organized and have attention to detail as they lead marketing planning across all channels, maintain marketing calendars, create reporting for media channels, and communicate findings to executive teams.

How to get CRM Manager experience:

At 24 Seven, our marketing recruiters typically see candidates who come from an E-commerce platform with either marketing/digital marketing or site merchandising experience. At the entry/associate level, it’s ideal to get more of a broader scope of experience within E-commerce and build up to CRM. Since CRM is more of a narrower focus, we see candidates start to specialize in this side of E-commerce as they get more experience. Even traditional marketing is a great way to get your foot in the door to start, but the E-commerce channel is critical to getting hands-on experience in CRM.

What hiring managers look for:

If you really want to stand out as a CRM Manager, our marketing recruiters say hiring managers look for retention marketing strategies such as loyalty programs (what was implemented and more importantly, what were the results/ROI of the % increases for traffic or sales on the site) and customer re-engagement campaigns for lapsed customers (strategy to bring back customers). They also look for email captures for new customers and retention of current customer base and customer site experience (how the site is interacting with customers to return to the site and drive sales). Additional key words on a resume that stand out are "loyalty, data and results driven, strategic, highly analytical, Google Analytics, and understanding of retail point of sale".

Key components to success:

CRM is a growing and changing field which makes it a bit of a moving target. Being strategic but also flexible to change is critical. What works today may not work again tomorrow. Companies who are successful stay nimble and up to date on their customer needs. With E-commerce, results are updated real time and the impact can be immediate. Paying attention to what your customers want is the first step, but being able to decipher the WHY behind the numbers into an actionable plan is where the results happen. Click here to access our free Job Toolkit for everything you need to know about today’s most in-demand jobs.