CRM Manager: What is the cost of hiring?

What is a CRM Manager?

A CRM Manager creates systems designed to improve the relationship between a company and its customers. They analyze customer data, manage CRM software and develop strategies for increasing customer retention. CRM Managers also collaborate with sales and marketing professionals.

Why hire a CRM Manager?

CRM Managers help your company build lasting relationships with customers through CRM systems. They conduct research to ensure that your company’s products or services are a good fit for customers’ needs. This can help increase your customer retention rate and enhance brand loyalty.

Contributions of a great CRM Manager: 

• Improved customer service
• Reduced marketing costs
• Enhanced alignment between customer needs and company initiatives

Defining your hiring needs for a CRM Manager

As you decide how to hire a CRM Manager, defining your hiring needs helps guide the selection process. Identify the employment type, which could be full-time, part-time or freelance, depending on the anticipated workload and your budget for the hire.

It’s also helpful to clarify the scope of responsibilities for your CRM strategy to determine if a manager-level role is the right fit. Other related roles to consider include CRM Specialists, Marketing Automation Managers and Customer Experience Leads.

What are the types of CRM Managers?

CRM Managers often specialize in one area of customer relationship management. Types of CRM Managers include:

• Operational CRM Managers: An Operational CRM Manager focuses on lead management, customer service and marketing automation.
• Collaborative CRM Managers: Collaborative CRM Managers improve customer relationships by enhancing communication between a company and its customers. This improves the consistency of the customer experience.
• Analytical CRM Managers: Analytical CRM Managers focus on data analysis. They use data to understand what customers want and need.

When writing your CRM Manager job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on CRM Manager jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Marketing
• CRM
• Salesforce
• Manager
• Marketing Manager
• CRM Manager
• Operations Manager
• Email marketing
• Project Manager

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Where to find a CRM Manager

CRM Managers can be found through marketing and customer experience job boards, CRM platform user communities, professional associations and digital networking groups. Partnering with business schools, attending CRM or martech conferences or connecting through professional platforms can help you reach strong candidates.

To find the right CRM Manager for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Networking: Attending business mixers, conferences and other professional events allows you to connect with potential CRM Manager candidates.
• Employee referral program: If your company has an employee referral program, ask team members to recommend experienced CRM professionals.
• Marketing-focused recruitment agencies: Some recruitment agencies focus on placing candidates with marketing and sales experience. 
• Social media: Posting job openings on social media can help you connect with people who are familiar with your company’s products and services.
• Post your job online: Try posting your CRM Manager job on Indeed to find and attract quality candidates.

Skills to look for in a CRM Manager

A successful CRM Manager candidate will typically have the following skills and competencies, which may be gained through a variety of experiences, training or education:

• Experience using Salesforce or another CRM system to track key performance metrics and identify emerging trends
• Proficiency in generating, qualifying and nurturing leads
• Ability to develop strategies designed to enhance customer relationships
• Competence using Power BI, Tableau, Excel or other tools to analyze customer data
• Practical experience with defining customer personas and mapping the customer journey

Writing a CRM Manager job description

Now that you know the key skills, salary expectations, popular job seeker search terms and hiring insights for a CRM Manager, you’re ready to write a job description.

A CRM Manager job description typically includes a quick overview of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position. You may also want to include information about your company culture, benefits and perks to attract candidates to your open role.

Ready to get started? See our full guide for writing CRM Manager job descriptions.

Interviewing CRM Manager candidates

Strong candidates for CRM Manager positions will be confident answering questions about:

• Customer journey mapping
• Steps involved in generating and managing leads
• Using CRM analytics to identify sales and marketing trends
• Developing CRM strategies designed to increase customer retention
• Tracking key metrics, including customer lifetime value, customer retention rate and acquisition cost