Job profile

Key Account Manager (m/f/d)

As soon as companies realize that stable customer relationships are crucial to their success, one role becomes particularly important: the Key Account Manager. This is because this position is responsible for always being available to the most important customers as a point of contact and taking perfect care of their concerns.

What other tasks does a Key Account Manager have? What soft and hard skills are required? And what is the salary in this area? We address these questions in this Hays job profile.

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► Definition
► Salary
► T asks
► Training, studies & further education
► S kills
► FAQ

What is a key account manager?
The importance of key account management

Key Account Managers (KAM) are absolute sales professionals and are responsible for looking after their company's key customers.

They ensure the sustainable success of the company by acting as a constant point of contact for their customers and thus strengthening the business relationship. As a Key Account Manager, you therefore establish a strong basis of trust with your most important customers.
To achieve this, you need to be very familiar with the needs and requirements of your company's key customers.

They maintain an overview of the markets, products, industries and new technical developments in order to be available for their customers in all matters and to identify innovative forms of cooperation. At the same time, they acquire new customers, advise them and build long-term relationships.

Key Account Manager salary in Austria:
A comprehensive overview

For a full-time position, Key Account Managers in Austria receive an average gross annual salary of €61,000.

Earnings can also vary greatly depending on professional experience, the size of the company, the location of the company and the importance of the clientele to be looked after. In many companies, it is common for remuneration in KAM (Key Account Management) to depend on success. An increase is therefore always possible and variable additional payments are not uncommon.

Success in key account management and the bonus payments that depend on it are largely measured by customer-specific sales. In second place comes the contribution margin achieved with the key accounts. The additional benefits can be derived from these figures.

Key Account Managers in Salzburg and Bregenz can expect the highest salaries in Austria.

Starting salary as a Key Account Manager in Austria:
Junior Key Account Manager salary

In Austria, junior key account managers can expect an average starting salary of around €2,500 to €3,560 per month.

Senior Key Account Manager salary

After several years with the company and a promotion to Senior Key Account Manager, you can expect a salary of around €85,000. The salary of a Senior Key Account Manager is highly dependent on the size of the key accounts and has a lot of upward scope. It is therefore essential in key account management to demonstrate your skills and achieve regular success.

What is a Key Account Director?
These are the differences to Key Account Management

As the term suggests, a (key) account director is a manager in account management. This function includes the coordination of (key) account managers and budget planning, as well as the target management of all employees reporting to them.

In addition to these management matters, the Account Director is also responsible for contact with key customers. As a rule, the other Key Account Managers are subordinate to this role.

Key account manager tasks:
What do Key Account Managers do?

The most important task of the Key Account Manager is to increase sales in the company by building relationships with and supporting important customers.

Good key account management makes it possible to open up new markets, but also to convince new customers of your own service. This work is therefore crucial for the current and future success of a company.

In Key Account Management, you represent an essential key position in sales and are part of customer management. Your tasks include developing effective customer strategies and successfully mediating between companies and existing customers.

In doing so, you never lose sight of the management's targets, particularly with regard to the annual turnover to be achieved, while at the same time representing the interests of your key accounts. In the best case scenario, you will be able to combine both your company's strategy and that of your customer and create win-win situations.

The following tasks are important for Key Account Managers:

Customer acquisition
Maintaining customer relationships
Recording customer requirements with regard to products and services
Responsibility for key account sales
Cooperation with product development
Presentation of new products and services
Management of complaints and grievances
Planning of various marketing measures and events
Industry knowledge and market analysis
Development of new sales strategies
Analyze and identify sales potential

Junior Key Account Manager Tasks  

As a Junior Key Account Manager at the start of your career, it is important to develop your own skills. Your tasks will therefore often involve gaining experience and knowledge in the areas assigned to you.

These include tasks such as:

Customer acquisition through contact
Discussion of customer needs and information and the associated documentation
Answering customer inquiries
Providing all information about product and service information
Increase customer satisfaction and build relationships

Senior Key Account Manager Tasks

In addition to traditional KAM tasks, Senior Key Account Managers are often increasingly responsible for strategic issues in their area. Due to their many years of experience, they are often responsible for several key accounts or several sectors.

The special tasks of Senior Key Account Managers include

Negotiation and support at C-level
Coordination and management of subordinate account managers
Acquisition of new key accounts
Responsibility for specially assigned sectors
Strategy development in your own team

How do you become a key account manager?
- Training, studies & further education

A career in key account management requires you to meet a number of demanding requirements. After all, the Key Account Manager makes a significant contribution to the company's success. Nevertheless, there is no specific training path to becoming a Key Account Manager.

A commercial apprenticeship, a (business) economics degree or an engineering degree serve as a basis. After completing a Bachelor's degree, a Master's in Sales Management is also advisable. Comprehensive sales knowledge and a flair for dealing with customers are important prerequisites for pursuing the path towards becoming a KAM.
Another way to become a key account manager is to complete further training. It is advisable to attend key account manager training courses, such as the IHK certificate course. Such courses are suitable for career changers, people in sales management or current account managers.

Many companies also train and develop key account managers themselves. This usually requires several years of service with the company.

Generally speaking, key account managers rarely start their careers in this role. In most companies, many years of professional experience are a prerequisite before these people can come into contact with the most important customers.

Key Account Manager training: getting started in practice

The practical way to become a Key Account Manager, for example, is via a certificate course such as the one offered by the IHK. In around 60 hours, you will learn the most important skills and the necessary theory to become a key account manager. Ideally, participants should already have experience in sales or even account management. A previous degree in, for example, economics is also advisable in order to excel as a Key Account Manager. However, the most important thing is practical experience, which should follow any training.

With a combination of certification and sufficient professional experience, nothing stands in the way of a career as a Key Account Manager. Many companies already require experience as a Junior Account Manager when advertising vacancies for Key Account Managers.

Key Account Manager studies: the academic path

No specific degree is required to become a Key Account Manager. However, there are various degree courses that will prepare you for a career as a Key Account Manager and are welcome in the application process. These include, above all, economics subjects such as business administration, sales management, economics or business administration.

These courses can be completed at many Austrian universities and universities of applied sciences and in Austria. Although a Bachelor's degree is usually sufficient, Master's graduates can expect a higher starting salary.

It is often advisable to attend further account management training after completing a bachelor's or master's degree in order to enter this profession in a qualified manner. However, many female key account managers start their career "on the job" by slowly but surely working their way up to this position.

However, a career as a key account manager without a degree is absolutely possible, as this role primarily requires professional experience and certain skills.

Key Account Manager training: what's next for you

There are numerous seminars, training courses and online courses for Key Account Managers on the adult education market. You can choose from courses lasting several days or specific intensive courses.

It is fundamentally important for account managers to regularly undergo further training, strengthen their skills and broaden their horizons.

Possible topics for Key Account Manager training could be

(Agile) project management
Negotiation tactics
Additional qualification: Global Account Management
Management coaching
Specific industry knowledge training
Strategic selling

You can complete these seminars and many more at institutes such as the WIFI or the IU University of Applied Sciences.

Key Account Manager lateral entry

Numerous specific further training courses are suitable for a lateral entry into key account management. Nevertheless, it should be noted that a classic lateral entry in a short period of time is unlikely for this job profile. Employers require a high level of professional experience and industry knowledge for the role in key account management.

A key account manager has these skills

Key Account Managers are true sales professionals and therefore have several years of professional experience in sales and account management.

They often start out as sales managers and build up an indispensable wealth of knowledge over the years. This is particularly important if the product or service being sold is complex. This is precisely when Key Account Managers should also have a technical understanding and strong industry knowledge.
To be successful in Key Account Management, you should also have the following skills.

Hard skills for key account managers:

Market expertise: A good Key Account Manager knows the market they are in inside out and therefore always has the right information for their key customers.
Strategic knowledge: As a Key Account Manager, you are responsible for a functioning and innovative sales strategy.
Target and results-oriented action: Key account management thrives on figures and results, which you need to present and understand on a regular basis.
Sales skills: In this role you should be an absolute sales professional, which is why you must already have strengths here.
Technical knowledge: As a Key Account Manager you will be working with different tools and software, such as Salesforce or Hubspot - this should not be difficult for you.
Excellent English language skills: Depending on the industry and customer, language skills are also required in this role. You will use English most frequently.

Key Account Managers must also have the following soft skills:

Organizational talent
Entrepreneurial thinking and action
Negotiating skills
Good rhetoric and communication skills (by e-mail, telephone, in conversation)
High service and customer orientation
Partly: Willingness to travel

Careers in key account management:
opportunities on the job market in Austria and beyond

Key Account Managers are employed in almost all industries to look after key customers and to organize and manage the communication processes between companies and important partners. From medium-sized machine manufacturers to large corporations in the consumer goods industry. They all rely on qualified people in key account management for their company's success.

Since many large Austrian companies in the free economy are based in Vienna, there are many vacancies for Key Account Managers there.

Salaries in key account management are also promising and - depending on performance - there is hardly any upper limit. Companies are demanding when filling these important positions and in contact with their most important customers, which is why a lot is expected of this role.