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Relationship Manager

Complete with job descriptions, skill profiles, and interview templates. Use this Relationship Manager hiring guide to help you make the right decisions, fast.

HOW TO HIRE A Relationship Manager

What does a Relationship Manager do?

A Relationship Manager is a type of sales professional who is tasked with developing and maintaining customer relationships that lead to continued business and growth. They seek out new customers and clients and advise them on how they can meet their needs through various products and services on offer.

Day to day tasks of a Relationship Manager

Skills assessment

Relationship Manager definition

A Relationship Managers’ primary responsibility is to source new business and maintain relationships with various customers in order to achieve continued growth. Because of this, they require key skills that enable them to be able to connect with customers in a variety of circumstances and have strong business acumen.

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HIRING PROCESS

Relationship Manager Hiring Process

Step 1: Understand the role
Step 2: Source Applicants
Step 3: Skills Assessment
Step 4: Interview
Step 5: Hire

Build the Ideal Candidate Profile​

To find the best person for the role, you need to understand what the role involves. You can complete this with the hiring manager to define the role, its contribution, and the skills needed.

Write A Job Description Based On Skills

Once you understand the requirements for the role, you’ll need to understand the skills for success. You can then write an effective job description to promote your role.

Selecting The Ideal Candidate

See which applicants have the right skills for the role. Send all your applicants a Vervoe skills assessment from the expert library, or customize one for your organization.

Interview Top Performers

Your skills assessment results will identify top performers. Focus your time on interviewing those that have met or exceeded your requirements. Assessment results will also help guide which skill areas to focus on in the interview.

Making An Offer

Once you assess your candidates against these skills, you’re ready to offer the top performer(s). You should base your offer on the value that the candidate would bring to your team and your business as a whole. It is also important to ensure your compensation and benefits packages are competitive in the industry and help you attract and retain the top talent.
Build the ideal candidate profile

Skills needed for a Relationship Manager

A relationship manager must be customer-focussed and sales driven. Because each customer is different, a relationship manager needs to have skills in resilience and learning agility. They must also have exceptional written and verbal communication skills and a closing mindset.

Pro Tip

For mid-level roles, you’re likely to receive a larder number of applications than you would for a senior position. Ensure you provide details about what it’s like to work for your company, and what your company values are so applicants know whether your company is the right fit for them.

WRITE A JOB DESCRIPTION BASED ON SKILLS

How to write a Relationship Manager job description

Once you’ve determined the skills required for the role, you can write the job description to advertise for your position. Here’s what to include in your Relationship Manager job description:

Job Title: What position are you hiring for?

Summary: What makes your company unique? What would it be like to work for you?

Responsibilities: An overview of the role’s day-to-day activities, and how the position contributes to the organization

Requirements: Skills a candidate must have to perform the job successfully

Benefits: Details of compensation, benefits, and any perks on offer

Pro Tip

In building your candidate profile, remember you’ve already identified what skills are needed to succeed in the role. Here’s where to list your “must-have” skills and maybe a couple of “nice-to-have” skills. For example, a Relationship Manager must empathize with customer’s concerns and problems, and it would be nice to have experience with CRM systems.

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SELECTING THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

Sample skill tests for a Relationship Manager

Create a free account today to access the full assessment and more from our library

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Question 1

Communication

Question Type: Audio

In a 2 minute audio recording, describe your rapport-building strategy for a new client.

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Question 2

Adaptability

Question Type: Video

As you prepare onboarding of a new client, you discover a new member of the sales team over-promised on what we can deliver. How do you handle the situation?

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Question 3

Organization

Question Type: Text

How do you prioritize which clients to connect with, and when?

INTERVIEW TOP PERFORMERS

How to interview a Relationship Manager

Once your Vervoe skills assessment has surfaced the most qualified people for your open role, you can focus on interviewing these candidates. The interview should focus on any skills that require development that were highlighted from the skills assessment.

Now you know that candidates can do the job, the interview becomes more of a relationship building exercise where you can get to know the candidate on a more personal level, understand their motivations, and how they would fit in with the team.

Making An Offer

How much does it cost to hire a Relationship Manager?

The US average for a Relationship Manager is $66,041 according to Indeed.com while the reported average salary on Talent.com amounts to $88,311. These differences in average salaries highlight how important commission and industry is.

Relationship Manager Salary United States

Relationship Manager salaries in the United States range from $57,646 – $138,500 (USD). Relationship Manager salaries in the U.S vary a lot depending on the industry, commission structure, as well as the location.

Source: Talent.com

Relationship Manager Salary United Kingdom

Relationship Manager salaries in the United Kingdom range from £24,000 – £75,000 (GBP). Relationship Manager salaries in the UK vary a lot depending on the industry, commission structure, as well as the location.

Source: Glassdoor

Relationship Manager Salary Australia

Relationship Manager salaries in Australia range from $91,085 – $145,008 (AUD). Relationship Manager salaries in Australia vary a lot depending on the industry, commission structure, as well as the location.

Source: Talent.com