Thursday, October 17, 2013

Understanding the Functions of a Relationship Manager


Relationship managers work as links between different groups of people in order to facilitate communication, deal with complaints, settle complaints, coordinate planning, among others. They are very useful in exploiting outstanding communication and analysis skills in coordinating composite and co-dependent activities.

Usually, there are of five major types and their names depict their functions; business, client, vendor, customer and community relationship managers. Their importance to a company's success can never be over-emphasized as you shall later discover.

A business relationship manager acts as a link among different departments in a company. For instance, the I.T department can employ one to liaise with other departments in the company in order to explain I.T functions to them. He facilitates meetings and other events to enhance communication in the company since departments do not use the same terminology.

A client relationship manager deals with individuals outside the company giving details of the company's policies and procedures to clients who are currently receiving an incomplete service. He can also be in charge of supervising legal and contractual commitments in order to ensure that they are properly executed.

A vendor relationship manager works out and supervises service level agreements of a company providing products or services to other companies. He holds vendors answerable for conforming with and surpassing the conditions of the contract.

A customer relationship manager also deals with outsiders, paying attention to understanding customers' needs. He acts in response to complaints, respond to issues practically and search for opportunities to market more products to potential and current customers. He makes use of the right software to achieve an optimum result.

A community relationship manager works with officials and volunteers in the company's area of operation to settle disputes and act in response to issues. He can be in charge of raising funds for the community, recruiting volunteers and training them.

Moreover, they develop robust alliance among different groups that may not normally see face-to-face. They are professionals in the culture of the organizations they work for and by building confidence in systems, they become trusted partners to major stakeholders in all functions.

However, pursuing a career in this field requires obtaining a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. Some positions may require an additional technical background including verbal, written, presentation and significant thinking skills. Job opportunities in management is expected to rise as fast as other jobs while salary levels vary in accordance with experience, industry, location and company size.

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