How to Become a CRM Manager

A Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) is a valuable asset for any business. They help foster client loyalty and business growth.

What’s more, the average CRM manager in the US earns $117,500 per year, or nearly $59.49 an hour, making the role quite lucrative.

As a CRM, you need to cultivate a blend of emotional intelligence, strategic insight, creative thinking, and a complete, holistic understanding of your company’s data and offerings.

If what you’ve read so far intrigues you, a career as a CRM may be the right choice for you.

In the following sections, we’ll cover how to become a CRM manager, including the various skills and tools needed to help with customer relationship management.

How to Become a CRM Manager?

What does a CRM Manager do?

A CRM manager implements and optimizes customer relationship strategies to align them with customer needs. The goal of a CRM is to guide the company toward maximum customer satisfaction, increase customer loyalty, keep track of customer issues, and design ways to solve them.

A CRM manager analyzes customer behavior patterns and understands the business side of customer service. They design processes to identify leads and guide prospects through the customer journey.

CRM managers also study customer behavior and data from marketing teams to help build targeted and personalized marketing efforts. Because CRMs work cross-functionally, you’ll learn valuable insights about customers to help sales teams focus on high-potential leads and increase conversion rates.

Importance of a CRM Manager

CRM managers work as customer experience collaborators. They gather customer feedback and data analysis and collaborate with the sales and marketing departments to help develop customer retention and conversion strategies.

The day-to-day tasks of a CRM manager

Create systems to build a customer-centric organization and keep improving them
Track customer issues highlighted by the CRM system and resolve them or direct them to the appropriate team
Analyze customer journeys for sales opportunities and customer relation strategies
Supervise customer interactions across various departments, such as customer service teams, to ensure maximum customer satisfaction
Find and implement cost-effective communication channels with customers

The long-term duties of a CRM manager

Partner with sales and marketing leaders to improve the CRM platform and its integrations
Train the sales, marketing, and customer service teams on the CRM software and ensure they’re using the CRM software to maximize customer satisfaction
Develop, implement, and fine-tune CRM workflows, processes, and implementations
Analyze customer data from CRM software to create new strategies for improving customer satisfaction

The CRM manager analyzes market trends, company size, sales style, and CRM solutions and creates personalized strategies according to your company’s customer base.

How to Become a CRM Manager?

Here’s an overview of the path to becoming a CRM manager:

1. Learning the basics of CRM

32% of small businesses struggle with CRM expertise.

When you learn the basics of operating customizable CRM software—typically the commonly used tools like ClickUp, Hubspot, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics 365, you’ll be more equipped to manage customer relationships from the beginning.

These are the skills HR managers look for when hiring for a CRM manager position.

If you’re keen to learn how to become a CRM manager, you will also need to build a solid knowledge base of fundamental CRM concepts in sales and marketing processes, such as:

Customer lifecycle management: Understand the stages a customer goes through, from initial contact to post-purchase, and learn to optimize their journey and increase satisfaction in each stage
Customer segmentation: Learn how to divide customers into groups based on their key attributes to deliver more personalized and targeted marketing messages and CRM campaigns
Data management: Master the collection, storage, and analysis of data so you can make well-informed decisions

Many CRM managers take free and paid courses on various CRM systems and concepts over online platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy.

Some popular courses that you can take to get hands-on training on a CRM manager’s job are:

Introduction to CRM with HubSpot on Coursera
CRM Basics: Unlock Business Growth through Relationships on LinkedIn Learning
Master Course in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 5.0 on Udemy

2. Develop crucial CRM skills

A CRM manager needs a blend of creative and analytical skills. Thinking creatively allows you to design engaging customer experiences, while analytical skills can help you interpret data correctly and make informed decisions.

In addition, you need to develop strong communication skills as you will interact (a lot) with multiple teams, clients, and stakeholders to ensure that everyone is aligned and working toward common goals.

Enhance your problem-solving skills to address customer issues promptly and develop innovative solutions to streamline sales and marketing processes.

Here’s a list of crucial CRM skills you need to become a CRM manager.

Technical skills needed for a CRM Manager
Technical skills	Skill usage
CRM software proficiency	Knowledge of CRM components like lead generation and management, pipeline management, business reporting and analytics, and third-party integrations
Data analysis	Collecting, storing, and analyzing data to make informed decisions
Automation	For redundant, organized, and time-consuming tasks and enhanced efficiency
Customer segmentation	To divide customers into meaningful groups for targeted marketing and communication
Project management skills	Combining CRM and project management for managing your tasks and client relationships over a central platform

Creative skills needed for a CRM Manager
Creative skills	Skill usage
Customer experience design	Creating engaging and personalized customer experiences to facilitate retention and conversion
Problem-solving	To develop innovative solutions to resolve issues

Management skills needed for a CRM Manager
Management skills	Skill usage
Leadership skills	Coordinating with multiple departments and leaders to achieve CRM goals
Team collaboration	To work effectively with other departments to implement cross-functional strategies to maximize customer value

Interpersonal skills needed for a CRM Manager
Interpersonal skills	Skill usage
Communication	To convey information to team members, stakeholders, business administration, and customers
Empathy	To understand customers’ feelings and perspectives

Case in point: How your creative and analytical skills as a CRM manager come into play in a real-life scenario

Imagine you’re a CRM manager at a retail company, and you noticed a decline in customer engagement.

You decide to design a (or improve on the existing) loyalty program with personalized rewards to improve customer relationships and meet customer expectations.

Then, you decide to automate your CRM workflow and use your analytical skills to track engagement metrics and purchase patterns to refine the program.

The next step in such a scenario would be using CRM marketing software to launch multi-channel marketing campaigns for targeted customers with the lowest engagement.

3. Gain relevant experience

Start with entry-level positions like CRM coordinator or sales associate to gain practical CRM manager experience.

Apply for internships where you can work with an experienced CRM manager. This will give you the confidence to handle more advanced responsibilities in the future and develop deeper insights into effective customer management and business success.

Engaging in online communities and forums can also help you boost your CRM knowledge and network. You can find such communities on LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, and Facebook.

Consider engaging in online communities to boost your CRM knowledge and network with peers.

Two such starter communities are:

LinkedIn Groups like CRM Experts
Reddit Subreddits like r/CRM

Showcase your projects, achievements, and challenges, and seek advice and support from experienced professionals in these communities.

4. Building your network and portfolio

A strong network can significantly increase your chances of becoming a CRM manager. You can ask for referrals and testimonials from people in your industry, which sets you apart from the competition.

Attend in-person industry conferences, webinars, and networking events to build a reliable network.

Events like Dreamforce (by Salesforce) or the CRM Evolution Conference offer excellent opportunities to learn about industry trends, understand the evolving role of CRM managers, and gain insights from leading CRM practitioners for professional growth.

You can also build a network on social media channels like LinkedIn and Twitter. Use it as an opportunity to share your expertise, insights, and achievements in CRM to attract the attention of hiring managers and industry peers.

Most CRM managers have a portfolio website showcasing their skills, achievements, case studies, and results to demonstrate their expertise and impact. They commonly highlight how their strategic thinking improved sales processes, customer relationships, and retention rates through strategies such as collaborative CRM.

If you’re just starting with customer relationship management CRM, consider creating a one-page website to showcase your internships or projects.

5. The role of CRM certifications

CRM certifications help you demonstrate your expertise to potential employers. Certifications validate your skills and knowledge, making you a more attractive candidate for CRM manager positions.

Some popular CRM certifications you can take to become a CRM manager:

Certification	Description	How do you obtain these certificates?
Salesforce Certified Administrator	Demonstrates your ability to configure and manage Salesforce, one of the most widely used CRM platforms	Available through Salesforce’s Trailhead platform
Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Fundamentals	Covers the basics of Microsoft Dynamics 365, including its applications, cloud concepts, and deployment	Offered by Microsoft through their certification program
Certified School Risk Manager (CSRM)	Highlights your ability to identify, analyze, and manage risks, which is crucial in maintaining the integrity and security of data. It’s important for roles that require a strong understanding of risk management in CRM contexts	Administered by The National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research

6. Apply for CRM manager positions

CRM Manager job postings on LinkedIn — via LinkedIn

You can find relevant CRM manager job openings on Indeed, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn job portals. These portals allow you to filter positions based on location, experience level, and other criteria. You can also set up job alerts to stay informed about new opportunities that match your preferences.

To stand out from the competition, tailor your resume and cover letter to emphasize your hands-on experience with CRM systems, your understanding of crucial CRM strategies, and any specific achievements or projects you’ve completed.

Utilizing CRM Tools to Enhance Productivity as a CRM Manager

A CRM tool is the perfect leg-up for a customer relationship manager as it provides a structured framework for managing customer relationships.

As an industry beginner, you want to learn to use a no-fuss, high-functionality CRM Project Management Platform like ClickUp to do the heavy lifting regarding streamlining your leads, pipeline, and customer management.

Let’s see how ClickUp’s CRM makes you more productive at your job and ensures consistent, high-quality customer interactions.

Create a centralized customer database

Your sales and marketing teams can use ClickUp’s CRM system to create a structured database to store critical customer information such as contact details, deal size, interactions, and purchase history.

Any team in the organization can access this centralized database—which is organized in different hierarchies using folders, sub-folders, and links. For example, the sales team can use this information to find customers, manage pipelines, and set up processes.

💡Pro tip: Use ClickUp’s Map View to categorize customers by geography. This feature helps segment customers when the marketing team runs targeted CRM campaigns. Sales teams use it to track leads and pipelines and manage orders.

Manage your pipeline with CRM templates

Use ClickUp’s Simple CRM Template to organize customer contact information, track sales progress and goals, and analyze customer feedback.

Track all your your customer information in one place with ClickUp’s Simple CRM Template

This template is a major time-saver because it:

Serves as a single source of truth for all your sales and account pipeline information
Eliminates manual data entry and streamlines sales processes
Provides a comprehensive view of customer and pipeline data
Visualizes data to identify customer insights

Download This Template

💡Pro tip: Set up ClickUp Automations using custom actions and triggers to free your sales teams from repetitive tasks.

For example, when your sales associate enters weekly data about the new leads—in conversation, deals closed, inactive leads, etc. you get a monthly automated report about new users who may need more assistance with onboarding and support.

Create editable and collaborative Docs

For your team members who need access to pitch documents, SOPs, contracts, proposals, or strategic plans, use ClickUp Docs as an editable and shareable document they can access quickly.

collaborative live editing in ClickUp Docs — *Using ClickUp Docs to generate interactive documents and share them with your team*

Having all the related documents linked to specific tasks in one place speeds up meeting preparation and boosts overall productivity.

Your team can edit this collaborative document, add spreadsheets, presentations, and tables, embed videos, and include rich formatting to make it visually appealing.

The best part is that ClickUp Brain improves this integration by providing AI-driven insights and automation.

💡Pro tip: You can use ClickUp Brain to draft customer emails, ask questions about documents, receive instant meeting summaries, generate meeting agenda notes, and even generate presentation outlines.

Using ClickUp Brain to generate emails for customers — *Here’s how ClickUp Brain generates emails introducing your products to potential customers*

Customize the CRM to match your needs

Within ClickUp’s CRM, you can customize lead details such as fields, tags, and statues. To make it more adaptable to your needs, ClickUp has eight field types and five views.

*Track your pipeline and customer interactions with custom fields in ClickUp CRM*

ClickUp is the BEST Project Management, Dashboard, CRM + Scaling System I have encountered! It has helped me save 100s – 1000s of hours, prioritize + focus to tune of business development in process $500k-millions daily. We are shifting now to track conversions + results! LOVE ClickUp!

Katrina Julia, CEO and Creator, FIT Life Creation

Let’s walk you through the steps of creating a CRM in ClickUp:

Step 1: Download ClickUp’s CRM Template

Start by downloading ClickUp’s CRM Template. This pre-built template is perfect for managing and analyzing data in one place, streamlining customer communication, and automating repetitive tasks.

Use ClickUp’s CRM Template to nurture leads, track sales, and monitor customer satisfaction

Step 2: Add views to manage and prioritize contacts

Choose from 15+ ClickUp Views to visualize your tasks and data.

For example,

Table View to draw relationships between tasks
Board View for a Kanban-style workflow
Calendar View to keep track of deadlines and follow-ups
Gantt Chart View to track the progress of each customer goal

ClickUp's CRM Template — *Manage your pipeline, track leads, and build lasting customer relationships with ClickUp’s CRM Template*

Download This Template

💡 Pro tip: Sync your Google Calendar with ClickUp to see your work in a single view, and stop switching platforms to know what’s on your agenda.

Step 3: Build custom statuses to tailor every workflow

Customize statuses to match your CRM processes. For example, create statuses like “Lead,” “Contacted,” “Negotiating,” and “Closed” to track each customer interaction.

Step 4: Pull in the most important information to view with custom fields

With ClickUp’s Custom Fields, you can collect essential information specific to your CRM needs. Add fields like “customer value” to prioritize high-value clients, “last contacted” to ensure no customer is forgotten, and “next follow-up” to remember when to reach out next.

This is where you want to add task information to views so that you don’t have to open and close an individual task to find information such as due dates, billing cycle, discounts, etc.

ClickUp CRM Template — *Add custom fields to your ClickUp CRM template to view critical information quickly*

Step 5: Create tasks with your data

Import your data into Clickup from a file or your project management tool. Then, turn your data into tasks and assign them to team members. Set due dates and add detailed descriptions for easier understanding.

Step 6: Connect as one team with relational databases in CRM

Use ClickUp’s Relationships Database to link all your CRM data. This feature allows you to connect related information, like customer profiles, interaction histories, and sales opportunities, building a comprehensive view of each customer.

Grow Your Career as a CRM Manager with ClickUp

Remember that most CRM managers were once beginners who honed their skills over time and with practical experience.

While the journey toward the CRM role may seem overwhelming from the periphery, once you gain an entry-level position with the right skills and tools, you can grow, thrive, and achieve success. as a CRM manager

The key is building and maintaining solid relationships with your customers, sales, marketing teams, and stakeholders. You should also streamline the processes for gathering customer information using a CRM system like ClickUp.