A customer development manager’s job is to help a company figure out what its customers want and how it can best serve existing customers while also attracting new ones. Finance and marketing are the two departments in which this manager usually works. He or she might meet with representatives from each company to discuss sales figures, regional goals, and expansion plans. A customer development professional can learn how much a company sells and where sales are taking place from finance representatives, while discussing advertising, branding, and the overall company image with marketing representatives.
People who work as customer development managers typically have a background in marketing, management, or finance. They often have graduate degrees as well. These professionals typically have years of experience marketing products in a specific field and making financial decisions that have a significant impact on a company’s performance, in addition to a high level of academic training.
This person may work with sales departments in addition to developing company image and analyzing numbers with financial professionals. He or she is frequently concerned with how products are displayed in stores, on the internet, and in other retail locations. The manager may also communicate with retail store owners or managers to discuss ways to attract customers to his or her products.
How much communication a customer development manager has with customers is largely determined by the size of his or her company. A person who works for a small, local business, for example, might do community outreach, speaking directly with customers to find out how satisfied they are. A manager at a company with a national or global customer base might instead focus on customer demographics. He or she might, for example, determine which products or services are preferred by people in particular regions, age groups, or income brackets.
In short, this person is usually a senior executive who pays close attention to customer feedback and considers how it should affect all aspects of a customer-focused business. He or she may present his or her findings to executives and make recommendations for brand and product enhancements. The manager observes how new items, brands, and aspects of the company’s image affect customer perception as marketing and product development professionals introduce new items, brands, and aspects of the company’s image.