The key skills of a revenue manager

Management control, marketing, big data, IT skills… revenue management sits at the crossroads of many areas of expertise and calls on a wide range of skills. Below we list the essential skills needed to be a good revenue manager (or yield manager).

A good command of database analysis tools: Excel, Access…

A good workman needs good tools, and a revenue manager cannot work without an advanced command of database analysis software such as Excel or Access, the heavyweights in the field. Producing regular reports is a prerequisite for knowing your market, your performance and your customers. So get to your computers: IF formulas, macros and queries will soon hold no secrets for you.

Analytical mind

Once the data has been collected, it has to be analysed. Analysis is at the heart of the revenue manager’s job, and a sharp analytical mind will bring out the key trends needed to define the strategy to implement. So don’t stop at producing reports: they will be of no use to you unless they are interpreted to guide tomorrow’s actions!

Anticipation

A good revenue manager must never be caught off guard in their forecasts. They must be able to produce reliable demand forecasts and anticipate the external and internal factors that may affect demand. A poor demand forecast leads to an unsuitable pricing strategy and therefore to negative consequences for the company: lost revenue opportunities at best, or a significant loss of revenue at worst. A good revenue manager is above all a visionary!

Decision-making

Whether it is day-to-day action (running promotions, raising or lowering prices…) or more occasional, unforeseen events (overbooking, an external factor disrupting sales…), the revenue manager constantly has to make decisions based on tangible, quantified analysis. These decisions are often made under pressure, so you need to be able to react quickly and keep a cool head.

Persuasiveness

The revenue management function often cuts across the sales, pricing and management control departments…. Revenue managers’ interests sometimes conflict with those of sales or finance teams. The revenue manager must be able to convince the people they work with and show determination.

Challenging the status quo

Finally, let us bear in mind that revenue management is not an exact science: customer behaviour and the market are constantly changing, and what works today may no longer work tomorrow. Methods must therefore be regularly questioned to take these changes into account.

Océane BOCA, consultant at Aérogestion