4. Account Management 101
Relationship Management
– How to deal with external stakeholders…otherwise known
as the client…otherwise known as the people who pay our
salaries
• Building repertoire and breaking barriers
5. Understanding the people
and the business.
• This can help sell great ideas and creative work. Our rationale for
recommending something has to be rooted in why it is right for the
client’s business, this will be a much more palatable rationale than
because its “cool” advertising. Remember, the client’s thought
balloon always says, “What’s in it for me/my business.”)
• An understanding of the client’s business that is shared with the
rest of the agency can provide fertile information for the agency to
develop proactive ideas.
• An agency that truly knows a client’s business has real value to the
the client/agency relationship. This value can help the agency get
through the inevitable tough times when an agency error occurs or
when we can’t crack the code on a creative assignment.
8. Account Management role in
Creative work
• Become a student of advertising. Know who's doing great work. Know what new
techniques are being used. Know who's thinking "out of the box
– This will enable you to make more intelligent comments when you review work
internally
– It will demonstrate to your creative team that you recognize and care about good work
9. • Become adept at selling great creative work to the client
– Determine how to ground the rationale for the work in reasons that are about
the client's business, not just because it's cool work
– Find analogous situations in other categories that support the kind of work
being recommended
Listen to your creative team talk about creative work, pick
their brains, share your ideas. You'd be amazed how
productive this can be
10. The Process
Getting things done.
• How to unravel the mystery of a brief
• The follow up process
• The sanctity of a deadline
• The submission of work
Diligent reporting
• Importance of documentation & contact reports
• Following up on jobs
• Raising estimates/debit notes
11. The 7 Super Powers of an AM
• Listening
• Relationship management
• Time Management
• Multitasking
• Passion
• Adaptability
• Understanding the clients business
12. Push comes to Shove
In terms of push back, obviously every issue is unique and the
push back needs to be customized to fit the situation. But
here are some generic things to consider:
• Ground your push back or disagreement in a business-related
reason. Opinion is important, but if the client/creative/supervisor
sees that it is the business that is driving your
concern/disagreement, then it takes personal judgment and
personality out of the equation and keeps it focused on the
content, on which you as the account manager are an “expert.”
• Look for examples in similar situations (in and out of the category)
that support your case.
13. Push comes to Shove
• Have a recommended alternative solution. It’s easy to say, “I
disagree,” but it’s a lot more difficult to develop, present and sell a
different solution.
• On a selective basis, sometimes it could make sense to bring in your
supervisor or someone with greater clout to make your case.
• On a final note, be sensitive to when you need to give up the
fight. If you are not going to win, you at least want to get to the
point where you have not angered or alienated anyone, but you
have gained great appreciation for having a point of view and not
being afraid to stand up and support it.
14. The 9 deadly Sins
Forgetting to deliver on a commitment to a client.
• Whether it’s not returning a phone call, missing a meeting or not making a promised due date, all
of these not only are rude, but send a signal to the client that his business is less important to you
than other things.
Client catches you in a lie.
• Don’t do this! Tell the truth because it’s the right thing to do (and easier to remember). If you lie or
stretch the truth, only bad things can come of it. You make the client angry, you’ll lose credibility
and you make the agency look bad.
Failure to keep your boss informed (about the good and the bad).
• It’s not necessary that you tell your supervisor everything, but you should use your judgment to
determine what he needs to know
You never want to have your boss be in the position
of not knowing
something he should know when he is talking
to the client. It also enables your boss
to be appropriately proactive.
15. “Dissing” the agency to the client.
Overpromising and under delivering.
• We always want to be in the position of exceeding the client’s
expectations.
Making your client look bad in front of his boss.
• Make your client look like a hero in front of his boss. It’s likely to pay
dividends in the long run.
The 9 deadly Sins
16. Not being straightforward to the agency about how the client really feels.
• Don’t fudge or soften how the client feels in order to spare people’s
feelings at the agency. First, it wastes valuable time. Second, it can result
in the wrong work being done. Third, you’ll lose credibility internally,
especially with your creative teams.
Taking personal credit instead of crediting the agency teams.
• While clients will always gravitate to specific people on the account, we
need to make sure that they feel great about the entire agency so they do
not get worried when we have to make a personnel change.
Bad-mouthing the client.
• Irrespective of client behavior or decisions, it is never a good idea to insult
the client back at the agency. It sets a bad example for junior people. It
creates poor morale. And, if it ever gets back to the client, it runs the risk
of disastrous repercussions.
The 9 deadly Sins
