Become a Rockstar Account Manager

THE TOP 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO DELIVER ON

Ok, so you’re an account manager, I’m sure you do a great job. You’re a gun at taking client briefs, a people person at heart and super small detail focused — and yep that’s enough to land the job — but if you want to be a rockstar in the eyes of your peers, managers and clients here’s a manifesto to work by.

1. Be the voice of the client, but not their megaphone.
   You are the voice of the client to your team, but don’t just echo what’s requested — understand it. Understand how it contributes to goals of the initiative; how it impacts the timeline and budget; does it add value or was it just thrown out there by the client on a whim.
2. Set expectations, you’re also the agency voice back to the client
   Giving in to client pressure for a delivery you know can’t be done just to look good in the meeting is always a mistake. It’s your job to manage the expectations, on both sides. The worst thing an account manager may do is make the client believe something can be done or can be delivered within a certain time when it actually can’t.
   It’s all about managing the expectations around results, deadlines and the possibility of unexpected things happening. You can’t be afraid go back to the client when the news isn’t perfect, but don’t just go to them with a problem, bring a solution.
3. Know your market, agency products and services
   Knowledge is the key to giving great client service, understanding the capabilities and ultimately managing expectations. If you’re a bit knowledge poor in some areas fill those gaps, read industry news; jump on social media and follow thought leaders; talk to your team. You don’t need to know every technical detail, if the codebase is php or ruby, if it’s PMS 131 or 132 , but you need to comprehend what your strategist, designers and developers are talking about so you can articulate it back to the client — and vice-versa.
4. Don’t give creative or technical direction
   You know the client like the back of your hand, you know the campaign objectives, you can even have golden ideas — and that’s what we want — but please don’t direct the creatives and techs on how to execute the brief, your feedback is certainly valuable but they’re the experts when it comes to their deliverables.
5. Be the steward of the agency profit
   If you only take one thing away from this post please let it be this one. I know you want a red hot estimate for the client but never forget that the agency needs to make money out of the work. Throughout the project be aware of the balance sheet, where there might have been plenty of margin at the start of the job, every request adds up — don’t expect the agency to absorb the cost because you’re not comfortable going back to the client about costs. Most of the time a lightweight brief = scope creep = budget creep.
   Be the steward of the profit, and I’m talking about profit once you take out all the agency overheads — the lease, the power, equipment, phone-calls, insurance, your pay — there needs to be money in the bank for the directors and to contribute to the growth of the agency.

You’re the guardian of the budget, protect the client from going above theirs but you must protect the agency from being a charity — remember, you don’t work for free.