A day in the life of a Key Account Manager
As an international company, Linkfluence has 7 offices across 3 continents! Today we are very lucky to have our Key Account Manager in San Francisco to share her story as a Linkfluencer.
What does your typical morning look like?
My typical morning starts earlier than I would like but is also one of my most productive and important times of the day. This is largely due to the global nature of my role: as a Key Account Manager, I’m responsible for setting the account plan and roadmaps for my client. This means working early mornings and later evenings to connect with my counterparts across the globe. Since Linkfluence HQ is in Paris, there are other internal meetings every week, many of which begin at 8 am Pacific. Because of this, I like to get to work no later than 7:45.
When I’m in the office, it takes me about an hour to walk there (listening to my Daily Drive Spotify playlist) but since San Francisco locked down in early March, I have had leisurely mornings where I sip my stovetop coffee during that hour instead. An important rule I learned in theater classes in school was that your performance is always better when you leave your baggage at the door — I try to do this at work, so taking time to listen to music and podcasts helps me set my mood for the day.
What does your work involve?
My work involves a lot of support, delegation, and anticipation. There is a local Senior Project Manager and Customer Success Engineer on my team and we have spin-offs of our team in different regions. So while we mostly work with client teams in the US, we support international stakeholders directly or indirectly. From an account management perspective, this means understanding the customer’s short and long term goals, setting the account roadmap, and introducing solutions that are innovative and drive business value.
I work closely with our sales and marketing teams to share industry best practices (I work with global sports fashion brands) and coordinate with our product and engineering teams to connect their work with my account’s needs. I also try to learn from our global insights team as much as possible, since Linkfluence’s research division is full of cutting edge ideas. Importantly, I work with client teams that are looking for insights or solutions — together, we anticipate their data needs and create value-adding plans and then we update those over time.
What do you like about your job?
I like serving as a liaison and a connector. I can’t solve all of the issues I encounter but I have a good understanding of who can help and am fast to act on that knowledge.
When I started working at Linkfluence, it was via acquisition and I was the only team member in the US. Two years later, we have two US offices, have transferred long standing team members to each coast, and have introduced several new social intelligence solutions.
As someone who started off as fully remote, I appreciate how much expertise exists at this company and how eager my colleagues are to share their skills through teaching or assisting. The way our organization is structured encourages the idea-sharing and I experienced this firsthand when I worked next to a research analyst for a year. We both learned about parts of the business that were new to us and I have a much better understanding of our research methodologies.
What are some challenges you face on the job and how do you deal with them?
My challenges are mostly related to time. Whether it’s waking up early or staying online later to connect with coworkers and clients, it takes time. And between meetings there’s a lot to do. The most effective ways I address this are through prioritization and making the effort to meet my teammates when it is convenient for them. Some days I don’t want to have a 7 or 8 am meeting but I know that I can work better with my counterparts if I schedule a call that doesn’t overlap their dinnertime. The reward of having a functioning relationship outweighs heavy eyelids most mornings.
The other challenge with time zones has to do with losing time during the day — if I don’t get a reply from my counterparts in the UK, France, or Germany before 9 am Pacific, I will probably not get a reply until the next day. Similarly, I have to be mindful of our teams in Shanghai, Singapore, and Seoul, who face the same challenge with me. Again anticipating needs comes into play: I schedule recurring syncs around their calendars and try to log on early to follow-up with EMEA teams on urgent issues.
What attracted you to Linkfluence?
I joined Linkfluence via acquisition with the team in Toulouse and our CEO Guillaume about two months into working at Scoop.it. So it felt more like an arranged marriage than love at first sight, but over time my role became clear and we built a client-focused strategy for our US accounts as we built our teams in NYC and SF.
What I like the most about Linkfluence compared to previous experiences is that it is an established company but maintains the innovative feel of a startup. We have customers that we’ve been serving internationally for over a decade but we still find ways to challenge the status quo. Early last year, I was part of a project that used social intelligence to predict trends and then saw products on shelves that were a result of that — is that not the coolest?
Can you tell us about the culture or values at Linkfluence?
The culture at Linkfluence varies by office but I’ve had a chance to visit a few and everyone has been incredibly welcoming. I feel like we make friends with each other, even if we only meet in person once a year or have only chatted on Slack.
I’m particularly proud of the culture in the San Francisco office, since that’s been my home for two years. We are hella (Bay Area slang) enthusiastic about our products and solutions and I think our product team genuinely enjoys collaborating with us. In SF, we have taken time to get to know each other outside of work, such as during business trips and during team bonding events like mini-golf. We all have different interests but find common ground, like making a collaborative playlist or hosting Zoom happy hours during lockdown.
An aspect I treasure about our global team is the strength of the women at Linkfluence and how tenacious we are. In my experience, if you have a value-driving idea, no matter who or how far away you are, you can find internal support.
Any hobbies outside work?
Outside of work, I enjoy live music — playing it and catching performers in San Francisco. In addition to making music, I enjoy creating new meals in the kitchen. Before bars and restaurants shut down, I was hosting pub trivia and plan to pick that up again in the future as things reopen. There’s something fun and kind of powerful about having the microphone and all of the correct answers in your hands. My family would tell you that I travel too much but don’t visit them on the east coast enough. In the winter, I can be found on a snowboard in Tahoe and in the summer wearing several layers at a park in chilly SF.
What would you say to someone considering a role in the account management team at Linkfluence?
The account management team at Linkfluence is blessed to have operational counterparts. The role is well suited for applicants who have enterprise account management experience and are familiar with customer maturity models. At the same time, creative thinking and problem solving is valuable and can allow you to provide tailored and well-informed proposals to meet client needs. Key account managers should have a collaborative spirit and lead by serving local account managers and teams. If you join the Linkfluence account management team, you’ll be supported and your ideas will be welcome.
