Should we have account managers?
This is probably one of the most common questions that I discuss with agency owners.
Let me cut to the chase though – there isn’t a single right answer to this question.
Every agency is different, with a different culture and set of services. Not to mention that every agency is in a different phase of their growth.
I’d propose that “should we have account managers?” isn’t actually the right question.
The right question is how should you implement account management for clients?
The one truth in all of this is that for the agency business model to succeed, clients do need the “things” that account managers typically cover. This includes things like:
- Consistent, effective communication.
- Well-run calls and meetings, with agendas, notes and actions.
- Task management and accountability.
- Building strong relationships.
- Cross and upselling other services.
For me, these are essential parts of providing a great service to your clients.
Yes, of course you need to be good at what you actually deliver – SEO, Paid Media, Digital PR, Web Development etc. This is a given.
But if you want to truly thrive as an agency and get beyond the first 18-24 months of a contract, account management becomes more and more important.
So, again, the real question is how you implement account management for clients.
Yes, the right answer for some agencies will be to hire dedicated account managers.
For other agencies, the right answer is to let their delivery team handle the kinds of tasks that a dedicated account manager would do.
There are pros and cons of each approach, with every agency operating slightly differently. As a result, I can’t tell you exactly what the right approach is for your agency in this newsletter.
(If you want that, you can find out more about my work here).
Instead, I’ll give you some of the key things that you should think about when deciding which approach can work best for you. I’ll frame these as questions that you should ask yourself and the answers can help get you closer to where you need to be.
Most importantly, my advice would be to start with the ways in which you should be ensuring that your clients are getting the best service possible outside of your core discipline.
I’d call these the non-negotiables of running an agency – regardless of whether you have dedicated account managers or not.
How to implement effective account management practices
Let’s be clear – this is your core focus. If you are able to deliver the best service possible for your clients, EVERYTHING else becomes 100x easier. Here is how:
- Sales become easier because you’re not under pressure to close everything, this confidence shines through you.
- Marketing becomes easier because you have credibility, case studies and testimonials that build up over time.
- Cash flow is consistent and reliable, leading to more money in the bank and more security.
- Your culture becomes stronger because it’s all about high performance and keeping clients happy.
There are more, but you get the idea…
And to reiterate, it’s not just about being great at your core discipline(s) such as SEO, Content or Paid Media. This is only the foundation of a great agency and gets you a seat at the table. If you want to grow to any kind of meaningful size and truly have an impact with your clients, you need to go beyond this.
Here are the things that you need to instill in your team via hires, training, development, processes and systems.
Get close to clients
The closer that you get to your clients and their businesses, the more effective you’ll be at driving results for them. Again, being a great SEO or PR isn’t enough in isolation. Instead, your team needs to be:
- Getting to know your main point of contact and core team members.
- Understanding their budgets, reporting cycles and stakeholder sign off.
- Researching their industry, competitors and external factors that can impact their performance.
These things enable you to do your work within the context of how the client actually works. Otherwise, your excellent audit, recommendations or campaign may never see the light of day.
Look for opportunities to offer more value
This is basically cross and upselling your services. But the focus isn’t on how your agency can make more revenue, it’s on how you can provide more value to your clients.
For example, if you currently do technical SEO for a client but their internal team is hitting bottlenecks when it comes to content creation, could you offer this for them? Or do they casually complain about the negative ROI they’re getting from their paid social agency?
If so, you could offer these services and drive more value for their business.
Essentially, you’re looking for ways to sell a win-win project.
One thing to watch out for here – only sell additional services that you’re very confident in delivering. If you sell something that you’re not that great at just because the opportunity arises, then you risk ALL of your services – no matter how good you are at the established ones.
Get the basics right – meetings and calls
I’m a big believer in being professional when you’re offering professional services. It should be normal for your team to do the following:
- Send an agenda ahead of every meeting.
- After a meeting is done, send notes and actions via email.
- Follow up on those actions at the start of the next meeting.
- Tidy up a meeting room if you’re welcoming a client in-person and offer them a drink.
- Know how to make meaningful small talk before a meeting to get to know a client.
You get the idea. These seemingly small things can drastically change the perception of your team.
Make ownership of tasks very, very clear
This is one of the most common reasons why multi-service agencies start to wonder about hiring account managers – tasks between different departments can fall through the cracks and no single person is responsible for everything.
Again, putting an account manager in place to sit in the middle of a project and own this is one answer. Another is to ensure that individual departments are accountable for their tasks.
But no matter what – you need clarity on what you expect.
Communication solves all problems
One of my first managers said this to me all of the time. I was a bit skeptical at first but all of these years later, I still say it and know it to be true.
You need to teach your team the importance of effective, clear communication with clients. Whether it’s a call, email, document or face to face meeting, effective communication can avoid or solve any problem that arises.
Even if you have a whole team of account managers who are the main point of contact for client communication, the rest of your delivery team also needs to know the importance of strong communication in their work.
For example, knowing how to write an effective executive summary at the start of a strategy or knowing how to prioritise SEO tasks for a development team.
It’s all important and it’s all important for everyone.
So, remember that before you even contemplate whether you need dedicated account managers or not, take a look at what’s truly important and how you want to implement and maintain these things at your agency.
Sometimes, your existing delivery specialists can take on these responsibilities. Other times, you need dedicated account managers. But the important thing is that someone owns them.