Welcome to Episode 155.  We’re looking at the agency’s engine room - operations. And how getting the fundamentals right can improve profitability, reduce chaos and set you up for better use of automation and AI.

I’m joined by Melanie Chandruang, founder of WeConsult and a Strategic Operations Partner for creative agencies. With over 15 years in the industry, she helps agency owners boost profits, streamline operations, and move big initiatives forward so they can focus on growth and what matters most.

Here’s what we cover:
- Why “right people in the right seats” is still the number one operational issue - especially as services evolve fast
- The key financial ratios Melanie uses to spot operational inefficiencies (and what “healthy” can look like)
- The debate on hybrid AM/PM roles vs splitting the roles — and how to think about affordability and utilisation
- Why most agencies aren’t “AI-first” yet and what needs to be in place before AI can genuinely improve workflows
- Melanie’s practical 90-day focus areas for a 20-person agency that wants more profit and less chaos

You can connect with Melanie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniechandruang/
Or visit the website: https://weconsult.io/

If you don’t want to miss future podcast episodes, mini-trainings, and the ideas I’m sharing each week on client retention and account growth in agencies, make sure you’re on my newsletter list: https://www.accountmanagementskills.com

Welcome to episode 154. This chat will be particularly interesting for you if you’re an agency owner or account manager who has to work with marketing procurement (especially in pharma / biotech industry).

My guest is Marketing Procurement Consultant, Jessica Bowler. Jess has deep expertise in end-to-end pharmaceutical procurement processes, including supplier qualification, contract negotiation, risk management and vendor management. She has worked with large pharma for almost 24 years and spent the majority of that time in commercial/marketing procurement. Jess currently works on consulting roles within pharma and biotech where she can assist organizations with different procurement operations. 

Here's what we covered in our chat:
- What to do if your experience of procurement has been more transactional than you’d like.
- a simple 10 minute conversation you can initiate to strengthen the relationship
- a check list of what to include in a review meeting with Procurement
- how procurement is thinking about AI and pricing transparency right now

Jess shares a lot of valuable insight, tips and steps to set you up for success dealing with procurement, I hope it gives you a few practical ways to work with procurement as they are, whether they’re relationship-led or more transactional.

Do follow Jess on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/jessica-bowler-76bbb34&sa

If you’d like weekly tips to build your account management skills, news on agency trends, notifications of upcoming podcast episodes, and any mini trainings I’m running, sign up to my newsletter at Account Management Skills: https://www.accountmanagementskills.com

Welcome to episode 153. I’m joined by Richard Coope from Brightful, who helps large, complex organisations fix the brand, digital and cultural bottlenecks that block content and slow down campaigns, using AI-enabled workflows and marketing automation.

Richard is an accomplished Change Lead with experience in leading global organisational and IT transformations. He has 27 years of experience helping complex organisations solve their brand, digital and cultural problems, including leading global digital and Content Supply Chain transformations of Shell, GSK, PMI. He specialises in supporting global Martech platform adoption and making workflows and SOPs more efficient through AI and automation. 

In this episode, we cover:
- Why enterprise content operations are so messy, and how that impacts agencies
- Where content typically gets stuck across approvals, rights, DAMs and governance
- How AI can either amplify chaos or create real operational flow
- The changing role of senior client stakeholders in AI-enabled marketing
- Practical ways agencies can partner with specialists like Brightful to protect and grow key accounts

If you’d like to connect with Richard Coope or learn more about Brightful, visit: http://wearebrightful.com/
or find him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcoope/

Content Advisory Board: https://wearebrightful.com/about/content-advisory-board/
Content Healthcheck: https://brightful-content-flow.scoreapp.com/

If you want to assess how ready you are to use AI to retain and grow your existing clients, you can take the short AI readiness quiz on my website here:
https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/ai-readiness-quiz

 You can also subscribe to my weekly newsletter, where I share new episodes, short trainings and practical ideas for agency account managers.

Welcome to episode 152. I’m chatting again with my go-to guru for the now, next and future of the agency business model, Spencer Gallagher. Spencer has relaunched Bluhalo with a renewed focus on helping agencies and businesses transform with AI. Bluhalo is a business for the next decade, focused on supporting B2B organisations across three core pillars: People, Technology, and Asset Growth.

In this conversation, we really dig into what transforming with AI means in practice for you as an agency leader or account manager.

Here’s what we cover:

- Why so many agency services have matured and what that means for your positioning and growth
- How Spencer thinks about the "now, next and future" of agencies in an AI-driven world
- Why founders and leaders need to reconnect with their creative side and carve out proper thinking space if they want to reinvent their business
- The cultural shift required to build high-agency, growth-mindset teams that actually embrace AI rather than resist it
- How AI is likely to reshape agency structures - from headcount and roles to pricing, automation and the types of services clients will value most
- Practical examples of how tools and no-code platforms have gone from clunky to powerful in a very short space of time, and what that means for your IP
- Advice for agency leaders who know they need to speed up their adoption of AI, but feel their team is low-energy or stuck in old ways of working
- Guidance for account managers whose leaders are dragging their heels on AI, including how to use real client feedback to influence from the middle
- What Spencer is seeing in the M&A market for agencies, including what buyers now look for and why AI capability is increasingly on the checklist

Spencer has a rare mix of lived experience building and selling an agency, deep technical curiosity, and a very honest take on where agencies are kidding themselves about the future. I think you’ll come away with both a clearer sense of direction and some very practical ideas to take back to your team.

If you’d like to stay connected with Spencer's thinking, you can find him on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencergallagher/
and check out Bluhalo to see more of the work he’s doing to help agencies and businesses become truly AI-enabled. https://www.bluhalo.com/

And if you want to get a sense of where your own agency stands, you can assess your "AI readiness for client retention and growth" over on my website: 
https://www.accountmanagementskills.com
The quiz takes just a few minutes and you’ll receive a short report with suggestions for how you can start weaving AI into your client management workflow.

Welcome to episode 151. If you’re trying to work out how to integrate AI into your agency without losing the human side of what you do, this conversation will help.


Today I’m joined by two guests from Noble Studios: Tom Duffy, Head of AI Strategy, and Meg Pescio, Vice President of Client Experience.Noble Studios is a creative digital performance marketing agency based in Reno & Las Vegas in Nevada and Bristol, UK, focusing primarily on travel and tourism and B2B technology clients. Noble’s impressive client list includes the likes of Adobe, SiriusXM Media, Travel Nevada, and Visit Lake Tahoe.

They’ve been intentionally experimenting with AI across the agency, and in this episode we dig into how Tom and Meg are partnering to bring AI into client work in a thoughtful, human-first way.


Here’s what we cover:·         Why Noble decided to hire a dedicated Head of AI Strategy and how that role works alongside the client experience team·         The change management piece: how they’ve built trust internally and avoided “AI panic” in the agency·         Practical use cases for account managers and client success teams, including: using AI as a learning and thinking partner, creating client “knowledge hubs” with tools like Notebook LM, aggregating messy data sources to uncover new insights for clients·         How they’re thinking about data privacy, tools, and tech stack decisions·         The impact AI is having on agency positioning, pricing and perceived value·         Why human judgment, critical thinking and relationships are becoming even more important as AI usage grows·         Their advice for agencies thinking about hiring an AI lead or formalising their AI approach 

If you’d like to learn more about what Noble Studios is doing, you can head to  http://noblestudios.com/
or connect with Tom and Meg on LinkedIn, where they regularly share what they’re testing and learning.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-duffy-reno/https://www.linkedin.com/in/megpescio/ 

And  if you want ongoing support with the account management side of agency life, join my newsletter. It’s where I share:·         practical account management tips·         trends and shifts I’m seeing in the industry·         notifications of new podcast episodes·         any mini training sessions or speaking I’m doing
You can sign up at http://accountmanagementskills.com/

Welcome to Episode 150. This episode is for anyone in agency new business or running sales. My guest is Ryan Hall, Founder of Friday Solved, where he helps agencies build scalable and sustainable sales engines. With over 20 years in marketing and digital - including leading and selling Nice Agency, later acquired by Karmarama and Accenture Interactive - Ryan has seen firsthand what drives real growth.

Here’s what we cover and how Ryan advises agencies:

- Create buyability, not forced selling. You can’t push complex services; people have to want to buy from you. That means trust, proof and value over time, plus clear expectations that sales isn’t a quick fix.

- Build a joined-up sales engine. Inbound and outbound run at different speeds and need different steps, but the buyer experience starts at first contact and momentum through stages is everything. Systemise it so sales becomes repeatable.

- Work the middle of the funnel properly. “Shake the tree” with people you already know, keep data clean, follow up with useful content tied to your critical pillars, and channel-swap from LinkedIn to email when it’s serious. Let CRM be your muscle memory so you stay consistent without spamming.


Connect with Ryan Hall here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanghall/
Website: https://www.fridaysolved.co.uk/
Book: https://www.fridaysolved.co.uk/pages/dont-sell


If you haven’t signed up for my weekly newsletter, go to https://www.accountmanagementskills.com and sign up to get account management tips and trends, any trainings I’m running, guests coming on the show and advice to help you in your account management role.

Welcome to episode 149. If you've been watching AI reshape the marketing landscape and wondering what it really means for agencies, this conversation is going to be particularly interesting for you. 

Roy Murphy and I dig into whether the traditional agency model can survive in its current form and what you can do about it. Roy is the Co-Founder of G3NR8, a business focused on applying a centralised intelligence layer for organisations to implement AI successfully.

We cover:

- Why he believes the current agency model is on borrowed time and the data behind that bold claim. 
- How client in-housing, AI adoption and economic pressure are converging into a perfect storm. 
- What the rise of creative automation really means for designers, strategists and account managers. 
- How forward thinking agencies are building new business models that focus on client outcomes and not ours.
- And the three M's every agency leader needs to embrace, which are mindset, model and mechanics. 

It's a lively, honest discussion, packed with examples, a bit of provocation and plenty of practical takeaways for anyone trying to figure out how to future-proof their agency. Roy's message is really clear. AI isn't coming for agencies. It's already here and it's those agencies that are going to adapt and who are going to thrive. So rethinking your business model, retraining the team and rebuilding the offering around client outcomes.

You can connect with Roy at https://www.g3nr8.com/  and subscribe to his brilliant newsletter.  You can also read his viral LinkedIn post that we mention in our chat here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/roymurphy_ai-agencies-work-activity-7383090246873149440--6Su

Additional links:
Sales and Marketing AI Playbook https://www.g3nr8.com/ai-sales-and-marketing-ecosystem
Marketers AI roundtable https://www.g3nr8.com/senior-marketers-ai-roundtable
G3NR8 AI newsletter https://www.g3nr8.com/blog (featuring BAD AI where they skewer poor AI practice, every week, without fail).

If you'd like to know how AI-ready you are in your account management role, then you can go over to my website, https://www.accountmanagementskills.com and take your free AI readiness quiz. You'll get a personalised report and also some insights and tips and strategies for using AI in your client management role. 

Welcome to episode 148. This episode is going to be really useful if your agency has started using AI tools or if your team are experimenting with AI note-takers, ChatGPT, or generative image tools and you want to make sure you’re staying legally safe, compliant and transparent with your clients.

My guests are Ryan Lisk, Founder, and Kay Yung, Senior Commercial Lawyer at Hybrid Legal. The company helps business leaders prevent and solve legal headaches in a way that is easy to understand without breaking the bank. They specialise in creating and reviewing contracts, advising on tech law including AI and data privacy, employment & HR and M&A.

We talk about:

The biggest legal blind spots agencies have when it comes to AI use
Why transparent conversations about AI can actually strengthen your client relationships
How to run an internal “AI audit” — finding out who’s using what and where the risks lie
What to include in your AI policy and client contracts to protect your business
How to manage freelancer agreements and IP when AI tools are involved

Ryan and Kay share real stories from agency clients, including one that perfectly illustrates how easy it is to get into legal trouble  and how to avoid it.
If you’ve ever worried about data privacy, IP ownership, or simply how to have the AI conversation with your clients, you’ll take away some really practical actions from this one.

You can follow or connect with both Ryan and Kay on LinkedIn, and check out the Hybrid Legal website to sign up for Legal Loop  their free bi-weekly newsletter with legal updates and AI insights for agency owners. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanmlisk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kay-yung-creativelawyer/
https://www.hybridlegal.co.uk/the-legal-loop

If you’d like account management tips, updates on upcoming podcast episodes, and invitations to my free trainings, make sure you sign up for my newsletter at https://www.accountmanagementskills.com

Welcome to episode 147. 

In this special compilation episode, Jenny Plant revisits standout moments from her conversations with leading voices in the agency world about how AI is transforming agencies and agency account management. With change accelerating and clients already asking tough questions, this episode brings together practical frameworks, provocative thinking and real-world use cases that can help agency owners and account managers lead the AI conversation rather than follow it.

Across five key themes – from industry-wide disruption and agency adoption, to shifts in search, pricing models and client expectations – you’ll hear from strategists, pricing experts, consultants and AI practitioners on what’s working, what’s changing, and what to prioritise next.

If you want a sharper perspective on AI’s role in agency growth, this is your starting point.

If you’d like to see how ready you are to use AI in your client management role, I’ve put together a free AI readiness quiz. It takes about three to five minutes. You’ll get a tailored report with tips for how to start integrating AI into your workflows for client retention and growth. You can do that here: https://accountmanagementskills.com/ai-account-manager-quiz/

Welcome to episode 146. This episode will be really valuable if you're an agency account manager or an owner working with charities, nonprofits or mission driven brands, or if you're just curious about how the social impact sector operates differently and what account managers can learn from it. Lauren Jones is Senior Director of Client Services at Wide Eye, a digital creative agency for purpose-driven organisations & changemakers, and has spent her entire career in the Nonprofit sector.

In this episode, we cover:

·         what makes working with nonprofit clients different from for-profit·         why impact, not revenue, is often the most important KPI. ·         how to build and structure an account management function inside an agency. ·         how to shift your agency from project based sort of more transactional work into longer term strategic partnerships.·         practical strategies for measuring and demonstrating impact, often through powerful storytelling rather than just data. ·         Creating a really interesting stakeholder engagement design. ·         coaching clients so they can evangelize about your work internally·         building long-term trust that keeps your account strong and sustainable.  Even if your clients are all commercial brands, then Lauren's advice about strategic thinking, building relationships and aligning with client priorities will definitely resonate.

You can connect with Lauren via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-m-jones-1b623259

or via her own website: http://lmjones.com/

 

if you'd like to see how ready you are to use AI in your client management role, I've put together a free AI readiness quiz. It takes about three to five minutes. You'll get a tailored report with tips for how to start integrating AI into your workflows for client retention and growth. You can that here: https://accountmanagementskills.com/ai-account-manager-quiz/
 
 If you want to be alerted to new podcast episodes coming up, hear about tips for account managers and any mini trainings I'm doing, you can also sign up for my weekly newsletter here: https://bit.ly/AMSUpdates