Welcome to episode 109. My guest is Michael Farmer, a management consultant who has been looking at the agency business model for over 30 years. 

He's identified three burning issues for creative agencies. 

1. Work is increasing in volume and yet agencies fees are declining. But because agencies aren't measuring scopes of work, they don't often realize the extent to which this is happening. 

2. Agencies aren't helping clients achieve their business outcomes. Clients are paying them less and typically fire them every three years and generally treat them as order takers.

3. AI is now putting fuel on this fire and is threatening to reduce the amount of creative adaptation work that agencies do. 

It’s not all doom and gloom. I found this an enlightening conversation and I particularly enjoyed listening to the history of how it was before agencies priced their services by the hour. Michael talks about the problems, but he also offers solutions. I suggest you read his latest book ‘Madison Avenue Makeover’, which maps out the transformation of Huge’s business model step by step.

http://linkedin.com/in/michaelfarmer

If you are in an account management role or you're in charge of an agency account management team and you want to raise the value of this position, then please connect with me on LinkedIn at Jenny Plant or check out my Account Accelerator programme by visiting my website, https://www.accountmanagementskills.com. 

Welcome to episode 108. Are you struggling to manage a remote agency team? If so, you're going to get a lot of value from my conversation with Gustavo Razzetti, CEO of Fearless Culture and author of ‘Remote, Not Distant’. 

He shared some very thought-provoking insights for agency leaders and agency teams, including
 
 

·         how remote working is only amplifying the positive and the negative aspects of your agency culture that were already present·         how to fix the issues·         how to make your remote brainstorming meetings more effective ·         why agencies need to strike a balance between being overly protective and having respectful friction ·         and how agencies celebrate individualism 

 

I'd highly recommend that you follow Gustavo on LinkedIn, go to his website where you can download some of his free resources, as well as investing in his book, ‘Remote, Not Distant’.

 

Book Remote Not Distant: https://www.amazon.com/Remote-Not-Distant-Company-Workplace-ebook/dp/B09VXX4FN3
Blog: https://gustavorazzetti.substack.com
Agency Website: https://www.fearlessculture.design
Personal Website: https://gustavorazzetti.com/

Welcome to episode 107. If you’ve ever wondered if you’re pricing your services in the right way, this one is for you. 

Alfie Wenegieme, Managing Partner at Cactus,  joins me and he shares: 
1. Why agencies don’t lose pitches on price alone 
2. How agencies price to ensure a healthy profit margin 
3. Typical mistakes agencies make when pricing 
4. And some useful tips for account managers and project managers when scoping projects 

If you’re listening to this episode in February 2024, I’m opening enrolments again for my Account Accelerator programme that begins on March 5th.  It’s a 12 month training and coaching programme that’s specifically designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in account management which means:

• Having an effective account management and account growth process - that is understood and followed consistently by all your account managers 

• Having an end-to-end client growth framework (from onboarding to delivery) - so everyone knows what to do when, and you have all the templates and resources to help you implement 

• Having a Proactive Client Retention Strategy - so you increase the lifetime value of your ideal clients (and don’t have to keep feeding your sales pipeline) 

If you’d like to have a quick call with me to see if this might be a good fit for you or a member of your team, you can find all the details on my website: https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

Welcome to episode 106. If you’d like to know how one agency has been using AI since 2011 to predict the future for their clients, this chat will be interesting for you. It will also be insightful if you’re curious how the agency works with their global CPG and FMCG brands.

‌Nik Pearmine, Chief Strategy Officer at Black Swan Data,  and I cover a range of topics including:
- his view on what it takes to be successful in account management
- what he thinks is in store for the future 
- and whether we should be worried about AI replacing our jobs.

You can get in contact with Nik via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikolas-pearmine-138bb612/

If you’re listening to this at the beginning of 2024 and are based in the US, I wanted to let you know I’ll be running a value-packed seminar with David C Baker and Jack Skeels on 12th and 13th March in Atlanta. ‌The event is all about the account management and project management roles. I’ll be talking about the essentials of account management, how to grow an account and how account managers work with project managers. ‌David is extremely well known in the agency industry as he’s an agency advisor, the author of “The Business of Expertise” and “Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors” as well as co-hosting the 2Bobs podcast with Blair Enns. ‌You can find all the details and book your tickets at David’s website:  https://www.punctuation.com

Welcome to episode 105, I have invited two of my most popular podcast guests back for a second time, sales trainer legends; Marcus Cauchi and Benjamin Dennehey.

‌Both have been sales trainers for years and have worked with many agencies and tech companies. They shared some golden nuggets to help you with selling your agency’s services.

‌I had to throw away the list of questions I’d prepared and let the conversation flow naturally because I wanted to capture as much of their collective sales wisdom and tips as possible. I hope you’ll enjoy the longer length of this episode and ultimately come away with some practical things you can implement in your sales process.

‌‌· An understanding of the importance of having the ability to ask superb questions during the sales conversation with a prospect.
· In our chat, Marcus and Benjamin role play a conversation and hopefully you can take the principles away and model some of the language they’re using in your next sales conversation with a prospect.

You can reach Marcus Cauchi on LinkedIn, via [email protected],  visit his website: https://www.laughs-last.com and The Inquisitor podcast.
You can reach Benjamin at https://www.uksmosthatedsalestrainer.com/

If you’d like to chat to me about selling skills for agency account managers to help you with your your existing client accounts then you can go to my website https://www.accountmanagementskills.com and find out more about how I help build an entrepreneurial mindset in account management through my training programmes.‌

Welcome to episode 104. In this episode, I talk all things agency project management with Joanne Reid, Managing Partner for delivery at Cactus. 

We cover:
- the challenges agencies face with project management
- how Joanne assesses how well an agency's project management is working
- how project management differs from account management and why she recommends agencies to have both roles
- the target level of annual gross profit an agency should reach before investing in both roles
- her recommendations for project management tools and how to evaluate whether you have the right one for you
- what skills to look for when hiring a project manager 
- and Jo's thoughts on future trends she's seeing in project management. 

Make sure you follow her on LinkedIn because she shares some really useful tips for project managers and also agency owners when it comes agency service delivery: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-reid-6220744b/

If you're an agency owner or you're heading up the agency's account management team and have realised your existing clients just aren't growing, it may be time to provide the right support for your account management team to do it. I'm currently enrolling for my Account Accelerator programme that starts on 11th January 2024. It's a twelve month training and coaching programme for account managers who are responsible for account retention and growth. It's designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset and you'll come away with a proven account management and growth process, an end to end client growth framework, and a proactive client retention strategy for the agency. We already have some really self motivated senior account managers, directors and client services directors joining the programme who are often also responsible for leading a team in the agency. 

You can find the details of the Account Accelerator programme on my website:
https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

Welcome to episode 103. This episode will be particularly relevant to agency owners who want to become less hands-on in their agency and just step away from the day to day operations. 

I'm chatting to Karl Sakas, an agency growth consultant in the US and author of several books, the latest of which is called Work Less and Earn More a Practical Guide for Agency Owners to help them escape the daily grind of agency ownership. Karl has spent years consulting with agency owners and leaders and, I think because he originally had an operations background, he seems to have a wonderful way of explaining useful concepts and ideas using models and frameworks which are really easy to follow. 

Karl shares some practical tips, his views on agency account management and why separating the role from project management makes sense.

You can reach Karl, and make use of lots of his great downloadable resources at https://sakasandcompany.com/free-resources-for-agencies/
Book link:  http://worklessearnmorebook.com/

If you'd like support with upskilling your account managers, check out my Account Accelerator™ programme.  It's a 12 month training and coaching programme that's specifically designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your account management team. https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

Welcome to the final episode in my mini series of five bonus podcast episodes created to show you how to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your agency account managers.

In this episode, I share the key things you need to do to get your account managers adding value from day one and reduce churn. And this comes back to many of the things we've discussed already in this podcast series. I speak to so many agency owners who feel frustrated by high staff turnover. 

Ultimately, reducing churn and retaining your best talent comes down to one thing - investing in your account managers, and particularly in helping them develop the entrepreneurial skills we've covered in this podcast series. If you haven't had the chance to listen to the previous four episodes, do go back and have a listen. Do let me know what you found particularly useful, along with what you'd like to know more about. You can drop me a line at [email protected]. 

If you'd like support with upskilling your account managers, check out my Account Accelerator™ programme.  It's a 12 month training and coaching programme that's specifically designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your account management team. It covers all the areas in this special podcast series and much more.  https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

Welcome to number 4 in my mini series of five bonus podcast episodes created to show you how to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your agency account managers.

Why do so many account managers miss out on new account growth opportunities in client meetings? Often it's because they haven't asked the right questions. Or maybe they've asked some of the right questions but didn't have the confidence to probe deeper in their questioning.

In this short episode, I share why investing the time to help your account managers ask better questions could make a big difference to your bottom line, particularly when it comes to increasing client lifetime value.

If you'd like support with upskilling your account managers, check out my Account Accelerator™ programme.  It's a 12 month training and coaching programme that's specifically designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your account management team. It covers all the areas in this special podcast series and much more. So if you'd like to have a conversation about how I could help your account managers, then email me at [email protected] to find out more. 

https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

Welcome to number 3 in my mini series of five bonus podcast episodes created to show you how to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your agency account managers.

Agency owners often tell me they wish their account managers were more confident in client meetings, including being confident enough to suggest new ideas for new projects. But, as with everything else, you can't expect your account managers to just know how to run an effective client meeting. 

In this episode, I share seven things that you'll want to make decisions about in order to approach each client meeting in the right way. 

If you'd like support with upskilling your account managers, check out my Account Accelerator™ programme.  It's a 12 month training and coaching programme that's specifically designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in your account management team. It covers all the areas in this special podcast series and much more. So if you'd like to have a conversation about how I could help your account managers, then email me at [email protected] to find out more. 

https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator