Creative Agency Account Manager Podcast

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

Welcome to number 2 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 we're looking at how to raise the value of account managers by taking them from an 'order-taker' to a trusted advisor. You can't just expect clients to treat your account managers as trusted advisors, because trust has to be earned. In this episode, I cover:
- creating a culture where clients trust account managers from the off
- creating the right conditions for the relationship to thrive
- having the right internal processes in place to support your managers with account growth

In bonus episode 3, I'll be covering how your account managers can run effective client meetings.

Everything I'm sharing in this podcast series is covered in depth in my Account Accelerator programme and ultimately it's designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in account management. You can read more about the programme here:
https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

Or if you'd like to have a conversation about how I could potentially help your account managers, please email me [email protected]. Let's have a chat and see if this might be suitable for you or members of your team.

Welcome to the first in a series of five bonus podcast episodes. I've created this podcast mini series to show you how you can develop an entrepreneurial mindset in your agency account managers, so they can:
- help increase the lifetime value of clients
- generate more referrals
- help you maintain a healthy sales pipeline

In this first short episode, I'll be tacking the 'elephant in the room'. Why do you feel your account managers are not spotting those growth opportunities? 

And over the next four episodes, I'll then be looking at the key qualities for entrepreneurially-minded account managers. 

By the way, everything I'll share in this podcast series is covered in my Account Accelerator programme and ultimately it's designed to build an entrepreneurial mindset in account management. You can read more about the programme here:
https://www.accountmanagementskills.com/account-accelerator

Or if you'd like to have a conversation about how I could potentially help your account managers, please email me [email protected]. Let's have a chat and see if this might be suitable for you or members of your team. 

Welcome to episode 97.
My first ever podcast was with Kate Whittaker, head of corporate communications at DUAL Group, so working on the client side. During that episode she was explaining the exceptional agency who worked with her, particularly about their excellent client service, but also how they really understand her and her business.
 
So for this episode, I invited the leadership team of that agency, Free Partners, to talk to me about how they work and think.
 
You'll hear from Managing Partner, Lorraine Jeckells, Brand Director, Greg Phitidis, and Creative Director, Guy Cornet.  

We chatted about:
- their agency's specialist positioning, focusing just in the insurance market and why that's beneficial to their business, to their team and to their clients. 
- their agency values and how they bring them to life through their ways of working. 
- their internal processes and how the three departments (account management/strategy/creative) work together in a client centric way. 

They also go deep into the importance of the creative brief, why they have a tactical and a strategic briefing process, and how they grow their own talent from graduate level so that they are moulded into the Free Partners ways of working. And finally, how they delight their clients by being proactive and bringing fresh thinking and initiatives without waiting passively for briefs. 

If you’re listening to this at the end of 2023 and you want to build a more entrepreneurial mindset in your account management role or your team, I'm enrolling right now for my twelve month training and mentoring program called the Account Accelerator. 

I created the Account Accelerator because agency owners were telling me they knew their existing client accounts could grow further but they needed their account managers to do three key things:

1. Act as trusted advisors rather than order takers, so they understood their clients business objectives and felt confident to have conversations about how the agency could help. 
2. Spot upsell and cross sell opportunities and follow them effectively so they could increase retention and generate new business opportunities with existing clients. 
3. Ask insightful questions to uncover client challenges and feel confident presenting new ideas and asking for referrals and testimonials so they could help a strong sales pipeline of new leads and capture proof of happy clients. 

So if all of this sounds interesting, then please visit my website https://www.accountmanagementskills.com, where you can book a call, have a chat with me and see if this might be a good fit for you or a member of your team.

Welcome to Episode 96. My guest is David Meikle, the author of ‘Tuning Up’, a book about improving performance and reducing stress in advertising and marketing. This chat will be particularly interesting for you if you're finding the pressure and stress of working in an agency unmanageable, or you're responsible for creating positive agency environment in which your team can thrive. 

We discuss:
- why David describes the relationship between the agency, the client and the client's procurement department as the triangle of doom. 
- David’s signature relationship diagnostic tool, The Meikle Matrix, that essentially helps you pinpoint the heart of the problem with any relationship
- how this diagnostic tool can help you in practical ways in your agency. I highly recommend you reading this book for me. 

You can visit David’s website at https://www.tuningup.co.uk for more information about the book and also to road test a prototype of The Meikle Matrix for yourself. 

If you’re listening to this at the end of 2023 and you want to build a more entrepreneurial mindset in your account management role or your team, I'm enrolling right now for my twelve month training and mentoring program called the Account Accelerator. 

I created the Account Accelerator because agency owners were telling me they knew their existing client accounts could grow further but they needed their account managers to do three key things:

1. Act as trusted advisors rather than order takers, so they understood their clients business objectives and felt confident to have conversations about how the agency could help. 
2. Spot upsell and cross sell opportunities and follow them effectively so they could increase retention and generate new business opportunities with existing clients. 
3. Ask insightful questions to uncover client challenges and feel confident presenting new ideas and asking for referrals and testimonials so they could help a strong sales pipeline of new leads and capture proof of happy clients. 


I've had 30 years experience in account management and, having trained account growth since 2016, I know not all account managers have the skills, the experience or the mindset to deliver at this level, and many agencies don't have the right internal processes in place to support their account managers with account growth. 

But, I believe with the right strategies, systems, processes and the support, your account managers can become more entrepreneurially minded, which could have a big impact on your agency's bottom line. 

So if all of this sounds interesting, then please visit my website https://www.accountmanagementskills.com, where you can book a call, have a chat with me and see if this might be a good fit for you or a member of your team. 

Welcome to Episode 95. This episode is particularly relevant for you if you’re responsible for agency new business. 

I'm joined by Benjamin Dennehy, UK's Most Hated Sales Trainer, and I hope by the end of listening to our chat it might just change your thinking about how you currently qualify prospects and sell your agency’s services, , particularly if you’ve never received any professional sales training.

Benjamin invites us to challenge our beliefs around pitching and giving away your ideas for free which is so typically entrenched in the marketing services industry.

He also shares some great examples of how to approach things differently.

NB: If you don’t like swearing this isn’t the episode for you.

Please go and follow Benjamin on LinkedIn, his content is not only useful and practical it’s very different to the usual stuff you see about sales.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamindennehy/
www.salesmatrixcourses.com
www.uksmosthatedsalestrainer.com
www.youtube.com/c/UKsMostHatedSalesTrainer

If you’re listening to this at the end of 2023,  I’m opening enrolment soon for my one year Account Accelerator training and coaching programme that starts on 11th January 2024.  It is designed to give those responsible for account growth in the agency the entrepreneurial skills and mindset to support the growth of your client accounts and your agency.

If you're in account management at any level or you have someone in your team who this might be suitable for, please send me an email to [email protected] or drop me a DM on LinkedIn and I’ll let you have all the details when they’re available so you can decide if it’s a good fit. Places are limited for the January cohort.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyplant

This episode is for agency leaders who are supporting their account manager to grow the existing client business. 

I’m going to share tips for ensuring the agency leadership team are providing the right level of support to their account management team in three key areas;

1. Providing the commercial context
2. Internal processes
3. Relationship risk management

If you are an account manager, or you have an account manager or account director or client services director in your team, who you want to provide with the mindset and the skillset to grow the existing business, then we will be opening applications soon for the Account Accelerator programme, a year long programme we're kicking off in January 2024. We'll have an initial nine week period where we give you all the training, all the strategies, a toolbox of different ways that you can grow your business, and then you will also receive the support from me to implement. You'll also join a peer group on Slack with other account managers, account directors, group account directors, client services directors who are all doing the same thing.

If you're interested, please contact me on LinkedIn or send me an email at [email protected] or visit the Account Accelerator programme page. We'll be updating the website very soon with a full page of all the learning outcomes that you can expect to achieve.