What’s the most impressive about a good Client Services person?
Quick answer
The account managers who impress agency leaders and clients most are not the ones who say yes to everything - they are the ones who ask why, politely, persistently, and at every level from account executive upward. Dom Marchant, who has built and sold three agencies (DJM, Plastic and Arc), says the best client services people challenge the client. Research consolidating ten major client-agency studies over two years confirms the same thing: the three behaviours clients want most from account managers are proactive strategic challenge and thinking, deep demonstrable business understanding, and reliable delivery that proves value. This post covers what that looks like in practice, what the PepsiCo-Omnicom account loss tells us about client retention, and a new AI skill for account managers built around spotting growth opportunities.
Dom Marchant has built and sold three agencies: DJM, Plastic and Arc. When asked what impresses him most about a good client services person, his answer is immediate: "It's the ones who challenge the client. Politely, and at every level from account exec up, they keep asking why." And account managers who just say yes to everything? "Annoying."
It is a strong word, but it is the right one. An account manager who agrees with everything a client says is not protecting the relationship - they are eroding it, because clients do not want a yes person. They want someone who makes them think..
What do the best account managers actually do differently?
Dom rates two qualities equally highly: the ability to challenge the client - to ask why, to push back politely, to bring a perspective the client has not considered - and the ability to be the client's voice inside the agency when the agency itself needs challenging. Both require the same underlying confidence to say something that might be uncomfortable, in service of getting to a better outcome.
That is not a natural state for most account managers, who have been trained - by the culture around them, by the fear of upsetting the relationship, by the pressure of delivery - to smooth things over rather than surface them. The habit of polite, persistent challenge is something most agency cultures accidentally train out of their people rather than into them.
What do clients actually want from their account managers?
Dom's view is backed up by research. A consolidation of ten major client-agency relationship studies conducted over two years found that the three behaviours clients want most from their account managers are:
Proactive strategic challenge and thinking - not waiting to be asked, but bringing a point of view
Deep, demonstrable business understanding - knowing the client's market, competitors and pressures well enough to have a useful opinion
Reliable delivery that proves value - not just getting the work done, but connecting it back to outcomes the client cares about
Worth noting what is not on that list: speed of response, likability, availability. Those things matter in the background, but they are not what clients say they value most, and confusing them with what actually builds a relationship is one of the most common mistakes in agency account management training. What clients want is a commercially minded account manager who challenges them and understands their business - a considerably higher bar than most training programmes set.
What does the PepsiCo-Omnicom loss tell us about client retention?
PepsiCo has moved its global media account, estimated at US$1.7bn, to Publicis. Omnicom's OMD had held it in major markets including the US and UK for more than two decades, and the move happened without a formal pitch. Omnicom's CFO said the company is working out what it should have done differently to prevent it - which, for a relationship of more than twenty years and an account of that size, is a striking admission.
Alongside this, Omnicom expects to end 2026 with around 105,000 employees, down from roughly 120,000 at the end of 2025, a reduction that includes outsourcing, offshoring, business disposals and redundancies. More detail on what went wrong will emerge in time, but the broad lesson reinforces Dom's point directly: long relationships do not protect you if the client stops feeling challenged and valued. Longevity can breed complacency on both sides, and the account manager who keeps asking why, year after year, is often the one keeping the relationship alive long after the initial energy of winning the account has faded.
What does Dom Marchant say about building an agency worth buying?
Dom's advice on selling agencies is worth applying more broadly than M&A. "If you're planning to sell your business you've probably got it wrong," he says. "Build it to be as good as it can be - profit, client feedback, how the team feels about working there - and that happens to be when a buyer wants it most."
The same logic applies directly to client relationships. Managing an account with one eye on keeping it is the wrong frame, because it produces exactly the kind of cautious, conflict-averse behaviour that clients find frustrating. Build the relationship to be as good as it can be - be the account manager who challenges the client, understands their business and delivers work that clearly demonstrates value - and that also happens to be when a client most wants to keep you.
What is the Growth Spotter skill for account managers?
I recently demoed my Claude-based Growth Spotter Skill at the AM:PM Event in Atlanta, where it was well received. Designed specifically for sales handovers - the moment when an account transitions from business development to account management, which is often where potential gets lost - the skill helps account managers get up to speed on a new account and spot potential growth opportunities based on a Skills Library unique to their specific agency type and client type, followed by a three-step data scan:
4. Client call transcript - pulling out what was discussed, agreed and implied
5. Client market - scanning for relevant competitor activity, sector developments and opportunities
6. Client's audience - understanding who the client is trying to reach and what is changing for them
Each step is set up with human oversight required, and the skill can run directly in folders and markdown files on your computer, making it controllable, ownable and unaffected by model updates. If you would like to see how it works, complete the brief form below and I will add you to the invite list for a short webinar where I can share the prototype.
SUMMARY
The account managers who create the most value are not the most agreeable ones - they are the ones who challenge the client politely and persistently, who can also advocate for the client inside the agency, and who keep asking why at every level. Research across ten major client-agency studies consistently identifies proactive strategic challenge, deep business understanding and value-demonstrating delivery as the top three things clients want and the top three things most often missing. The PepsiCo account loss at Omnicom is a reminder that no relationship is too long or too large to lose when a client stops feeling genuinely understood and challenged. Build the relationship to be as good as it can be - because that is also what makes it hardest to lose.
FAQ
Why do clients find account managers who say yes all the time annoying?
Because saying yes to everything is not helpfulness - it is avoidance. Clients want account managers who push back when something is not right, ask why when a brief is unclear, and bring a point of view when the client is about to make a mistake. An account manager who agrees with everything removes one of the most valuable things an agency relationship can offer: an honest external perspective.
What do clients most want from their agency account managers?
Research consolidating ten major client-agency studies identifies three things consistently at the top: proactive strategic challenge and thinking, deep and demonstrable business understanding, and reliable delivery that proves value. Speed of response and likability matter, but they are not what clients say makes a relationship genuinely valuable.
What is the difference between challenging a client and damaging the relationship?
Challenging a client means asking why, offering a different perspective, and surfacing a concern before it becomes a problem - all done with the client's interests in mind. Damaging the relationship means being defensive, dismissive or self-serving. The distinction is intent and manner, and done well, challenge deepens trust rather than threatening it.
What can agencies learn from the PepsiCo-Omnicom account loss?
A relationship of more than twenty years and a US$1.7bn account moved without a pitch process. The lesson is that longevity does not protect a relationship if the client stops feeling challenged and genuinely understood, and complacency in long-standing accounts is one of the most common and costly mistakes in agency client management.
What did Dom Marchant say about building an agency worth selling?
His advice was to stop thinking about building an agency to sell and focus instead on building it to be as good as it can be across profit, client feedback and how the team feels about working there. That combination, he says, is also when a buyer wants it most - and the same logic applies to client relationships, which are hardest to lose when they are genuinely well-built.
What is the last time one of your account managers asked a client "why" - and what happened?
Listen to the full conversation with Dom Marchant on the Creative Agency Account Manager podcast.
