Are you speaking your client's language - or your agency's?

I see a pattern with strong account managers who are good at account growth.

Not only can they describe their agency’s services (deliverables, timelines and who does what) but they can also explain the business result each service creates for their client.

It might sound obvious but if you can't connect the work to a client's commercial outcome, how can you ask good questions and suggest relevant ideas to solve the client's business problems?

Speak the language of outcomes not deliverables 

For example, an account manager in a medical communications agency might say “we offer AR, VR and interactive experiences for pharma clients”.

But when they add "our services support launch readiness, drive product uptake and HCP adoption", they are starting to talk the client's language (not the agency's).

The client starts to see the account manager as business relevant not just project relevant.

And this change in perception can be the difference between the client sharing more of their business goals with you (because they see you 'get' it) and holding their plans back.

Why this matters for account managers more than ever right now

It might sound obvious as you're reading this, but changing your thinking and your conversations in this way matters more now than ever because:

a) Clients are under pressure to see value and ROI, not just activity - so they need to hear this language when speaking with you

b) Agencies are accelerating their change in pricing model from inputs (hours spent on tasks/deliverables) to outputs (programmes and products) and outcomes (value) - because of AI

c) New business has been harder for many agencies - so client facing team members are expected to identify account growth opportunities - because it's the easiest, cheapest and quickest route to more revenue

As this article in Campaign magazine  highlights "The transition from a time-based pricing model to a solution-based one will require agency teams to focus on outcomes rather than tasks"

AI can help you identify outcomes by mapping your services

Thankfully AI can help fill this knowledge gap. I recently built an interactive services map prototype for a medical communications agency using Perplexity.

In under 30 minutes, you can create a similar tool mapping your agency's services against different stages of a client’s product lifecycle (in this particular agency's case) using website data and/or case studies (I'll be running a free webinar at the beginning of May to share how you can do this so look out for an invite coming soon).

So instead of describing a list of services (as they may appear on your agency's website), this tool can help client-facing team members quickly identify which services create value and when they would be appropriate to bring up in conversation (using the client’s language).

And this changes the conversation. The account manager stops giving out 'order taker vibes' and starts to shift the client's perception of them to more of a 'consultant'.

AI tools help solve part of the problem

AI training tools help but for a lot of account managers, the barrier is something else.

It's not laziness or lack of ambition.

It is that nobody ever made this (growing accounts) part of their job description and/or they're so bogged down in project delivery there's no time to think about account growth.

Most account managers are trained to be responsive, thorough and dependable. Keep the client happy. Keep things moving. Do not overstep.

And their job is structured that way too (utilisation targets - particularly for a hybrid AM/PM - might be as high as 70-80% which leaves no time to think about account growth).

This means they might spot an opportunity to do more for the client, but they hold back.

Not because they don't care but because they're too busy and/or they are unsure whether it is their place to raise it.

Because sometimes the issue is not capability. It is capacity (and even willingness).

Are you responsible for helping your client facing team grow existing revenue?

So if you're reading this and you lead the client facing team - or the agency - this is a job for you.

If your client facing team are not spotting growth opportunities and having commercial conversations, have you made that part of their role clear and possible?

Have you given them the tools, the time and the expectation?

Because asking someone to grow accounts while giving them a job description that says “manage the relationship” is setting them up to stay exactly where they are.

A question to ponder

Use AI to research one client's business priorities, not just the brief they have given you, but the thing their CEO is trying to achieve.

Then ask yourself: is there something our agency does that connects directly to that priority and how could I bring that up with the client at the next opportunity?

This is one of the areas of skill we work on in the Account Accelerator™ - my 12-week Sprint programme for people responsible for growing client accounts.

We cover how to ask better questions, how to have commercial conversations without sounding awkward and which are grounded in behavioural science -  and how to be seen as someone clients turn to for advice rather than just delivery.

The next cohort starts in September 2026. Find out more here →