'Train the trainer' isn't new. But it is fairly new for agency owners who want to keep 'rising star' account managers but have tighter training budgets

Ever thought about winning back your past clients? It could be one of the most impactful moves for your agency’s bottom line.

An account director client of mine has been struggling with a client relationship.

The account manager's role is hard. Some argue it's the hardest in the agency.

Is the agency business model holding account managers back?

Why do clients really buy your agency services? Most agencies want to understand what clients think. And it turns out prospective clients and existing clients are thinking different things.

In 2019 Gartner conducted a study to understand why account managers were ineffective in growing existing agency client business.

Why are account managers not cross selling and upselling during client meetings?

Recently, I chatted to Tim Riesterer, Chief Strategy Officer at Corporate Visions. We discussed the importance of demonstrating to clients the results you're achieving for them at three levels. Tim calls this the 'triple metric'.

There are little things account managers can do well to avoid big client complaints. Here are 3 common scenarios in which an account manager has to have a difficult conversation.

Michael Farmer, a management consultant who has studied creative agencies for 30 years, said this during our recent interview: “Account managers need to be more like Bain consultants”

I read as many reports I can about the state of agency account management and it makes for grim reading.

When you start an agency, typically you start with project management. As a small, agile team it makes sense for project managers to be responsible for client management.They are highly skilled in delivering your services on time and on budget. As an agency grows and more clients are acquired, it becomes unsustainable.

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

Agency owners often tell me their account managers aren’t leading client meetings confidently.

You can’t just expect clients to treat account managers as ‘trusted advisors’ because trust has to be earned.