Creative Agency Account Manager Podcast

Phil Lancaster has worked his entire career in agency account management. He's worked for some of the most successful agency holding companies such as The Lowe Group and WPP where he lead global account management teams and held the role of Global Business Director for brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Reckitt Benckiser, Bayer and Bank of America. He has a wealth of experience working with clients at the board level and believes strongly that agency account managers need to have a relationship with the C-Suite in a client company. Other points we discuss are: * The value of the role of account management for both agencies and client (this has been debated recently in an IPA report) * One of the most important ways an agency account manager can save the client money * How account managers can position themselves as trusted advisors rather than order takers * Where agency account managers get client management wrong * Why C-Suite relationship building is essential * Advice for agency account managers to strengthen relationships amidst current remote working conditions * Phil's thoughts on how the agency landscape is changing and the future of the role of agency account management * Phil's top advice for you if you are starting out in your career in account management..... .....and lots more nuggets of wisdom and reflection from years of experience so this is one not to miss.

Marcus Cauchi is probably one of the most well known salesman and sales trainers in the UK. I was fortunate enough to be trained by Marcus in the Sandler selling methodology and meeting him changed the course of my career as I suddenly realised selling skills could have been hugely beneficial when I started out in advertising in the 1990s. In this episode, Marcus shares with us: * What agencies need to do to win new business * The metrics he uses to evaluate a new business team's effectiveness * Why asking questions to gather information is a waste of yours and your client's time * How agencies can manage the handover from their new business to account management team * How understanding human psychology can aid us in selling * The most overlooked area of account expansion agencies miss * The three myths agencies have bought into about selling.... ....and so many more nuggets of selling wisdom, you'll want to grab and pen and make some notes.

In this episode, Tina Fegent, marketing procurement consultant with almost 30 years experience shares tips for what procurement want from agencies and specifically agency account management. Tina has worked both client side for companies such as Orange and agency side in the role of Commercial Director so really understands what works and doesn't work when it comes to creating and developing relationships with the procurement team. In this episode Tina shares; - The most common complaint she hears from clients about agency account management - What great account management looks like for her - Why developing relationships with procurement is good for agency business - Ideas you can try right now for how to engage with procurement - What to avoid when pitching - What management consultancies are doing really well that agencies should be doing more of.... ....and lots more! So grab a pen and get ready to take some notes because she shares some golden nuggets of wisdom for you.

In my first episode I'm delighted to be chatting to Kate Whittaker, Head of Corporate Communications at DUAL International. As a marketing client, Kate Whittaker has 30 years experience managing agency relationships so is very well placed to give her perspective on what agency account managers could be doing to win their clients over. In this episode we cover: 1. How Kate selects her agencies and what she suggests you do if you're considering cold calling prospective clients 2. The qualities she looks for in a potential agency partner 3. Examples of where agency account managers have won her over and built her trust as well as where agencies get client management wrong 4. Some advice for how agencies can present additional ideas during the course of working on another project 5. Why you need to be asking your clients for more referrals 6. Her tips for how to position yourself as more of a trusted advisor 7. What's changed for her in light of COVID-19 and what she'd be interested in hearing from agencies right now 8. Some great tips for how to maintain and develop strong client relationships during this time of remote working I hope you enjoy this episode. It's packed full of nuggets to help agency account managers with client retention and growth. The sound isn't optimal and my interviewing skills need some work but I do hope you come away with some actionable tips you can put into practice in your agency account management role. If you'd like more information about how you can retain and grow existing client relationships, you'll find information about the latest training for agency account managers here: https://bit.ly/accountaccelerator. If you're an agency leader with three employees or more and haven't already joined the Agencynomics free community, here's a link to join: https://community.agencynomics.com/. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love your support by leaving a review and also drop me a line at [email protected] if you know someone in a client role who would like to be interviewed and can share some great advice for helping agency account managers with their role.