How to be a (Growth) Hero at Your Agency
It’s tough being a Client Services Director.
You’re accountable not only to your clients, but to your agency bosses too.
If your performance is evaluated on any metrics that include account revenue growth or client retention and satisfaction, this article’s for you.
4 Steps to become a (Growth) Hero
No doubt you’re already communicating regularly with clients; status updates, resource gathering etc.
To become a growth hero, you’ll need to take that a little further.
Schedule regular feedback sessions
Feedback sessions open the door to so much else! You should aim to schedule feedback sessions at project end for any short term work and at least quarterly for any work beyond three months.
This is where you go beyond the current project scope. Yes, ask about the project delivery experience, but take it deeper. Ask what else is coming up for this client. What are their goals for the next year? Five years? What’s the organization’s top priority?
You might just uncover additional ways to serve this client.
2. Take time to build relationships
This might seem obvious, but in a billable hours environment, how often do you stop to consider how to truly connect with your clients, as human beings?
Build in time for your account team time to interact with clients outside of essential project communication and commitments. Allow them to get to know your clients and their organizations on a deep, personal level.
No, you’re not looking to turn every client into a bosom buddy (that would be weird!), but you do need to remember that humans buy from humans. When the choice is between your agency and one without a strong relationship, all other things being equal, which do you think they’ll choose?
3. Budget for client relationship development
Note I’m not talking about the booze-soaked lunches of yesteryear! Simpler, more personal things like sending flowers and a card for a birthday, perhaps a book you’ll know your client will appreciate, and especially baby gifts for new arrivals are unexpected and personal and go a long way to building relationships.
Brainstorm with your account team what sorts of things might be appropriate to acknowledge and what kind of spend is appropriate. Empower them to make their own choices, up to an agreed upon limit.
Take your clients to the game if you know that it’s something they will appreciate, but recognize that grand gestures aren’t always necessary. Smaller, thoughtful experiences and gifts that are carefully chosen and not part of a traditional holiday period will go so much further to cementing strong relationships.
4. Don’t forget the client’s organization
If your client is anything other than a micro business, you’ll need to be building some level of relationship beyond your immediate account contacts. Being blindsided by an unexpected change in personnel that results in you losing the account can often be avoided if you’ve invested in building relationships wider than your day to day contacts.
Some things to monitor and consider for larger client accounts:
Where does your client contact fit within the organization’s overall structure?
Who are the influencers and ultimate decision makers?
How might you get access to influencers and ultimate decision makers?
Are there opportunities for you to work with other departments?
What can you do to minimize the risk of losing this account if your key decision maker leaves?
When you set up systems and processes that create a culture of client appreciation and strong relationships, you’ll easily meet those KPIs. Customer lifetime value, revenue and profit will all grow, and you’ll not only become the agency’s MVP, but a growth hero too.