How To Be
An Account Person.

Client contact is perhaps the last bastion of business development left in the agency arsenal. That is because in today's fast churn world of here today gone tomorrow agency/client relationships, personal contact and referral are key.

The day to day interface between agency and client organization has very little to do with growing the business. The points of contact that have the most traction, unfortunately have the least amount of juice to influence policy. As a result, accounts come and accounts go without the knowledge or involvement of the average mid-level contact or account management staff.

However , the client side relationships that have been nurtured over the years ( or in recent times, months) can and do prove invaluable in developing new opportunities for business development.

This is because the revolving door that has become the modern day advertising agency account management department is mirrored in the marketing departments of the global branding organization.

As the tenure of CMOs gets shorter and shorter their support staff have also fallen victim to job volatility. So it is that this swirl of mid-level marketing talent constantly creates entre opportunities for the social network savvy account management person.

Of course for those client-side contacts to have any value at all, the astute account management rep has to impress with stellar performance during the professional side of the relationship. What does that mean exactly?

Well, certainly large agencies run on a sea of paper, so being the master of the paper trail is just the price of entry. The backbone of this paper trail is the well written conference and/or call report. I have seen masterfully documented conference reports save both client and agency alike when third party fowl-ups have lead to six figure write downs.

It is a ticklish balancing act to look after the interests of client and agency alike. But the well-versed account manager should be able to handle that ticklish task like a well-crafted brandy snifter. It is the very definition of the phrase "client interests" that seems to draw the blankest of stares.

What exactly is in the client's best interest from an account management point of view? Is a marketing opportunity that clearly furthers the client's strategic objectives, yet does not provide a commissionable or revenue-based opportunity for the agency to be considered in the client's best interest?

These are the areas where an account manager's job gets dicey.

Account management is just that. The profitable stewardship of the relationship between client and agency. These gray areas are the ones where account management can loose track of its basic responsibility.

Yes, it is critical to stay up on the latest developments that may have an impact on the client's business environment. Yes it is prudent to bring these developments to the client's attention at the proper time. But decision support can sometimes tip the scale from trusted advisor to self-interested party. So caution is the best tactic when traveling in uncharted waters.

What Matters To Me:

Invictus.


Out of the night that covers me
Black as the Pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced or cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul

-William Ernest Henley

This has been a very tough year for a number of my friends and associates in this business. Some of them have suffered the loss of loved ones and had to shoulder their grief at the same time they balanced a crushing work load. Others have put their faith in companies, clients and co-workers only to have them selves sold down the river, with little thought or consideration for the consequences that would befall them.

Such is the nature of the ever increasing brutality of our business. There is only one true thing that has and will continue to save these hapless victims from their luckless fate.

First, the fact that they would never consider themselves victims–hapless, luckless or otherwise. And second, that their strength of character has never failed to give them the power and the resolve to weather far worse before the advent of these recent mishaps.

We are not in a profession for the weak of heart or spirit. The hours are long and unyielding. The physical demands take their toll on body and soul without respect to age, gender or social standing. The deceit, duplicity and lack of honor are without parallel in any other industry. There is nothing fair about this business or the way in which it treats its minions or Its luminaries.

Yet , as in the poem above that I dedicate to their struggle, these friends and acquaintances remain bloody, but unbowed. I present their perseverance to you as an inspiration for your own pain and suffering at the hands of your chosen professions.

As soldiers and officers of the line, the wounded of which I speak are not without their anger. In some cases they are blinded by it. In other cases they are fortified by it. But in all cases they are seldom without the shadow of its presence in their lives. It brings on their tears. It stifles their smiles. It hardens their hearts. Their anger will not abandon them as their one-time friends, bosses and colleagues have done in their not-so-distant past. Their anger will harden their resolve to not be so nieve, ever again. And this will serve to make them stronger. Tougher. Better.

Their greatest challenge will be the effect of their various misfortunes on their respective genius. For some the result will be terminal. They will grow to fear the taking of chances and throwing of cautions to the four winds. The very fuel of creative excellence that once defined their unique place in the world will extinguish. For those who will loose their light and their way I grieve, with all my heart and wish them godspeed to a safer haven where they may find the peace to heal and be restored to grace.

For those who will not be bent by their harsh experiences, I offer my daily prayers for their speedy recovery. Even though I know recovery will have neither quickness of time, nor absence of scar tissue. But for them there will be something more. Something that did in fact await me on the other side of the darkest tunnels of my misadventurous professional life thus far. The confidence of one who has chosen rather to kill their demons than be killed by them.

For them the most horrific loss will be the loss of trust. That will be the price they pay for their will to survive to remain intact. Lack of trust will be their sword and their shield for the future. It will provide the strength they need to vanquish their demons and rejoin us on the battle field

These demons are not the deceivers and character assassins who laid waste to their carefully constructed career goals and aspirations. These demons are far more fearsome. They are the incessant voices that now greet their first waking moments and signal their last breaths of conscious thought before their escape into slumber. The voices that now whisper "How could they?" or scream "How could you let them?" Constantly questioning their judgment. Incessantly replaying their pain. Persistently reinforcing their anger.

These demons will persist until their strength of character finally emerges from its slumber to take back control of their voice of reason. That one strong voice that will ultimately stand unbowed in the midst of tearful consciousness and state without faltering, "Fuck him." Or, "To hell with them." Then more directly, "Get back to work."

To hasten that voice, I respectfully suggest they...and you, read the poem above once more. And in the dark hours to come, when your mind again clouds over with self-doubt or despair. Whisper, growl, shout, laugh or scream the one word that says it all.

"Invictus!"

Finally, comes the issue of strategic development. This task has been thrown back and forth over the fence between creative and account management ever since the early 1970s. The truth is that the only strategic decisions or vision that count come down on the client's side of the table. Account management can play lip service to the process and creative can suffer under the illusion of stategic leadership, but those seats are no longer at the client's table. Advertising can oly serve up suggestions at the will of the client.

So go for the most innovative strategic direction possible and impress them with your out of the box thinking. Maybe some of your genius will rub off on your client. And the best thing an account person can do for their client is provide them with something cool to take credit for.