10 Key Principles for Marketing Agency Account Teams

Working with clients can be challenging but it’s our job and it’s the ONLY thing that can’t be outsourced within an advertising agency. That’s why it is so important to understand how to build deep relationships with our clients, listen deeply and provide/receive feedback neutrally.

After running an advertising agency and then selling it to study emotional intelligence and transformational leadership from some of the top trainers in the world, I developed the 10 principles to increasing the lifetime value of your clients. When implemented, these will support you in identifying growth opportunities within your current clients, creating results faster and reducing stress in your job.

The 10 principles are:

1. Start with Vision: Understanding where your client is headed is critical to being able to support them but many clients can’t articulate their vision. In the study of this principle, you will learn how to hold a vision session and support your client in casting their own vision. Bonus - you can get paid for this work!

2. Focus on intention Over mechanism: As humans, we are mechanistic in nature and can get stuck in the ‘how’ something is going to be completed. This leads to unneeded stress and failed attempts. Real results are driven from intention. In the study of this principle, you will learn how to identify the intention and hold your client there while being mindful of the many mechanisms that could be used to achieve the desired result.

3. Set checkpoints and hold people accountable: The most commonly missed step in accountability is having a very specific deadline and holding someone to it while leaving room for renegotiation. In the study of this principle, you will learn how to set clear deadlines that you can uphold and the art of renegotiation if a deadline needs to be altered.

4. Build deep relationships: If your contact leaves at your client, then you have lost the business. It is imperative that you are curious and use a multi-layered relationship approach for every client. In the study of this principle, you will learn how to use curiosity to build a deep and sustainable relationship with your client.

5. Feedback is neutral: How we deliver feedback is just as important as what we have to say. In the study of this principle, you will learn the three-step feedback process so you can deliver feedback that people will thank you for even if they don’t like it and change your relationship with feedback so you see feedback as the gifts that it is.

6. Listen: The words that we use only convey half of the conversation - listening means hearing what’s not being said and listening to patterns beneath words. In the study of this principle, you will learn the three types of listening and the four steps to improving your listening.

7. Be an obstacle hurdler: The bigger our client’s goals are, the more obstacles will get in our way. In the study of this principle, you will learn tools you can lean on when it seems like nothing is working correctly, how you can change your view on failure and how you communicate with your client when you don’t hit objectives.

8. Be a loving interruption: Like vehicles, humans have blind spots except we don’t have special mirrors to help us see what’s in our way. We need other humans to tell us what’s stopping us from what we want. In the study of this principle, you will learn how to become a human blind spot detector and announcer to your client and the people around you and how to hear what your blind spot is from the people around you.

9. Be a master communicator: There are four key communication styles and you use some combination of them. Your style dictates how you want others to show up for you. In the study of this principle, you will identify your style, learn how to quickly identify the styles of your clients and your teammates and understand and practice how to shift your style based on what your client or teammate needs from you. When you master this, you will create results quickly because people want to work with you!

10. Celebrate ALL wins: As goal driven people, we oftentimes hop to the next goal before we even acknowledge that we completed our original goal. In the study of this principle, you will learn about time horizons and the impact they have on setting, achieving and celebrating wins.

Study the 10 principles with me by getting a copy of the book, “Increasing Your Client Lifetime Value: 10 Principles Just for Advertising Agencies”, join the Account Leaders Mastermind or hop into a training.

Growth is right in front of you :)