If you are you an account manager at a tech. company or a digital agency who is starting out or perhaps a seasoned one, the few tips that follow will help you become a better professional and hopefully help to please your clients as well. Here goes:
Listen to the client and guide them correctly
You need to understand that the client and you are on the same side. The client’s victory is your victory; hence you need to patiently understand the immediate, short-term & long-term goals and seek alignment. There would be a lot of cases where there could be a conflict; about deadlines, or client expectations. You need to be honest with the client. When building a relationship, ensure it is on good terms.
If it is not working, then let the client know!
Sometimes, things break, or a deadline is going to be missed. These things happen and you need to ensure that you let the client know about this. There could be a situation where there is a huge marketing campaign associated with the offering that you may be working on, and the results of this lack of communication would make the client trust you less.
Understand the basics of project management with resource allocation
In some companies, account managers are also responsible for the planning and execution of projects, whereas in some, the account manager is simply the point of contact for the client, and the heavy lifting or project management is done by dedicated project managers. Either way, an account manager should learn the basics of project management. This will help you give better and realistic estimates to your clients and help build your confidence in front of them.
Stick to the deadlines. If you’re going to miss one anyway, communicate!
Deadlines are called Deadlines for a reason. A missed deadline should be taken personally. In life, deadlines do get missed, yes, but with proper project planning, resource allocation, and planning for contingencies, this should ideally not happen. We live in a real-world, not an ideal one, so if you get the feeling that the team is working hard but even then, you would be missing a deadline, let the client know and ask for more time. Anything released in a hasty manner usually ends up as a wasted release and a pissed-off client.
Adding your own 2 cents
You are not a robot! So you can do more than what you are asked to do and you should. It will be appreciated. Ensure that you are adding value to the product from your end as well. The client should also see what you bring to the table. The most successful account managers are those who can add their tweaks and quirks to help please the client!
Account Management can be a breeze if you make sure that you are managing a client’s expectations. This is not limited to always adhering to deadlines but letting them know in advance if something is going to be missed.
Let us know if you agree with the pointers above. If not, what do you not agree with? Is there anything we should add? We’d love to hear from you.
We are almost always hiring for a good account manager for our New Delhi office, contact us here if you think you’re a fit.
Cheers!