With the new consumer trends and the current competitiveness of businesses, one of the reasons why
companies must join the era of the digital revolution is because our clients are now in constant search
of personalized services.
For this reason, commercial areas have begun to implement more specific roles, such as consultants,
advisors, account executives or Account Managers.
This is why there are also differences between the roles of consultant and account executive.
As an example, we can say that, on the one hand, the seller only carries out the strategy of
obtaining new clients , and on the other hand, the account executive is responsible for delivering the
acquired services to the client in a timely manner, managing that bridge of communication between
the company and the consumer.
In most companies, both roles are handled by the same person, but there are some that are more
specialized and have a team dedicated only to sales and another focused on account management.
From my experience as an account executive in a Digital Marketing agency , I live the side of
specialization, advising my clients with the best digital strategies to achieve their business objectives.
Below are some tips that we as Account Executives should keep in mind to achieve better results in
customer retention and satisfaction with our services.
5 tips to be a better Account Manager
I will provide you with techniques that guarantee uk telegram data that the service is personalized,
and that it ultimately translates into more sales, because as the “father of modern Marketing”, Philip
Kotler , warned us, winning a new client costs 5 to 7 times more than keeping a current one.
1. Establish communication channels from the beginning
If, in addition to being a consultant, you are go to the permissions tab on the extension page also
going to be an account executive, it is important that the rules of the game are defined when the client
decides to start working with the agency.
If, on the other hand, you will only be managing the account, it is imperative that there be an
introductory meeting where it is made clear from the beginning what the means of
communication will be and how often we will schedule follow-up meetings, results reports, etc.
This meeting is also important so that both the client team and the agency team get to know each
other and, in one way or another, a working relationship is created.
The use of WhatsApp is becoming more and more common as a means of communication with our clients. It may be a little more informal than email, but in terms of speed of communication it is the most effective.
If your client is one of those who responds faster via WhatsApp or a call, I recommend using an email right after this call/message to keep more professional evidence of what is being discussed.
An example might be a summary email that starts with: “Based on our call…” can help you keep a better track of the deliveries or follow-up you have been doing with your client.
I also think it is important to share with your client the best and worst times to contact them, whether
you can call them at lunchtime, or whether they have after-hours work hours, that is, whether both of you are willing to answer calls and/or emails after work hours.
The more this information is shared, the better the communication between the two will be.
2. Earn your customers’ trust
Trust is defined as the firm hope that a person cn numbers has that something will happen, whether it
will work in a certain way, or that another person will act as he or she wishes.
In this sense, gaining the trust of your clients as an Account Executive involves aspects that are clearly
related to your role, such as being responsible for the delivery of the services that the agency is providing to your client.
Although the services offered regularly depend on the operations team, you are the face of the agency
before the client and responsible for ensuring that all standards are met in a timely manner, and
above all, that they are always focused on the business objectives .
If the client sees that you are also working on it, for example when you know all the details of the
report or because you made the report together with the operations team understanding how the
entire strategy was executed, that is where you will gain their trust.
Additionally, trust is something that is strengthened to the extent that you fulfill small promises or small agreements, even arriving on time to a meeting, or sending an email at the time or day you promised to do so.
Another key point that we as Account Executives can keep in mind to gain empathy with our clients is to not hesitate to be clear when they want to make a decision.
If as consultants we think it will not be a good fit, respecting their choice and making it clear that as advisors we do not recommend it can make a big difference in how trust is formed in the relationship.
3. Research your client’s industry
As I mentioned in the previous point, as an Account Executive you are not always fully involved with the agency’s Creative, Strategy, or Operations teams, which are the ones that most deeply manage the services that your client receives.
But this does not exclude you from having to know about your client’s industry, so dear Account Manager readers , you have to do your research.
From the moment you are assigned an account, or from the moment you are going to have a meeting
with a prospect, it is advisable to research the company, its industry, its competitors, the market, etc.
The more information you have about this, the more questions you can ask your prospect/client in order to get more details about their industry. And the more details you have about their industry, the better you will be able to develop a strategy that integrates with what they are looking for.
The success of your client continuing to obtain advice from you or the agency also depends on how
up-to-date you remain on the topic. To find out how much you know about your clients and their
industry, I invite you to answer the following questions:
- Do you often read news about your clients’ industry?
- Do you know if your client or the industry has experienced growth or decline in the last year?
- Who are your client’s main competitors?
- Do you know what the latest trends are in your client’s market? For example, new e-commerce models , ways they handle digital advertising, etc.
4. Have an upselling plan
One of the main objectives that you as an Account Executive must consider is how to make your
current clients want to continue using your agency’s services.
And on the other hand, how to make them buy more and more of your services or, from a financial
perspective, how to make the turnover of those services increase. At the end of the day, we all want to
sell more, but how do I sell more to my current client?
One option is to start having a history of your client, for this it is advisable to use a CRM tool , in
which you can have statistics of how much your client has been investing in the agency, this way you
will be able to have data that will help you make sales projections.
When you have a sales projection, you can determine how much you will sell on average thanks to
account management, and according to your goal, how much more you should sell to reach it. Selling
more in this case means being able to increase some service to your client that is reflected in your sales scorecard .
