Top 5 Tips to Excel in Your Career as a Client Account Manager
Account Management in digital marketing isn’t for everyone. You’ve really got to know your stuff, you’ve really got to be well organized, and you’ve really got to like working with people. It’s only if you can check all three boxes that we’d recommend it as a career path.
But … what a career path it can be! Both of our founders, Taylor McMaster and Katie Fairweather, started out as digital marketers — only to find that working with clients was by far the favorite part of their jobs.
So what do two digital marketers with tons and tons of successful Client Account Management under their belts do? They start their own agency, of course! DOT & Co. is the world’s first agency specializing 100% in remote Account Management.
Taylor and Katie continually seek out the best Account Managers going to add to our team. And each team member goes through all the training in our popular CAM Community. The results? What we call unicorn-status Client Account Managers, all of whom have turned this niche passion into a great, future-proof career.
We’ve already put together a guide to client management for agency owners looking to boost their services: Our Top 7 Client Management Best Practices.
So today, we’re turning to all you existing and would-be Client Account Managers (CAMs) out there. Whether you work for an agency, for yourself, or you’re just excited to explore a new (and flexible! and lucrative! and exciting!) path, here are our top five tips to excel in your career as an Account Manager.
1. Embrace Remote Working To Excel As An Account Manager
We probably don’t need to tell you about the explosion of remote working that went hand-in-hand with the pandemic. What you may not realize is how many companies and agencies have decided to stay remote. For example, our agency is 100 thousand percent committed to the remote work lifestyle. We simply find that having a remote team is all around better for everyone!
The reality is that more and more companies are turning to fractional workers. And most of the time, Account Management isn’t really a 40-hour-a-week job, anyway (or at least, it isn’t if you’ve learned how to maximize your time).
That means that most agencies are going to need you … just not all of the time. And if they don’t need you all of the time, then why do you need to sit in their office all of the time?
Plus, working from home (or the beach, or the coffee shop next door, or the back patio while your kids play) is awesome.
Chances are, if you’re interested in working with a digital marketing agency, then you’re already hoping to be able to do so from your laptop. But if you haven’t taken the remote working leap, then trust us: the water’s great!
2. Become The Glue In An Agency
We’ll let you in on a little secret … ‘Account Manager’ is really just another word for ‘the awesome person who keeps your agency running.’ That’s why we train our CAMs to become the glue in an agency.
This usually means working with internal team members as much as you do with clients. You’re answering questions, providing whatever’s needed, and ensuring that all tasks are completed on time and on schedule.
Of course, this can be easier said than done, especially if you don’t have the skills or confidence to wrangle a whole lot of people or manage multiple projects at once.
This is one of the key ideas that led to our new CAM Community; CAMs definitely need as much self-confidence as they need Account Management skills. We created our supportive community to do both (more on the details below!).
3. Build Processes … And Use Them!
In our experience, one of the most direct ways to build up confidence in your abilities as an Account Manager is to get some successes under your belt. And one of the most direct ways to get some successes under your belt is to build solid Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Simply put, the right processes make it so that you can provide high-quality, timely, and referral-worthy services each and every time you interact with a client. Instead of reinventing the wheel or rewriting the same emails a dozen times a week, SOPs do all this busy and guess work for you. What you’re left with instead is a reliable, repeatable way to provide top-notch service.
In other words, SOPs can make it easier to make your clients happier, which in turn can help build more confidence in your own journey, too.
Want to see what we mean? Give our free onboarding checklist a try, and tell us it doesn’t revolutionize your onboarding process!
4. Keep Your Clients In The Loop
Once you’ve got your onboarding process sorted, make sure you develop one around client reporting, too.
We get it: putting together docs with tons and tons of stats and analysis isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time. But creating a schedule for regular reporting is one of the best ways to build up a long lasting relationship with your clients.
We like to quote our client Bryan Starck, owner of 100 Celsius, who stresses that “communicating on a regular, pro-active basis is really key for retention and having your client understand the value you bring to them.”
Bryan is totally right, and that’s great advice for any CAM just starting out.
5. Educate Yourself
Finally, Client Account Managers need to know their stuff. They must be able to keep clients happy, which is just plain hard. They’ve got to stay up-to-date with digital marketing trends that can change on a dime. They also need to work within the broader framework and preferred styles of their agency (i.e.: they need to be a team player). And, they’ve got to be experts in task management. Don’t get us wrong—it’s a fantastic career. It’s also a lot.
So, what’s a would-be or struggling CAM to do? It’s simple. Educate yourself. That’s the best (and only!) way you’re going to be able to support your agency and your clients like a pro.
Don’t miss our CAM Community, an exhaustive resource and go-to for Client Account Managers. Everyone in CAM Community gets support from our community of Account Managers, plus access to the exact systems and training we use. It’s a monthly membership that will teach you:
The value of the CAM role
Digital marketing strategy and knowledge you must know
Best platform practices, so you can navigate different tools
Our secret sauce to client onboarding
How to better serve clients in communications and meetings
Everything you need to know about SOPs
The DOT Method: our secrets to success!
You’ll also get access to 50+ done-for-you resources (including scripts and templates), plus live and recorded trainings, and unlimited support via Slack (phew!).
CAM Community is growing fast, and we’re loving the interaction we’re having with all our members. We hope to see you there! Enroll now.