Every agency has had them. The client who seems to exist solely to make life miserable for everyone assigned to the account. The one whose feedback is never constructive, whose ...

To be fully successful in the agency business, you must have an attuned ear. It sounds simple. It isn't. There are several distinct modes of listening that agency people ...

Every agency has felt it. The prospect who stops listening mid-presentation. The energy draining out of the room. The polite but unmistakable signal that the meeting is over before it ...

The opening months of a new account are a dangerous time. All sorts of things can happen that end the honeymoon period most agencies and clients enter into after the ...

Upselling is probably the most logical, easy way to grow agency profits. Account people know it is quicker and simpler to develop more business within existing accounts than to win ...

The business world is stressful, and clients are not immune to the impact of market changes, internal politics, and competitive pressure. Agency client service teams are not immune either. Things ...

As agency workload levels rise and fall, making sure every account executive is handling an appropriate share of AGI is one of the most underused levers in agency management. Making ...

The traditional notion of an account executive was that of someone ordered around by the client and disdained by the agency creative. Or, they were the ones living large on ...

Wise old business sages often advise, “Look for how the money moves in a deal. If you can follow it, you will be able to truly understand what is happening ...

We often write about the nitty-gritty lead qualification process, but curation is a different approach than merely running down the checklist. It implies deeper consideration of the benefits that you ...

It happens. People leave, sometimes for personal reasons, often due to a new opportunity, and occasionally because you (or the employee) feel they no longer are a “fit.” In the ...

One thing we see all too often in small to midsize agencies is the solo account executive. This means that the agency assigns an account executive to service an account ...

It’s a good question: most agencies have an account mix that is far from ideal. Frequently, a single account controls the life of any given agency—a “gorilla,” if ...

Good job. You’ve won a key new piece of business. You have worked hard to achieve it. Now what? It’s a fair question and one that many agency ...

Client conflict is a growing problem for agencies. Working more frequently online with remote clients nation- and worldwide, the boundaries become increasingly blurred.

This is a difficult issue for smaller ...

In an era when social media emphasizes the personal in brand/customer interactions, and one-to-one marketing is enhanced by the Internet, ad agencies have been sidelined by a loss of ...