Why does everyone hate account managers?

07 Oct 2024

One of my old creative directors once said to me, with a large grin on his face: “No one grows up dreaming of being an accounts person”.

Now find me a bunch of good books on account management. Find me onslaughts of LinkedIn posts, podcasts, and thought pieces. Find me conferences, talks, and awards shows.

If I was going to guess the percentage of agency feedback docs created on how to improve one department, I would bet my weekly timesheets on 99.99% of them being on ‘accounts’.

“All they have to do is turn up, present screen, and say some next steps” rings across the hills of ad land.

Marketing departments think we’re more interested in our diaries and taking them out for pricey dinners. Procurement doesn‘t have the foggiest what we do.

Shuffling decks, docs, and lengthy slacks across time zones and departments. Unleashing chaos by committing to unrealistic timelines, finger-in-the-air cost estimates, and shying away from hard but needed conversations.

The middlemen and women. Silent. Unaccountable. And at worst, irrelevant.

But… this isn’t account management.

This is straight out of the ‘Anything for a Quiet Life’ textbook. Collect your paycheck and pass go. Made up of broken confidence, hurt egos, and unfilled dreams.

So what should account management be about?

It’s enthusiasm. It’s a type of energy.

It's understanding that our industry meanders through the cracks, gaps, and grey matter of art, business, and science to anthropology, psychology, and philosophy.

It's understanding we’re in the business of people. And, ultimately, selling things.

It’s being interested… going to galleries, private views, gigs, shows. It’s buying the FT and The Economist, along with The Daily Mail for its weekly gossip columns. Reading, digesting, and consuming opinions that yes you agree with but importantly ones you also disagree with. It’s delving into the greats: artists, poets, and authors. It’s good conversation, it’s informed scrolling.

It‘s having pride in the pursuit of knowledge.

It’s the ability to have your eyes wide open. Traveling far, and wide, and experiencing everything this world has to offer. So take out your headphones. Unplug from your screen. Soak it all up.

It’s adapting… weaving and working personality traits, egos, and opinions. It’s remembering we’re all different. We all carry baggage – it’s understanding your own and having empathy for others. It’s not just about you. It’s for the team. It’s all for the ‘the greater good’.

It’s that quiet confidence. Understated. It‘s the ability to look around the corners. And to borrow Ogivly’s highest praise, it’s becoming a marketer.

It’s not a degree, a ‘good’ education, or a certain skin colour (hiring managers, read that one again).

It’s being accountable… it‘s leading the narrative and shaping the foundations. It’s adding value across the full spectrum. It’s having opinions that are informed. It’s knowing the fundamentals of marketing.

It’s being able to write a solid strategy, present the creative, and talk through the performance data.

It’s knowing your vision, proposition, and numbers like you’re about to take a grilling from Deborah Meadon. It’s about being prepared and then preparing again. It’s about not settling for second best. It’s being you, warts and all. And allowing others to be too.

It’s having respect for yourself, your agency, and your clients‘ business.

It’s reading their annual reports. Working on their shop floors, buying their products, and spending time in their offices. It’s care, thoughtfulness, and ultimately persuasion.

Never has great account management been so crucial. It’s standing tall and being counted. It’s going back to basics. Going back to the work. Going back to empathy. It’s taking full ownership.

It’s a deep care and understanding for your clients and their business. It’s all of this and much more. If not, what’s the point?

Simply sending emails, checking burn reports, and going for that one meal a year with your client and team. Sitting in meetings silent without an opinion waiting to chat through your next steps and send a few follow-ups.

That’s lazy.

So, no wonder people hate us. We allow them to. Let’s change that.

Image Credit: Bettmann Archive