Before stepping into the role of operations director, I was a digital director, and before that, a digital producer.
I saw the benefit of having specialist producers or project managers supporting the account management team.
Outside of the digital team, however, we had the account management team that was responsible for both sales and project management. In fact, this is quite common.
Account managers in many agencies have a hybrid role. They’re responsible for nurturing client relationships, driving sales, and having to be project manager (or strategist, copywriter, etc).
Intuitively, we know these roles require very different skills. Yet, the hybrid role lives on.
The problem is that in this hybrid role, people tend to naturally gravitate towards the side of the role they feel more comfortable in.
Those more comfortable with project management, may naturally bury themselves in project work and use that as an excuse to avoid picking up the phone. And those better at relationship building, may have more difficulty in controlling the project, resulting in overservicing and allowing scope creep.
As operations director, I had this debate several times over the years. Should we split the role into distinct specialties? Will we ever be happy with results if we allow the hybrid role to continue?
There’s a few ways to proceed if you’re facing this question yourself:
- Split the roles. This can be a complex operation given people’s titles and responsibilities will need to change, but it is possible. You’ll also need to have HR advice to navigate this sensitively and clear workflows for individuals to follow.
- Start hiring in line with the new PM vs AM structure. You could start to hire producers / PMs to support your AMs with project management. This would shift the team structure over time. Of course, this means a higher headcount and would require the AM team to start focussing more on the sales side of the role.
- Upskill your team. If the hybrid role is to stay, then you need to support your team in developing the skills. Many AMs in agencies don’t come from a sales background – so help them learn those skills. Also conduct training around business finance, so your team better understands margins, profitability and the impact of scope creep / over-servicing on business objectives.
This was the topic of our most recent episode of The Handbook: The Agency Operations Podcast, with account management coach Jenny Plant.
Jenny shared her own “aha” moment at a point in the past when she realized how much she didn’t know about sales. She also discussed why the hybrid role is so common, why it’s difficult to dismantle, and what we can do about it.
Have you had to deal with this in your agency? How have you handled it? Share your thoughts and experiences with the ops community on this post.
Agency Hackers Webinar – I’ll share how to increase productivity in the workplace at this live webinar on 19th September. Please RSVP – I’d love to see you there.
Until next time,
Harv Nagra
Ops consultant & former agency ops director
🎧 The Handbook: The Agency Operations Podcast:
Jenny Plant is a coach for account managers, directors and CSDs. She brings over 20 years of experience in agency account management and teaches others how to retain and grow existing clients.
In this episode, Jenny and Harv discuss:
💡 How sales training can improve client relationships, retention and business growth
💡 The pros and cons of separating account and project managers
💡 What value agencies seek in their account managers
Read the key takeaways below or listen to the full episode.
Key Takeaways:
Leaders need account managers to secure predictive revenue from existing accounts. They want repeatable performance and a process in place to retain and grow clients. They’re looking to gain a competitive edge. (28:10)
A strong account manager has several key skills – they are able to build client relationships, understand the client’s business, and they have the commercial curiosity to grow the account. (8:18)
A strong project manager has strong attention to detail, they’re process driven, and super efficient. (9:47)
The risk of combining these roles is that someone who’s very outgoing but with less attention to detail may find it hard to draw the line with a client. This can cause over-servicing and scope creep. (11:57)
If you decide to separate the roles of account and project manager, this should be treated as a change management program. (15:44)
Introducing your account manager in the final stages of the pitch helps to build the client relationship early on. (18:09)
With separated roles, the account manager looks at strategy, growth potential, and client relationship building. The project manager focuses on milestones, timelines, and costs. (18:22)
Giving AMs and PMs proper sales training helps deliver more value and better outcomes for the client. (22:50)
Jenny advocates delivering four levels of value – service delivery, great experiences, ROI, and being a futurist who notices trends and brings opportunities to the client. (23:33)
Learn more about Project Management:
💡 Blog Post
Read this beginners guide to calculating project profitability.
🔎 Help Center
This video explains how to scope a project with a quote in Scoro.
📕 Case Study
Learn how this marketing agency customized Scoro to meet their project management needs.
