Let's face it, client face time is decreasing

By Ryan Schaul, Director of Client Services


Way back in the day, during the time period of Mad Men and such, three martini lunches were the considered the norm in the area of agency account service—a lot of schmoozing and a lot of boozing day in, day out; being in front of clients as frequently as possible was norm.  Keeping agency top of mind awareness for the client was key back then.

Fast forward a few decades to four years ago, when I started with Cukjati. Lots of things had changed in advertising, but account service was still about staying in front of your clients, sitting down for face-to-face meetings, being seen and heard on a regular basis. Clients still had the time for agency reps, and didn’t seem to mind the occasional unannounced “pop-ins”.

But like many other things, technology has allowed the agency-client relationship to evolve and grow. With daily schedules becoming busier and 50-hour work weeks a reality for many marketing execs, clients no longer have time to sit around and “shoot the breeze” with agency reps. Their time is valuable and with increasing responsibilities due to cut backs at many organizations, the time clients have to spend with agency reps, has been diminishing. Add that in with the digital age of teleconferencing, videoconferencing, emails, smart phones, etc., and there’s really a big shift in reps having much less “client face time”.

So, is this shift bad for reps? Does it hurt the account service they are providing to their clients by not being in front of them, in person? I believe it doesn’t have to.

What I’ve learned through my account service experience is that the bottom line is that clients want great service.  Whether that is accomplished through face to face meetings, emails, phone calls, video chats, Twitter, Facebook or the million other avenues of communication, the platform is up to you. Actually caring about the customer and their needs is what they really want. Is their rep accessible, flexible, and accountable? Are their phone calls answered quickly and their emails responded to in a timely fashion? Does their account rep actually listen to what they need, not just hear what they want? If you can do that consistently and be an advocate on the client’s behalf, more than likely, you’ll have a satisfied client for a long time.