I. What is Account Manager?
Account Manager is the position of Account Manager in the Agency company (the company that provides creative ideas, solutions for brands…). Account department is responsible for finding customers, consulting, closing orders to bring revenue to the company.
Watching: What is an Account?
Account Manager is the person who must maintain relationships with customers to “make money to feed the company”. Besides, Account Manager also manages lower levels in the department such as Account Executive and makes assessments and analysis from reports from them.
Account Manager will be the person responsible when there are any problems in the process of finding and negotiating contracts with customers.
II. Duties of an Account Manager
1. Increase revenue for Agency
Account Managers work for agencies, not clients, so they need to make sure the project is profitable for the company from the clients they manage. Finding new customers is essential, but make sure that the existing customers are satisfied with the service and the way the company works, this will help the company stabilize the revenue.
“We work for the Agency and we work with the Client, but we don’t work for the Client,” says Campbell.
Account Manager not only analyzes and forecasts industry trends to devise marketing strategies for clients, but also has to grasp the client’s performance to avoid possible risks.
2. Cooperate with other departments to implement the project
When you receive the brief from the client, it is your responsibility to share all the necessary information with the departments to execute the project. Account Manager is the person who will accompany the project from receiving the brief until presenting to the brand about the project. They are the ones who will work with all teams like planner, creative team, production house, even external partners to execute campaigns to meet the needs of clients.
3. Control the generation of costs
“We work for the Agency and we work with the Client, but we don’t work for the Client,” says Campbell. So you have to make sure that the project will be profitable for the company. To do this, Account Manager must control revenue and expenditure during project execution, avoiding situations arising during implementation. Sometimes the arising is not caused by the departments but from the client side. Therefore, you have to protect the views and ideas of the whole team from the “sorry” of the client’s request.
4. Please the client
It is not an exaggeration to say that being an Account Manager is “making a wife of hundreds of them”. Because Account Manager not only pleases the client, but they also have to be gentle with their agency. For example: You are late for a deadline, or a project has a problem beyond your control. How would you explain it to the client? Will you blame other teams? If you do, you will immediately become the enemy of your own agency. Not only that, the client will evaluate your work capacity not high, and the possibility that your agency will not be called to receive the brief later is very high. This means you are losing a source of money for the company.
You should build trust with your clients from the start, and demonstrate to them that everyone in the agency has been working hard on this project. You should know the soft tips at the right time, to be able to compromise with the customer.
III. 5 factors to become an Account Manager
1. Communication
You must learn to listen more than you speak. Then actively ask questions to find out the problems that the client encounters, from which you will get important information to help creatives come up with valuable ideas. Not only that, reading the client is something that an Account Manager cannot do without. Grandparents have a saying: “Soft and flexible” is really true for an Account person because in communication, they must know how to satisfy customers, but not so that they lose their own opinions. After the times when you are humble and do not show the client to understand the team’s point of view, the client will think that you are the one who “falls in the afternoon”. Not only that, you will significantly reduce the agency’s reputation.
2. How to look at a picture
A good Account Manager will know what is important as well as look at the problem in an extensive way down to the smallest detail. They must know what their agency’s strengths are? What is the strength of creative? Or has there been any changes in the market for your industry? What moves does the opponent have? Does that affect the project you’re working on?
You have to understand where your brand is standing? What do they need to achieve after this campaign. From there, you will know what aspects you need to support for the client. Prove to them the value your agency brings.
Why is this important?
Information is a “double-edged sword”. A good Account Manager will know how to see the problem, convey the message to the customer in the most accurate way, so that the client can take timely actions before something happens. If you don’t know The way of communicating or seeing the problem is not correct, will make the information become wrong when reaching the client’s ears.
See also: What is a Dom – Types of Dom in Javascript
3. Not afraid of difficulties
Account Managers are people with many years of experience in the industry, they are not only good at client management, but they also have many years of work on dozens of projects. Not afraid to be difficult is a prerequisite when you consider yourself suitable for the position of Account or not? Because only by working hard, you will learn many things, your life capital will be cultivated, in time, you will have enough knowledge and arguments to convince the client.
4. Don’t think in a rut
You cannot impose old ideas on a new campaign. A good Account Manager is someone who knows how to take the time to research and do surveys about clients, industries, target audiences, messages, etc. to be able to come up with novel ideas for clients to help them achieve their end goal.
And because the world of marketing is a changing place. If you do not learn and improve every day but keep living in the past, you will soon be eliminated from the game. Account Manager must know how to position his agency well, as well as come up with creative solutions to help clients stand out in the market.
Why is this important?
Because you are not working alone, you are representing an Agency. You need to show the Client the professional working style of your Agency, the growing expertise, and the constant creativity.
5. Earn respect
Before you can make people do what you want, you have to verify your own ability, your integrity.
An Account Manager will know how to build and maintain relationships with people whether with clients or internal teams. Why is this important?
When you have a wide relationship and trust from your partner. You will easily show the client the opportunities that the agency brings to them. In contrast, the Client can spend more budget on the projects that you undertake.
IV. Which major to study to become an Account Manager
?This is probably the question that students ask the most in seminars. Are you looking for an opportunity to develop yourself? Are you looking for a job? A job that can balance the interests and knowledge that you accumulated during 4 years of college.
If you have the orientation from the beginning, then those who study marketing and business administration will have an advantage. Because you have a lot of time to learn about it and find out what you are suitable for. In fact, you can start working as an Account from all professions from Medicine to Bach Khoa.
For example, like Mr. Nguyen Viet Dung (co-founder of We Create) who was originally a polytechnic student, then went to work in a bank, but so far he has more than 10 jobs in the advertising industry. Back to the question of which industry is suitable. Think in a more positive way. You will see cons sometimes as advantages, you will easily get briefs from technical clients. Because with 4 years of learning about parameters, techniques… you will know the pros and cons of the product, from which you will come up with suitable campaigns/projects for the product.
Finding a job as an Account is not too difficult, nor too easy. It is important that you know what you have and what you lack, whether your personality is suitable or not. If your starting point is not as favorable as others, then find an agency that has an edge in your field of study. With the knowledge that you have in 4 years of college, with the enthusiasm in you. I am sure you will quickly find yourself a suitable Agency.
See also: What is the Little Tam – Meaning, How to Identify the Little Tam
_____________________________
Jobs riclix.com – Website to recruit Japanese staff, find prestigious Japanese jobs in Vietnam. Specializes in recruiting high-level Japanese jobs for large Japanese companies investing in Vietnam.
