Job Description – Client Director
Reporting to: Managing Director
Main Purpose of Role:
Strategic lead across a portfolio of the Company’s client accounts, building exceptional relationships, constructing campaigns and solutions against briefs, and identifying & converting new opportunities for sales growth.
Main Responsibilities of the Role
- Responsibility for leading the agency relationship with designated accounts to ensure that key stakeholders become advocates
- On appointed accounts, construct campaigns and create content/provide solutions that deliver against the brief
- Construct and execute strategic account plans across a portfolio of allocated accounts that contribute to the achievement of the company’s annual growth objectives & financial targets
- Ownership of all related client retention KPI’s
- Brief owner, responsible for understanding the aims and objectives of each project and cascading to the project team
- Participate in the company’s marketing strategy to grow your accounts
- Supporting the new business drive by attending new business meetings, owning future comms and converting to awarded projects
- Lead pitch teams to convert opportunities to wins by ensuring our solutions meet the client brief
- Consistent approach across teams including participation and support of the culture and behaviours
- Manage relevant reporting of management and financial information & adhere to company policies and procedures
Role breakdown in detail:
Client Management
- Owning & managing a portfolio of existing & lapsed accounts
- Offer all services within our capabilities to prospects & existing clients
- Constructing account plans with detailed objectives to increase market share & revenue
- Setting & achieving milestones within the account plans
- Hold annual client review meetings
- Demonstrate the ability to add value through delivering content
- Fully understand our company positioning
- Utilising the company sales & marketing collateral
- Build strong client relationships at the highest level
- Ensure constant contact is maintained through each prospect & client using High Rise
- Lead the team to offer an exceptional client experience throughout the delivery process
- Find ways of adding value to each project – exceeding client expectations
- Attend client review meeting where appropriate
- Ensure all wins and losses have a debrief process in place
- Complaint resolution where appropriate.
- Conduct client surveys from every face-to-face meeting and share with the wider team
- Analyse the client brief and fully understand the desired outcome
- Ensure we have the correct experts on client meetings and when ‘analysing the brief’
- Respond to requests for RFI’s, tenders & pitches
Finance & Contractual
- Responsibility to deliver your annual sales, growth and GP targets
- Budget oversight of allocated projects
- Annual budget construction/strategy & presentation
- Monthly forecasting and reporting for MD
- Contribute to the review and recommendations of the company rate card on an annual basis
- Ensure each project has a contractual engagement/payment plan & SOW agreed prior to commencement of delivery
- Ensure the wider team understands and adheres to any specific client contractual obligations
Team Support, Processes & Reporting
- Ensure you understand and adhere to the company’s top procedures and polices
- Own & monitor on a regular basis the communication records through High Rise
- Help to support all team members adhere to the company’s protocol around client servicing andproject management
- Own, collate and share with the wider team results of the client surveys
- Ensure we have effective monitoring tools in place that are always current and accurate. For example; account plans & forecasts and pipeline
- Ensure all pitch presentations, RFP responses and proposals are presented on time to brief.
- Keep a note of feedback and thanks from clients and share with the commercial team to use as sales literature.
- Keeping abreast of industry and market trends, and sharing key updates with the team
- Ensuring that every person that comes into contact with the agency has a consistent and excellent experience
Suppliers/Freelancers
- Nurture supplier relationships to attain tailored rates in conjunction with our company policy
- Help to build a varied talented pool of freelance resource where appropriate
- Allocate appropriate skilled freelance resource to pitches
Accountability
- Constructing account plans that deliver your financial targets and growth goals
- Deliver against the account plan milestones
- Delivering personal annual budgets including growth targets
- Overall brief owner, defining scope, project aims /objectives/KPI’s and cascading to the teams
- Leading the customer experience for your allocated accounts
- Consistent & up to date contact of all allocated client contacts using High Rise
- Achieving KPI’s
- Alongside the Creative Director ensure all solutions submitted meet the client’s desired outcomes
- Ensure you adhere to all company processes & procedures
- Reporting all agreed financial and management information when due
- Approving client budgets in line with company procedure
- Positive 360-degree feedback internal & external
- Preparation of all meetings in advance
- Achieving agreed personal objectives
- Personal timekeeping
- Achieving all agreed deadlines, both internal & external
- Fulfilling all responsibilities & tasks with your Job Description
- Upsell of additional products/ideas within each project
Skills required
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to cope with conflicting demands and to prioritise tasks
- Excellent organisational and time management skills
- Natural ability to identify and convert new opportunities
- Client mapping, arranging appts & overcoming sales objections
- Leading & constructing pitches
- A natural leader of people and resource management
- Able to build relationships at the highest level
- A hands-on approach to problem solving, identifying challenges and finding solutions
- An ability to identify client’s key business objectives
- Report writing, analyse and recommendations
- Ability to set, agree and monitor goals & objectives
- Good negotiating skills with a strong bias on financial acumen