There’s no one-size-fits-all account manger job description, and there’s a lot of confusion about what the role entails. By definition, an account manager is someone who is responsible for the relationship with a client or group of clients. Depending on your industry and organization, account management might involve sales, client service, project management, or some combination of all. Below are some common versions of the role for different industries.
Creative Services
Examples: design shops, animation studios, live action video studios…
Creative services AM’s are responsible for managing projects and acting as liaison between clients and creatives. They make sure expectations are exceeded – this means delivering drafts, submitting timelines, communicating feedback, and sometimes handling invoices and other admin tasks.
Creative services AM’s are usually involved in sales, but the degree varies depending on the organization (I spent a about half my time on sales and the remaining on project management). Due to the time obligation of project management, most organizations don’t have their AM’s hunting new business. Instead, creative services AM’s often farm business with existing clients.
Software
Examples: SaaS products, enterprise software, security software…
In the software industry, AM’s act as the customer’s primary day-to-day contact. Software AM’s reach out to customers and discover problems before they arise. They conduct research and gather feedback, and then communicate it to developers for product improvements. They might up-sell additional features to existing clients, but usually a separate sales team brings in the business.
Advertising
Examples: agencies, digital marketing firms, media planning and buying firms, social media marketing shops…
Though advertising often falls under the umbrella of creative services, it’s a big slice of the AM community, so it deserves its own attention. The ad industry is driven by unpaid spec work, and advertising AM’s are often tasked with presenting campaign ideas to prospects and clients. To win pitches, AM’s have to understand the prospects and clients well enough to know what will fly and what won’t. As such, ad AM’s might oversee aspects of the creative work. Once the client signs on to a campaign, the AM acts as liaison between the client and creatives.
The advertising pitch process is often misleadingly portrayed as a one-off dramatic affair: Don Draper, the creative director, showcases a concept by leveling an impassioned speech. He then receives either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. In reality, winning pitches involves following up, asking tough questions, and making changes when needed (AKA a sales process). This process is often the domain of the AM. Despite this, few ad AM’s receive commissions.
Physical Products
Examples: LCD screen distributors, car dealerships (though “AM” is rarely the title), farming equipment distributors…
AM’s for companies that sell physical products are usually salespeople. They’re responsible for hunting new business, which might mean emailing or cold calling a provided list, or reaching out to prospects they find through their own research. When they win a deal, they might be liaison in the implementation process, but most of the implementation is handled by others.
Physical product AM’s keep in touch with existing clients and farm new business based on re-purchase trends and other factors. These AM’s sometimes act as purchasers themselves. They have relationships with manufacturers and distributers, and they negotiate better terms when possible.
Project-Based
Examples: architecture firms, general contractors, IT services, engineering firms, event planning…
Like creative services and advertising, project-based AM’s act as liaison between the customer and the people who create, install, or otherwise implement the product. The AM is usually involved in pitching ideas after collaborating with his or her team.
Due to the large-scale nature of many project-based offerings, these AM’s deal with long sales cycles. These AM’s do outbound sales, handle inbound prospects, and farm business with existing customers.
At the end of the day, being a good AM means maintaining and strengthening relationships between customers and suppliers. The account manager job description varies. It can mean different things in different industries and organizations. This fact makes it compelling because it allows AM’s to be creative about how they do their job.
In almost all situations, the AM’s performance is tied to sales. As such, I’m a firm believer that a portion of AM compensation should come from commissions. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
Are there AM duties that fall outside my rundown? Let me know in the comments!
