Part 16 (1/2)

Conduct weekly group s to review accounts

Provide final approval on all phases of ic decisions, client coies, invoices, activity reports, and account dashboards

Detere account tearoup performance and update forecasts as needed

assistant Vice President is a position for professionals who play an integral role in the agency's rowth and who have more than five years of experience assistant vice presidents hold client-service positions of senior consultant, and roup directors

Vice President is a position of influence for the agency's most accomplished professionals Vice presidents are heavily involved in the strategic decisions that guide the agency, and their coency's performance Vice presidents roup eht tools and processes Tiement, and CRM solutions in particular playeffective systems that continually improve client services and increase loyalty

Account Team Dashboards We n client The primary purpose is to define ownershi+p of activities for accounts with multiple team members

The dashboards are siive professionals a clear understanding of their roles as group ers, or support staff The dashboard can be custoranular-level activities, but the following items are part of every standard worksheet: Build and nurture strong client relationshi+ps

Complete monthly account forecasts

Deliver value and results every day

Develop and train supporting professionals

Engage with target audiences through social et client hours

Manage workflow of supporting personnel

Participate in ic discussions and co and education needed to advance yourself and the agency

Conduct quarterly budget reviews of all can-based clients

Create, review, and approve invoices

Direct account developy and function as the priency relationshi+ps

Immerse yourself in your clients and their industries

Keep Basecahrise updated with all account activity and cole News Alerts, Twitter lists, and social- media activity

Maintain monthly activity reports and dashboards

Coordinate account contracts and renewals

Group Meetings In addition to account dashboards, we hold group roundwork for the week and to discuss client cans in detail Groups co up to a dozen cas function as breakout sessions, enabling teaoals of their client base

All professionals must coe Thesebillable hours) They should last 15 to 30 minutes and cover topics such as: Are et?

Is account develop invested in priority clients, or wasted on nonpriority accounts?

Are proper resources allocated to priority clients?

Are projects and caets? If so, why?

Are we underdelivering on ns?

Are there workflow issues? Are people taking on more than they can handle?

How are professionals utilizing downti with professional developes we need to address as a teaeement solution, such as Basecaeive agency leaders visibility into the entire client network, agencies should maintain every project, task, and ement tools can also be used to create dedicated client portals that enable clients to track caress, share files, view coes This level of transparency helps build confidence and trust, which lead to loyalty

We also use utilize the Highrise CRM systes, and e-ers and account teams real-time access to relevant client information and activities

Client Exercises Use nonbillable exercises to educate and train your team, which will enhance the value you deliver to clients Give each teanroup to review theths and weaknesses of each approach

For exaer start the project by presenting the tean activities, successes, opportunities, and challenges to date Each professional is then given five business days (and no e docu lead volume to the select client They are then asked to present their reco week

This type of exercise offers tremendous professional development benefits, but, more important, it has the potential to identify actionable ideas that you can take to the client

Agency Managees: intelligence and action In order to take the actions necessary to retain and grow accounts, leaders have to have their finger on the pulse of the agency

At all times, they need to know service-hour forecasts, client hours logged, capacity status, efficiency rates, and employee performance metrics They have to be aware of opportunities and issues with core accounts and be prepared to bring new technologies and strategies to enhance the agency's value and perforer As featured in Chapter 3, we use an Agency Manager dashboard (Figure 31) built into Microsoft Excel to view and edit monthly service-hour forecasts by client and employee This tool enables us to balance workflow and allocate resources to the right accounts based on capacity and priority levels We integrate Tins are on track with forecasts and that clients are receiving the proper levels of support