When an agency wants to grow, the first thought is usually to hire a new business director or bring in an external new business agency to help generate leads.
Both can help. But in my experience, some of the best people to bring in business are already in the building. They're the ones who have built trust with an existing client, and that's normally the account director.
The problem is that most agencies don't give them the time to do it, or the responsibility and incentive to make it happen.
I've seen this strategy work first hand. My last agency grew to 500 people across 5 international studios.
Two growth jobs that get mixed up
There are two different ways to grow an agency, and they need different people.
The first is net new business. That means winning clients who have never worked with you. It's a specialist job, and it's where a new business director or an external agency can help - outreach, networking, pitching and a lot of persistence.
The second is organic growth. That means growing the clients you already have, through bigger scopes, new projects and other teams within the same organisation. This is the account director's job, and it usually comes with a big advantage. The trust is already there.
If you want both to work, you need both covered. Expecting one person to do everything is how neither gets done properly.
The best introductions come from people who already trust you
The most success I've seen comes from people who have built trust with an existing client and are prepared to ask for referrals within that client's organisation.
- "Is there another team who'd benefit from this?
- "Who else should we be talking to?"
- "Would you be happy to introduce us?"
A warm introduction from someone who has seen your work first hand will always beat a cold email.
What to do when they say they're happy with their agency
You will often meet objection. A contact in another department tells you they're happy with their current agency.
That's fine. Don't push, and don't disappear.
Stay in touch. Send something useful. Check in every so often. Be the agency they think of.
Because at some point, their current agency will get something wrong. A missed deadline, a piece of work that misses the mark, a key person leaving. When that happens, the client wants someone they already know and trust. If you've been patient and kept in touch, an opportunity will come around.
Why this isn't happening in most agencies
If the account director is the best person to grow a client, why don't more of them do it?
Because they haven't got the time.
They're chasing timings, checking who's available, booking suppliers, watching budgets and keeping the internal side of every job moving. It all lands on the account director because they're the person who knows the client best. By Friday, there's nothing left for a conversation about the next opportunity.
You can't ask someone to build client relationships and run the internal machinery of every project at the same time. Growth gets squeezed out. Not because they don't want to do it, but because the day is full.
How to split the roles
The answer is to be clear about who does what. This is how the work can be split between account management and project management.
Account management
- Relationship building
- Project quoting
- Internal briefing
- Client feedback
- Pitches and presentations
- Resolving client issues
- Client growth
- Strategic insights
Project management
- Time plans
- Requesting resource
- Project trafficking
- Agency system
- Booking suppliers
- Budget control
- Quality control
- Process review
Look at the two rows. Everything in the top row either faces the client or shapes the relationship. Everything in the bottom row keeps the job running inside the agency.
Account directors who can stay in the top row have time to grow their clients. The ones who get pulled into the bottom row don't.
Making it work for account directors
Freeing up their time is only half of it. They also need to know growth is their job, and that it's worth their while.
- Make growth part of the role. Put organic growth in the job description, with a clear target for each client. If it isn't written down, it will always lose to the urgent work.
- Attach an incentive to it. If an account director grows a client by a meaningful amount and sees no reward, don't be surprised when they put their energy elsewhere. Bonus or commission tied to client growth makes the priority clear.
- Protect the time. Agree how much time each week goes on client growth, and check it's happening.
- Give them a plan. A short account plan for each client - who they know, who they don't, and where the next opportunity might come from - turns "grow the client" into something they can act on.
- Back them up. When a referral turns into a lead, bring in the new business director or the pitch team to help. The account director opens the door, and they shouldn't have to build the pitch alone.
- Review it regularly. Ten minutes in a monthly catch-up on who they've met, who they've been introduced to and what's coming up keeps it moving.
Making it work for project managers
None of this works unless someone picks up what the account director puts down.
- Give the project manager real ownership. Budget control and quality control are more than admin. They need the authority to make decisions, not just report on them.
- Brief the project manager properly at the start. If the handover is poor, the account director gets pulled straight back in.
- Start small if you need to. If you can't have a project manager on every team, share one, or give a producer the trafficking and budget work. Any step that moves internal management off the account director helps.
Look inside before you hire
Growing a client you already have usually costs far less than winning a new one. So before you hire a new business director or pay an external agency to find leads, look at the account directors you already have.
Take the internal project management off their plate. Give them the responsibility for growth, and an incentive that rewards it. Then give them the time to do it.
