How to become a client service general practitioner.

After my?post?of a couple of weeks ago on being the go-to for clients and colleagues, I heard from my UK colleague and friend?Jenny Plant, who wrote:

“Great post Robert. Love this quote ‘I want to be?the person?a client or colleague turns to whenever there is a problem that needs rectifying, an opportunity that needs to be exploited, a question that needs to be answered, an anxiety that needs to be calmed, an anger that needs to be defused, or an account that needs to be saved.’”

I also heard from another colleague and friend,?Rick English, who had this to say:

“Regarding your latest post—absolutely.??There could be a dozen, two dozen people working on a new launch campaign for a client.??But when the effluent hits the fan, who stands alone in front of a pissed-off client? The account guy/person.??Been there, done that, got the shirt.??Thanks for reminding everyone.”

Jenny and Rick’s comments got me thinking:?What happens when we are?not?the court of first and last resort for clients and colleagues, the person others turn to for a perspective, a point-of-view, an answer, or help?

Malpractice vs. general practice.

Remember that doctor visit I discussed, the one after I hurt my shoulder??You’ll recall I didn’t see a specialist; I first went to see my general practitioner.?He could have responded in one of two ways: 1) by simply referring me to a shoulder person; or, 2) by examining me, making a preliminary diagnosis, then planning a course of action that included a visit to a physician expert.

He chose option two.?He could have skipped the examination part, but he?is?a doctor – not a specialist, but still a trained diagnostician – and knows enough to at least give me a preliminary sense of what’s wrong.

Okay, let’s say you’re an Account person.?A client gets in contact; there’s a question or concern about strategy, media, some aspect of Creative, or maybe production.?You could respond in one of two ways:?1) by immediately calling on a specialist colleague– a Planner, media person, writer, art director, project manager, producer – to address the client’s concern; or, 2) by fielding that question yourself.?

You choose the second option. You are?not?trying to do the specialist’s job; instead, you are offering a frontline perspective – in doctor-speak, you might refer to this as an initial diagnosis, or, in an emergency, triage – of what the issue is and how to address it.

What happens if you choose option one and simply pass the client to someone else you think more qualified? Over time the client comes to view you as something my colleague?Tim Pantello?referred to as a “glorified appointment taker,” meaning you avoid addressing the client’s question or concern, instead turning immediately to the specialist for help.?

Soon the client begins to question what you do and why you’re assigned to the account.?Instead of being viewed as a facilitator of a solution, you are dimly regarded as an impediment to it.?“Why can’t I bypass the Account person, who is a waste of time, and go straight to the specialist?”, the client wonders.

Good point.?If I were a client, that’s?exactly?what I would think and ask.

The virtues of being a general practitioner.

How do you counter this corrosive point-of-view??By choosing to be a?client service general practitioner,?taking a page from how medicine trains its doctors.?

During their residency, physician GPs do a rotation in each specialization – cardiology, endocrinology, infectious disease, emergency medicine, other areas – learning not to replace the specialist, but instead to serve as a capable, first line of diagnosis.

There was a time when an Account person starting out would go through much the same thing at shops like?Ogilvy, where they would do internships in Planning, Creative, Production, and Media – again not to replace the specialists, but rather to become what Tim Pantello describes as the “the agency’s second-best person at everything.”?

And like family doctors of the past accustomed to making house calls – specialists never came to you; you had to go to them – Account people make those house calls, meaning client visits, far more frequently than the agency’s specialists, who visit clients far less often.?You supplement these with?Zoom?calls, telephone calls, and, when necessary, connection through text or email.

In short order the client comes to see you for what you are and what you are supposed to be:?the face of the agency, the first responder when an issue or opportunity arises.

How to become a first-responder CSGP.

These days, training and interning at agencies is a relic of the past – casualties of a poisonous cocktail of client cost-cutting and holding company avarice – at a time when it has become much more challenging to master advertising disciplines in a marketing world increasingly beset by complexity, choice, and the prospect of error.

Most agencies do little or no training – you are thrown into the proverbial deep end of the pool to learn how to swim on your own – but this does not excuse you.?If your agency doesn’t train you, you need to train yourself.

You start by reading my?book?and the others on the book’s reading list.?If you live in the U.K., you turn to Jenny Plant, an expert who trains people in?account management skills.?Maybe you persuade the powers that be to invest in one or more of my?Zoom-based or in-person workshops, or gather people together to share what is a modest investment to sponsor a session independent of your tuned-out, profit-first agency.

More importantly, you identify people in your organization who seem to know what they’re doing, then watch and listen, asking question after question in a search of knowledge and insight. You attend every internal briefing session designed to make you more conversant in the disciplines your shop offers. You make mistakes, learn from them, and don’t repeat them.?

Slowly, over time – this will not happen overnight – you emerge as someone smarter, more expert, more confident, and more capable of being the resource you always were supposed to be.

Is this hard?

Yes, incredibly so.

Does it take a long time?

Longer than you might think.

Should I do it?

For some of you, being an Account person is a job, a paycheck, nothing more; you will ignore the counsel offered here.?

For a few of you, being an Account person is a calling, a vocation, a career you willingly signed up for and committed to; You are in this for the long haul.?When it comes to advice, what others ignore you will follow.

I am writing this for you.