Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Author: Townsley Minton

  • Take Your Client Relationships to the Next Level

    Ahhh, relationships. When they’re good, they’re great. When they’re bad, they can be downright painful. How’s an Account Executive supposed to keep that spark alive? Here’s my advice on how to get, maintain, and keep a healthy client relationship.

    Swiping Right…on the Right One.

    Compatibility leads to happiness and harmony. There are plenty of prospects out there that are attractive on paper but may not be looking for what you have to offer. Make sure that you and your potential client are a match.

    The most important part of this is knowing what your company is looking for in a partner before you begin a conversation. Do you share the same interests and goals? Are your communication styles similar? Do you just ‘get’ each other?  Once you find that match, be confident in what you have to offer and know what they expect from your collaboration. Your confidence will inspire their confidence and relationship potential will bloom.

    “Dress” to Impress

    So, you’ve set the first date—a face-to-face meeting with the potential client. Like most first dates, you want to put your best foot forward and leave the right impression.

        1. Do your research – Don’t be afraid to turn to Google and LinkedIn to gather information prior to your first meeting. Find out more about the client’s company, along with their own professional history, background, and interests. Sometimes this may be all you have to go on prior to the first meeting, and that’s okay! The goal here is to know what to ask and listen for.
        2. Show you are interested – Active listening is necessary in any stage of the relationship, but it’s key when you’re wooing someone new. In that first meeting, you will be able to glean what they need or are interested in from your company, giving your team a leg up in creating the right pitch and strategy.  Asking the right questions is crucial. You should be able to understand their budget, internal process, and expectations during those first conversations. Establish what you’re offering and what they need. It’s so much easier to keep a client happy when proper expectations are set from the beginning.
        3. Come prepared – After listening to their needs, wants, and wishes, make sure you have a bank of real world examples you can pull from to show why you’re the right fit. Talk about past projects that parallel their vision as examples of how your company has delivered in the past. Share whitepapers or case studies your company has produced. Use anything you have to help them connect to you.

    Defining the Relationship

    So your first date with the new client was followed by a second and then a third! They seem really interested and you’ve gathered plenty of information. It’s time to have the ‘what are we’ conversation and decide how best to move forward.

    This is where you put everything you’ve learned about your client to good use. Make sure you’re proposing a solution that not only gives them what they want, but that your team can deliver successfully. Don’t neglect timelines and details of when certain milestones will be reached in your collaboration. Short-changing your team on key details in an effort to win business will only cause headaches in the long run.

    Locking it Down

    You’ve submitted a proposal and negotiated a contract. Yay! Now it’s time to take the big leap together. First, make sure your production team is on the same page as you and your client. Communication is everything in a relationship, so make sure the client’s vision and priorities are clear and shared with your internal team.  

    man and women shaking hands
    Great client relationships always kick off projects with clear expectations and meeting your team.

    Start by introducing your client to the family in a kickoff meeting with the client and the production team. Just like in our regular families, if you’re concerned about any potential personality conflicts or sensitive subjects, prepare your team before they meet the client. Be sure everyone knows what to expect ahead of time.

    Hitting the Rut

    We all know how easy relationships are in the beginning. Everyone is excited, ideas are flowing, teams are gelling, things are moving. Then comes the middle of the project—heads are down, bumps are hit, and it can feel like the project isn’t going where we all imagined on day one. Here’s how to keep the relationship healthy in tough times:

        1. Stay connected – Stay in touch with your client. Plan one-on-one check-ins to stay updated on how your client is feeling about the project. Scheduling these regular meetings will maintain communication without smothering your client. It’s also important to stay connected to your production team, as it’s easier for a project manager and account executive team to handle roadblocks and scope creep together.
        2. Embrace the unexpected – Unless you have a reliable Magic 8 ball, your project will experience unexpected hiccups. It could be anything from a technology update that requires more patching to your lead developer falling off his mountain bike and breaking his collarbone. Regardless of what it is, you’ve got to address it head on by communicating it to the client and planning a work-around.
        3. Handle conflicts – By staying connected to the project life cycle, you’ll be able to foresee any potential conflicts and address them before they become full-blown issues. Be sure to give the client a chance to voice their concerns and share the necessary feedback with the team. Negotiate the peace and prioritize moving the project forward.
        4. Keep that spark alive – If the client gets frustrated by the process or how long it’s taking to complete, take a moment to remind them of the long-term goals you’re working towards and the progress you’ve made. Soothe their concerns, and show them why you got together in the first place.

    How Serious Is This Relationship?

    You’ve finally hit the home stretch, getting ready to deploy the amazing work that has taken months to achieve. Now comes the next step: are you in this for the long haul, or is this the end of the affair?

      1. Happily ever after – Hopefully you’ve had a successful working relationship thus far. You’ve built a healthy backlog of features and updates the client wants to pursue and the client truly understands the cost of ownership for their piece of technology. Now you need to figure out how best to move forward. Chat with your client and figure out what works best for their needs and budgeting cycles. Perhaps another SOW or some sort of retainer agreement will be agreed upon. Do it prior to the end of the contract so you don’t lose momentum.
      2. The fling has been flung – There are projects that are just one-and-done type contracts. Because you’ve stayed connected with your client, you both understand that the end of the project is it…for now.
        Stay connected. Be sure you keep the communication alive so you are at the top of their mind when the next project comes down the pipe. Think about inviting them to client-friendly events or connect with them on LinkedIn. Send a friendly email every so often to check in on the status of the application you worked on or share how any new services would benefit their business.
      3. It’s not you, it’s me – Sometimes you just know it’s not a good idea to continue with the relationship. Be honest with yourself, your team and your higher ups. If the client or project isn’t a good fit for your company, there is no reason to pursue additional work after the contract ends. Have the hard conversation with the client, and figure out a way to separate in a healthy manner. Think about providing recommendations for other vendors who may be a good fit and try to be as proactive as possible if you’re initiating the break-up.
      4. You’ve been ghosted – The client has decided not to move forward but doesn’t know how to have that conversation with you. So they just disappear. They stop responding to emails or returning voicemails.
        You should see it coming well before it happens. If the client complains regularly or there are ongoing personality conflicts that can never be resolved, these are clues that the relationship is fading fast. Enlist the help of your management team to define when enough is enough. Your time is valuable, and there’s no need to waste it chasing something that won’t come to fruition.

    Every Client Relationship Is Special. Make Them Count.

    hand holding a sparkler
    Treat every client relationship as special, because there is no other one like it.

    Whether you’re working together on one project or embarking on a long-term partnership, every client relationship has its own excitement, challenges, and rewards. If you always bring a listening ear, a friendly demeanor, and an eagerness to deliver what’s best for them, you’re well on your way to being a great partner for each and every one of your client relationships.

  • Interview: The Essential Relationship of the AE and PM

    Behind every great marketing strategy or successful deployment, there is a vital relationship that doesn’t get much press—the teamwork of the account executive and the project manager. To get an in-depth look at how this relationship works at Atlantic BT, Senior Writer/Content Strategist Allan Maule sat down with AE Townsley Minton and PM Andrea Osborn.

    As a project manager or account exec, how would you describe what you do at your job? What are your usual goals?

    Andrea (PM): I’m responsible for overall delivery and execution of a project. AEs like Townsley do the project estimate and sell the work, and PMs like me set up the schedule, the deliverables, the workflow, and create the tasks in Mavenlink (our project planning software) using 2 week sprints. On a daily basis, I’m checking the budget, the deliverables, and how well we’re doing at finishing things based on the schedule we created. I also look at how to adjust to ensure that our project gets finished at the level of quality and timing we agreed on.

    Townsley (AE): As an AE, I own the relationship with the client. My #1 priority is that we hear their needs and are meeting them. I want to keep clients happy, but I also need to ensure my team at ABT is happy and able to do their job well. Clients can also come to me to vent about any issues they have with the project and with ABT.

    Andrea (PM): That works the other way too. As a PM, if I feel stuck with the client, the AE is here to help. She works to ensure communication is clear and smooth throughout the process.

    Townsley (AE): YES. Communication is a key part of what I do. That means managing expectations on the client end so they know what to expect and are happy with the work. It also means communicating with the PM so they can understand the client’s fears, goals, deadlines, and other extenuating circumstances.

    What are some of the most common hurdles or issues you run into at your job?

    Townsley (AE): It’s not always easy to get a client to see the big picture of everything we are trying to accomplish with their projects and all the possibilities of what technology can do for them. They might be hesitant about the first estimate we give them, so I help them understand how the money they spend with ABT will deliver value at each stage in the process.

    Andrea (PM): The AEs’ understanding of the client and project set the tone for the entire project. So there’s a lot riding on them getting everything the client wants and aligning it with the reality of what our team can accomplish. I don’t see this problem often with our team at ABT, but hurdles happen when client expectations don’t align with the reality of the project. When they expect something that’s not what they’re getting…

    Townsley (AE): …or that we can’t deliver in the timeline they require, it’s a major issue. And that’s a challenge to communicate and handle. I don’t worry about our AEs getting off-the-rails, but it’s important that we have our best communicators be the point people with the clients. Ultimately, miscommunication is the main hurdle an AE can face. We want to do as much as we can with the smallest budget possible, so how do you balance that to set your team up for success and make the client happy? A big part of the answer is recognizing personality conflicts and having a plan to deal with them before they become a problem.

    What tensions do you see with personalities on the ABT end and on the client end?

    Andrea (PM): Here’s a classic one: The architect provides the estimate, then the developer who actually has to do the work protests that he/she needs more time. Again, this is typically caused by miscommunication. Either the architect didn’t realize the full effort or the developer is misunderstanding what’s required. As the PM, it’s my job to make sure this red flag is raised early so we can address immediately.

    Townsley (AE): On the client-facing end, sometimes you have highly technical people try to explain things to clients who don’t have the technical background to keep up with the explanation. This is frustrating to our techs (because they aren’t being understood) and overwhelming to our clients. My favorite solution is to work with my PM to translate technical needs with non technical people.

    Andrea (PM): In turn, I usually ask my technical colleagues to show me what they’re talking about rather than just relying on words. People are different, so they explain themselves in different ways.

    Townsley (AE): In the same way, no two clients are identical. So it’s really important to approach each client with a fresh slate, listening actively to their ideas and concerns to get a good look at what they need. This is also why it’s great to keep the same clients over the long term so you don’t have to start from scratch each time.

    3) How do you work together with project managers/account execs to handle these tensions?

    Townsley (AE): I try to work with PMs to understand client’s personalities, such as “They don’t like this wording, they prefer this form of communication and not that form,” etc. I step in when there are delays, budget issues, etc. so the PM doesn’t feel like they’re alone in delivering hard news about the project’s progress. So my relationship with the client is key.

    Andrea (PM): When dealing with tensions on a project, my relationship with the AE is vital. We can’t survive without each other. And Townsley’s a great communicator. One client of ours has multiple contacts in their organization whom I work with, and having Townsley to help me work with these contacts’ boss is invaluable.

    Townsley (AE): We’re each other’s cheerleader. When I have a difficult call with a client, I can go directly to Andrea and get her encouragement when I’m heading into a tough situation. When I was on maternity leave, I had other AEs to handle client relationships but the PMs were crucial to helping my substitute AE handle these clients effectively. I never would have been able to have the smooth transition to and from maternity leave without the help of my PM.

    What advice would you offer PMs or AEs to help them get the AE/PM relationship right?

    Andrea (PM): Make sure you HAVE a relationship with them beyond just work. If you’re invested in them as a whole person, you’ll actually care about their success and be able to work with them well.

    Townsley (AE): You’ve got to be a team player. If you’re here to make yourself look good, you are going to end up hurting yourself. Bond, dammit! You’ve got to actually care if you want the other person to care about you. That provides a level of trust that makes your job work.

    What advice would you offer companies like ABT to help them get the AE/PM relationship right on a structural level?

    Townsley (AE): Organizationally, companies want to firmly define roles. But you have to understand that each team will want to manage their projects differently. So you’ve gotta leave room for the gray areas.

    Andrea (PM): Don’t let your PMs and AEs work in silos. Make sure there’s crossover. An example: If the AE doesn’t work with the PM on estimates, you’ll run into trouble if the client needs extra feedback or more rounds to define something. The PM or AE’s knowledge of the client is crucial.

    Townsley (AE): The AE doesn’t just sell it and be done. I keep in touch the whole time to celebrate wins with the team and the client as they happen. I want to help the client happy, so I keep my finger on the pulse of the project. This doesn’t mean I project manage the project by directing the production team or making choices on how the deliverable should go; it means I stay in touch and make sure the client is being well-represented and find any red flags early so we can communicate about them as soon as possible. Even if it’s just listening, I can hear what the client is reacting to and be ready for it.

    Andrea (PM): I wouldn’t want to do what Townsley does. That professional respect for roles and gratitude for what she does helps us work better together by knowing who is going to handle what.

    Townsley (AE): We can sub in for each other on individual tasks, but I’d never want to handle her day-to-day over the long term. We can hold each other accountable in a constructive way.