Are you even a millennial if you didn’t grow up burning mix CDs? You know the ones. You’d sit at the computer picking out the songs you wanted, trying to create the perfect combination. Maybe there was a song you absolutely had to include (“…Baby One More Time,” obviously). Maybe you put a few songs together because they just worked next to each other. And if you were really committed, you’d spend way too much time making sure the song order was just right. Then, sharpie in hand, you’d give it a name, and your masterpiece was complete.

But you weren’t just making a CD, you were creating an experience. Recently, I started thinking about how much that reminds me of account management. Because if you work in a marketing agency, your client list isn’t really just a list of accounts. It’s a playlist.

Every Client Has Their Own Genre

Every client is a different song with a different beat. Some are fast-paced and always moving. Some take their time and need a little more thought. Some are creative and spontaneous. Some are structured and want to know exactly what’s happening, when it’s happening and why. And then there are the clients who have been with you for years — the classics. And who doesn’t love a classic!

None of them are better or worse. They just have a different rhythm. As an account manager, one of the most important parts of my job is learning how to keep all these songs playing harmoniously.

Meet the Playlist

You might have the Headliner, the account with a lot of moving parts, multiple stakeholders, big campaigns and plenty happening at once. The Indie Favorite, a smaller account with a really unique vision that gives you room to be creative. (Full disclosure, I’m a big Indie fan, but I would never play favorites!) Or a Chart-Topper, where something is always launching, changing or moving at full speed.

Maybe you have a Remix, where priorities change and you have to be comfortable adjusting as you go. Or the Duet, where the client truly feels like part of your team and everything is highly collaborative. (The Kenny to your Dolly)

Different Clients, Different Rhythms

The point here isn’t to put clients into boxes, it’s to recognize that different relationships require different approaches.

Some want to be involved in every step; others trust you to bring the recommendation. Some want a quick email with the answer, some want to talk it through. Over time, you learn how your clients communicate, what they care about, what they need from you, and just as important, what they don’t need from you.

That’s where creating an agency soundtrack really comes in. You wouldn’t build a mix CD out of 15 songs that all sound exactly the same, the variety is what makes it interesting! But you also wouldn’t hit shuffle and cross your fingers everything works. You have to think about how the songs fit together. Account management requires a similar approach.

My job isn’t to make every client relationship look the same, it’s to understand what makes each relationship work and adjust accordingly. That’s especially important because we all know agency life can get chaotic sometimes.

Keeping the Work in Sync

Deadlines move and priorities change. A client needs something sooner than expected. A campaign doesn’t perform the way we hoped. A creative concept gets completely reworked. All these things are inevitable, but what matters is how we manage them.

A good account manager helps take all of those moving pieces and make them feel less stressful to the client. It’s communicating before they even have to ask. It’s being honest when something isn’t going according to plan and it’s bringing a solution, not just a problem. It’s making sure the client knows what’s happening, what’s next and that we’re paying attention.

Because, clients aren’t only experiencing the marketing we make for them. They’re experiencing what it’s like to work with us. That’s what years of agency experience has taught me: the work gets you in the door, but the relationship is what makes people want to stay.