Description

Purpose of Position

Client leadership is predicated on building true partnerships with our clients by immersing our people deeper within their business than ever before. By expanding our horizons, and further interrogating our client’s business challenges, we can unlock the potential to deliver broader business solutions that live outside of pure media.

As a Client Managing Partner you are responsible for setting strategic goals and objectives for the client teams within your patch, supervising daily activities of the team, monitoring team performance, and driving business growth for both clients and EssenceMediacom.

Your core responsibility will be to understand your clients business implicitly across all aspects of its operation. This is not limited to just media & advertising.  You will have a seat at the table and attend high level c-suite meetings with clients. You will be curious, passionate, enthusiastic and ultimately indispensable to the client and their business.

Client Managing Partners are the gatekeepers of the client’s experience when working with EssenceMediacom and the indispensable resource that clients lean towards when making key decisions for their business.  Keeping one eye on the future will be key to unlocking new opportunities and growth.

Key Relationships:

• Every person that touches your clients business – internal team and external agency/business partners
• Senior Client stakeholders
• MD/General Manager & EssenceMediacom Exco
• Heads of Dept. (Marketplace/Strategy/Creative Futures, Data/Analytics)
• Senior Media Publishers
• Senior heads of Group M services (Finecast, Xaxis, INCA, Sightline, Astus)

Core principles

1. Understand your clients Business intimately

• Have an informed view on far broader elements of the client’s world and not limited to just Media & Advertising. Annual reports, global legislation changes, production costs, competitors and technology all play a role in their success.
• Know your clients KPI’s and how we can help them to hit these.
• Use a common language.
• Lead contract discussions and ensure the team are monitoring ongoing delivery of KPIs.
• Always have one eye on the future to inform clients of strategic business decisions to give them competitive advantage.

1. Maintain a consultative relationship

• Talk to your senior clients regularly. A continuous dialogue is essential to developing the relationship.
• Attend key meetings (beyond just advertising related meetings) to increase your knowledge in all aspects of their business.
• Keep the idea of being a trusted advisor front of mind – display a hunger to be actively involved in their world. Be indispensable to them.

1. Manage your team like its own mini-agency

• Have visibility of your full teams Staff cost ratio, P&L, resourcing pressures, commercial opportunities.
• Have a growth mindset – organic (through increased services, OOS services renegotiation of contracts) or new business.

1. Leverage the wider agency and network

• Don’t limit your thinking to the immediate client group. Use broader sectors, share knowledge from other groups.
• Develop relationships with key stakeholders in Group M, WPP and global teams (where relevant).

1. Be personal and professional

• Spend time with your clients both professionally and socially.
• Get to know them on a humanistic level – their interests, hobbies, background.
• Help them to look good.

1. Understand your own business

• Know the EssenceMediacom vision, plan, core skills, products and talents.
• Speak intelligently and persuasively about the ambitions and levers we have.
• With the newly created agency work with your Client Partners to run discovery sessions with clients to understand what new opportunities we can share with them to unlock new insights and drive future growth.

1. Have a point of view
   • Work on your own PR – with clients always have a clear and valid point of view, on everything.
   • Share your knowledge and industry opinion pieces through trade press/LinkedIn/panels & events.
   • Be visible in the industry – to drive your own profile as well as EssenceMediacoms.

On any given day, you might

People

• Ensure regular 121 time with all direct reports.
• Assess flight risks, resource challenges, contingency plans and succession plans.
• Drive the culture in your team along with your Client Partners
• Engage a retention plan for the team given the current shortage of talent in market.
• Regularly meet with the talent team to ensure there is a continuous pipeline of talent to fill open roles.
• Ensure individual goals include specific actions surrounding award participation & involvement in industry events to support talent growth & build agency profile.
• Ensure relevant information cascaded by management through SLTs is communicated in such a way the team understand context/ relevance for them.
• Based on client conversations, always be considering if the current skillset and resource structure is built for their needs.
• Ensure that the team aren’t overdelivering hours/scope that isn’t currently in contract. Ensure timesheets are up to date for all.

Product

• Be knowledgeable about the new EssenceMediacom proposition, product suite and services so that you can identify ways in which we can enhance the current services we bring to clients.
• Ensure that your Client Partners are also well versed in the new E&M offering so that they can talk knowledgably about it to clients.
• Regularly meat with ‘heads of’ specialisms to keep informed on any updates, new services, changes that might impact conversations with clients.
• Promote the 4As planning process and drive consistency of the creation of unique and insightful channel strategies that meet the client needs.

Client

• Contribute to driving the EssenceMediacom Vision.
• Work with your Client Partners to create clients Business Growth plans and regularly monitor delivery of same to ensure stretch targets are met.
• Lead action plans that continually improve our Vantage/evaluation scores – taking into account all client feedback and addressing any issues swiftly.
• Create and manage resource plans that support EssenceMediaCom’s service delivery and client needs.
• Build/Maintain strong client relationships with senior clients – have a seat at the c-suite table.
• Ensures a high level of face-to-face interaction - Attend regular top to tops with key senior client stakeholders.
• Understands the client’s business, category and market trends intimately.
• Accountability of contract delivery and KPIs – renegotiate contracts that aren’t currently suited to the work that clients required.

Commercial

• Manage own P&L & Profitability sheets for your team – including staff cost ratios, monitoring entertainment/gift costs etc.
• Ensure delivery of all key client contract commitments; including but not limited to scopes of work to ensure ongoing profitability for the business.
• Ensure that Client leads within the team are identifying, creating and converting strategically relevant revenue opportunities for EssenceMediaCom’s diversified services.
• Accurately forecast revenue and billings.
• Accurately manage the client’s and EssenceMediaCom’s financial process (e.g. ensure that any 90+ day debt is minimised).
• Lead new business pitches as required.

WHat makes a good CLIENT PARTNER?

• Is curious about the client’s Business - ask questions and request access to all business-related information.
• Does everything in the context of the client's business and thinks about outcomes linked to KPI’s.
• Puts the clients’ interests first and focuses on business outcomes not media.
• Provides ideas without being asked.
• Has a point of view, always.
• Develops long term meaningful relationships rather than transactional ones.
• Is an indispensable consultant to senior client stakeholders.
• Is demanding of the detail clients share.
• Understands the clients as people/humans knows how to communicate with them.
• Is always proactive and has one eye on the future.
• Uses a common language.
• Has shared ambitions and goals with the client and the team.
• Is always honest and accepts that mistakes are made.
• Knows that award winning work does matter.
• Has a reputation of always being accessible.
• Collaborates with other agency partners and GroupM/WPP partners.
• Champions the client within EssenceMediacom.
• Never displays negativity about a client relationship.
• Entertains the clients – Hobbies, interests, sports etc.
• Can drive a positive and fun culture within the team.
• Is agile and adaptable to change.

You Bring

• Proven experience in managing a large team and suite of clients with a success through others approach.
• Portrays self as a confident leader by gaining respect of senior client stakeholders and junior team members.
• Ability to easily manage difficult conversations.
• An expert understanding of the core principles of great client servicing (listening; acting; leading; anticipating).
• An expert understanding of core media planning principles, industry dynamics and core client category challenges and opportunities.
• Have the ability to receive and give constructive criticism or feedback to external stakeholders and key client contacts.