Many smaller agencies want to become more involved in developing marketing plans for their clients, but may not be quite up to speed with planning terminology. Here is a simple ...

The traditional notion of an account executive was that of someone ordered around by the client and disdained by the agency creative. Or, they were the ones living large on ...

There are some important issues that good account executives consider when doing their daily jobs. Following are some thoughts from a very savvy Second Wind member who teaches his AEs ...

As you work with your clients to set up annual advertising and marketing planning, there’s one thought that should remain lodged in your frontal cortex: “It’s not my ...

A survey by Hightail, a creative collaboration company, asked creative professionals about the effectiveness of the creative process. Just 23 percent said the process was effective. Twenty-eight percent called it ...

Sometimes, agency owners or managers feel like the proverbial dog chasing its own tail. You keep going in circles and never seem to get ahead. Considering that problem from the ...

Second Wind has conducted account service training for ad agencies since we launched Second Wind Training in 1989. We have worked with many ad agencies directly, consulting to help them ...

Why Clients “Go Quiet” and How to Reactivate Them

New clients are hard to find.  It is crucial to keep your current clients engaged and active. Here’s the scenario ...

For a small to midsize agency, one of this business' most dangerous situations is having a large account. We define a large account—a “gorilla”—as one that controls more ...

There is a time in every business cycle where the cycle reaches its peak. If you listen to market forecasters and some economists, we may be at the very tip-top ...

We’ve been thinking lately about how agencies can regain their former strategic partner status with clients. The glory days of agency of record, retainers and marketing partnerships seem to ...

We work in a tough business environment. Accountability, multiplying media, evolving technology and an increasingly global economy all drive client demand for more responsive, more efficient agencies. This tends to ...

One day on the way to a meeting, I was in a funk. Although I can’t remember the specifics, I had encountered some incredibly bad hurdles that morning. These ...

Learn from the experience of a slow learner - me. Early in my career as a creative professional with a fragile ego, I didn’t want the rank-and-file people of a ...

Do all industries include at least some “clients from hell”? Apparently so. The Twitter feed Clients From Hell (@clientsfh) asked followers if any specific industries had a higher percentage of ...

When two people in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.

Wm. Wrigley Jr., founder of Wrigley’s Chewing Gum company

I have worked with many account service people ...

Winning a really big account can either float a smaller ad agency’s boat, feeding new growth for the agency and employees… or sink it under the weight of client ...

Funny how things go in the agency business... You work hard, build great relationships, create great work, and before you know it the client moves on to bigger and, they ...