Building a thriving Client Team: My Approach
Most agencies face the “more for less” challenge from clients, and the trend is not letting up.
Clients are demanding more while budgets are getting tighter, agency margins get squeezed and leaders are routinely pulled into the day-to-day, taking their eye off business growth.
After 35 years at the coalface in client services, witnessing these struggles first hand, I know the answer is to equip client service teams to take full ownership so that agency leaders can concentrate back on building the business.
If Client Services struggle, we all struggle
Agency founders often feel their client service teams aren’t stepping up. Equally, as clients’ expectations grow and budgets shrink, client service teams feel stretched ever thinner.
Client service teams are the backbone of an agency - if they’re not fully enabled, the whole agency suffers.
Reframing the Budget Conversation
Many agencies find themselves forced to accept lower fees that leave them over-servicing clients. The issue isn’t just about small budgets but underquoting, “fearful” negotiation, not selling the value of the agency and haphazard scope-tracking, all of which hurts profitability.
To turn this around, agencies need to:
be firm on scope – stop absorbing extra work for free
train teams in negotiation – empower them to push back and upsell effectively
focus on value, not cost – position the agency as a strategic partner, not just a vendor charging by the day
Smarter Resourcing, Not Harder Work
A common pitfall is spreading teams too thin. The traditional, layered team structure of Junior, Midweight and Senior is rife with duplication that is no longer acceptable or profitable. Poorly structured, hybrid working processes get in the way of both collaboration and team performance. When teams aren’t properly resourced, client service teams spend time fixing preventable problems.
To improve resourcing, we need to look at:
Team structure - assigning the right people to the right roles enables people to work at their best; productivity, personal satisfaction and client experience will all benefit
Nuanced working practices - don't let hybrid get in the way of collaboration - develop ways of working that allow your teams to work together more effectively, delivering quality work first time around, reducing unnecessary revisions
Ownership & Accountability - a strong structure should have clear ownerships and reporting lines so everyone knows how to pull together to deliver a successful project
Setting Client Expectations and Boundaries
Many client service professionals struggle to say no, leading to unsustainable workloads. Strong client relationships are built on trust. That doesn’t mean saying yes to everything.
To set clear expectations:
establish boundaries early – align expectations from the outset
push back professionally – equip teams with the confidence to say no while maintaining a can-do attitude
use data to justify decisions – tracking scope and keeping the client in the loop helps enforce boundaries
Freeing Leaders to Lead
When client service teams are empowered to take ownership, agency founders can focus on business growth, strategy, and the future. Agencies that get client service right don’t just improve efficiency, they foster strategic thinking, ownership, and long-term success.
Curious as to how a restructured team, clearer expectations and smarter resourcing could change transform your agency? Let’s chat.
Read Joanna’s bio here.
