Many entrepreneurs start out as the “account manager” for all their clients, giving personal attention and expertise directly to the people they serve. But as the great Michael Gerber said, there comes a time when you need to work on your business, not in your business. How can you make sure your clients are getting the high-level attention and expertise they need, when you no longer have the time to personally manage every account?
At Tarkenton Companies, we’ve developed a solution that might surprise you: we assign two managers to every client. Before you argue that staffing costs and hiring challenges make this impossible, take a look at this model, which offers better client service, better client retention, better employee loyalty, and best of all, higher ROI.
The AM-PM Model
It’s no secret that every client can benefit from strategic wisdom as well as day-to-day service. That’s what you provided back when you were able to manage every account personally. Once you have to delegate those services, it’s unusual to find one person who can do both. That’s why we give our clients both an Account Manager and a Project Manager. These two managers work as a team (or “pod”) on multiple accounts, serving the needs of each client while maximizing efficiency through pod communication.
The Account Manager (AM) answers the questions, “Why” and “What,” setting the strategy to drive the client’s growth and success. The AM is also the primary point-of-contact for the client. The AM advocates for the client internally to ensure they are getting what they want and their goals are being met. As the AM oversees the big picture, he or she can also clearly see opportunities where the client could benefit from additional products and services the company offers. The AM is also responsible for translating client feedback to the team. They can make sure the entire team is focused on what the client wants – and doesn’t want – to avoid wasted time and effort by team members down the line.
Meanwhile, the Project Manager (PM) answers the questions, “How” and “When.” The PM takes the AM’s vision and turns it into actionable projects and tasks. The PM is the more detailed, task-oriented team member who dives into the nitty-gritty to make sure everything is running smoothly. While the AM is mostly client-focused, the PM pushes deliverables forward internally to meet deadlines and stay on schedule.
You might say the PM loves checklists whereas the AM likes vision boards. These are clearly two distinct roles that require different talents. You can probably think of employees in your organization today who would fit in each category. Rather than hiring a new crop of managers, consider reassigning existing team members based on these skill sets, and pairing them together in AM-PM pods.
Pod Communication and Strategy
You are probably already providing both strategic guidance and day-to-day products and services to your clients; the difference is how you handle that relationship to maximize success and growth. When you assign both an AM and a PM to every client, you know that strategy and tactics are going hand-in-hand, that the client feels well-served and listened to, and that your top performers are leaning into what they do best.
Since each AM and PM team forms a pod, they are in constant communication about their shared clients. They should use tools like Slack to facilitate easy and transparent communication with the client. That way the client can easily ask questions and get updates, the team will always be on the same page. With the AM as the primary client contact, the client always knows where to turn to ask questions and make requests. And inside the pod, every team member is in the loop on the client’s needs, preferences, and feedback.
Communication occurs on two levels: internally within the company and externally with the client. At Tarkenton Companies, we set up a client-facing Slack channel, which all team members have access to, that allows easy and transparent communication with the client. But we also have an internal Slack channel for that client, which allows us to communicate among the team and make sure projects, goals, deadlines, and feedback are all aligned.
Internal communication empowers the PM and the AM to utilize resources within the company and provide direction to various team members. It is also an opportunity to iron out any wrinkles before talking with the client. This internal communication within the pod saves time and money by avoiding work that’s not in sync with the client’s goals and preferences. It also gives the client confidence in your team and your ability to deliver.
Scaling Your Company’s Five-Star Service
As your business expands, sustainable growth demands that you deliver the same quality service to your clients that they enjoyed when you handled every problem personally. Our AM-PM model allows you to handle a growing pipeline of projects without sacrificing efficiency, quality, or client satisfaction. All of that translates into your next generation of growth.
Now that you’ve seen how the AM-PM model works to streamline operations and boost client satisfaction, you have a choice: you can start building a similar structure within your own team, or you can partner with a company like Tarkenton Companies that has already fine-tuned this process to deliver real results. If you decide to set this up internally, look at your current team and identify which employees naturally align with the strategic, client-facing skills of an Account Manager, and who excels in the project-driven, task-oriented world of a Project Manager. Pairing them in pods will help ensure that you deliver consistent, high-quality service.
At Tarkenton Companies, we’ve refined this model to drive growth for our clients while keeping overhead low and client retention high. By partnering with us, you’ll gain access to a team that already uses the AM-PM system, allowing you to focus on other strategic initiatives for your business. The key to growth is finding the right balance of strategy and execution – something we’re passionate about helping you achieve.
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One of the things that makes a great football team is when the different players fit together perfectly. Everyone brings different skills, different strengths. On a great team, you cover each other’s weaknesses and bring out each other’s strengths.
That’s why teams win, and individuals don’t. I could never win on my own; I needed all my great teammates. I couldn’t play offensive tackle or linebacker or return kicks. But I could be the best quarterback I could be for my team, and let Ron Yary and Chuck Foreman and Mick Tingelhoff do the same in their roles.
That’s how you build a great team in business, too. Find people with complementing strengths and let them bring out the best in each other. Don’t ask a quarterback to play linebacker; put people in the roles where they will fit together and they’ll help your company succeed. This article talks about a great example of how we do that in our business!
Fran Tarkenton
