We continue our overview of the exciting professions that make up the UNEXPECTED agency by presenting Anne, our client manager. His work in a few words? Find the customers we're going to organize great events for and then take care of them! But stay with us: we are going to teach you much more than that about the branch customer manager, a job that is the starting point for many adventures.

How do you become a customer manager in an agency?

Let's start by giving you an overview of Anne's journey as an example of how to answer this question. However, keep in mind that there is no single path and that it does not have to be linear.

For her part, Anne quickly knew what tone she wanted to give to her professional life. After her high school diploma, she studied for five years at EBS, the business school Through which did our event and operational director Tom.

Other training courses increase your chances of accessing a position in customer relations. We can quote you:

• One DUT marketing techniques ;
• One BTS negotiation and digitalization of customer relationships ;
• A Master's degree in the business, marketing or communication sector.

EBS has the advantage of offering several opportunities that Anne has been able to seize: a 3^E Year abroad made in Spain, the United States then China, and several internships which allow us to realize whether our idea of a profession coincides with reality. This is how Anne discovered the world of hotels and events. These two worlds will be the pillars of his career until today. After an internship at the George V Hotel in events and a first position as a marketing assistant at the Four Seasons Seychelles, it was as a reservation agent that Anne learned the tricks of customer relations.

“As a reservation agent, you have to know how to sell over the phone. This is far from being the same as selling a hardware product face to face. This is where I developed all my skills in sales, customer relationships and priority management.”

Anne

Driven by her desire togo and meet customers Instead of staying behind a computer screen and a telephone headset, Anne became a sales associate. She worked her way up to being in charge of hotel sales. Its mission was then to sign contracts And of monitor a customer portfolio. She then added a new string to her bow by becoming a sales manager and also taking care of the event part of the hotel, i.e. the rental of lounges and the organization of events.

Then Anne realized that the constraints of the hotel business would be difficult to reconcile with her new family life, the teleworking being in particular impossible. However, leaving behind the customer relationship is out of the question. So, after ten years in the luxury hotel industry, Anne took on a new challenge by joining The UNEXPECTED agency for whom it develops and maintains the customer portfolio!

Anne, Customer Manager at the UNEXPECTED agency

What does the daily life of an account manager in an agency look like?

Anne's first objective being to find customers, canvassing takes up a significant portion of his schedule. Anne tells us that prospecting by phone has become very complicated if you do not already have a contact, because large companies filter calls. So it's mainly by email that she will contact her prospects, found through LinkedIn.

“LinkedIn is an essential tool in my job. I am looking for the profile of people who could organize events. Finding this profile is a first step, finding your email address is a second step. We all know how an email is formed in general. I'm fumbling, sometimes I try two or three times before getting the point right.”

Anne

Anne uses Sales Navigator to find the names of people who might be organizing an event

Anne tells us that she does not use any automatic program or application to manage her emailing. She prefers to do everything by hand, client by customer, in order to have a personalized approach.

And then of course, just because a prospect has received your email does not mean that they will respond to you. Important work needs to be done on the side of follow-up of prospects. It is by persisting that you manage to get appointments. Second spoiler: it is not, either, because a prospect answers you that they will agree to try the adventure with you. Here starts a Game of seduction.

“When a prospect tells me that he already has his service providers but that he will contact me again if necessary, I assume that it is a step that has been won. He knows my name and that of the agency. From then on, I will relaunch it from time to time, subtly. Especially no harassment! I will find good pretexts to contact him again: news to share with him, photos of our latest achievements, a blog article that might interest him... I also inquire about the date the company was founded and if I see that the anniversary is approaching, I take the opportunity to ask if he thought of celebrating this anniversary. The idea is for him to have my name gradually in mind, so that he will come out the day he needs to organize an event.”

Anne

An overview of Anne's Excel table for managing her prospects

Once an event has taken place, the branch customer manager should try to build customer loyalty. Prospecting is a long time. Retaining loyalty requires less time and costs less It's well known that recruiting a new customer. This loyalty aspect can for example be achieved through debrief lunches. If we discuss the event, the primary goal is to get to know the customer better for create a link.

“Another format we have thought of is customer afterwork: we bring together a dozen customers to spend a friendly and intimate moment and thus make the relationship more human. It is difficult to create a real connection by limiting yourself to the virtual. When we are on the phone or in video, we get right to the point in relation to the objective of the call. We don't take the time to discuss anything else, to get to know each other.”

Anne

The pluses and minuses of being a branch customer manager

The less fun part, according to Anne

Anne's job has its share of disappointments, especially when a prospect chooses not to work with the agency. But it's only part of the deal, adds Anne, who knows how to be patient.

She really needs this patience for the prospecting stage which, as we mentioned, requires time and often proves to be Time-consuming.

“A disappointing situation is also when a customer with whom we had a very good contact leaves the company. You then have to start all over again from the beginning with the new person. It can also have its own contacts.”

Anne

Anne also mentions her delicate intermediary position, between the client and the project manager.

“The project manager becomes the customer's contact as soon as the lead is qualified. I still sometimes copy emails, but it's not up to me to answer. If I see that the project manager is taking a little time to respond, because he is carrying out a lot of projects in parallel, I kindly ask him again so that the client gets his answer.”

Anne

What is most pleasant, according to Anne

Without hesitation, Anne replies that it is The challenging side who he likes the most about his job. She even tells us to jump for joy when a customer comes back to her and brings a lead, in other words a deal. Nothing gives him more pleasure than succeed in achieve your goals. Knowing that the event project is going to take place, thanks in part to her, is also a great satisfaction. Because it should in fact be pointed out again that once qualified by Anne, the lead passes into the hands of a event project manager which will start by making a recommendation. There is no guarantee that the event will take place at that time.

Unlike other jobs, Anne can see the concrete result of his work. This is one of the reasons why she sometimes goes to events for which she brought the lead. She takes the opportunity to greet her client and give a hand, if necessary, to the project manager who is on site.

“It's not my core business at all but I like to have this little operational hat to help if necessary. I like it and it's a bit different from the office.”

Anne

The human aspect He likes it a lot too. Anne reminds us that it is essential toTo be sociable in his profession. By sociable, she means to listen, enjoy discussing, exchanging and learning about others.

“It is by being interested in others that we create a real link. If you don't know anything about this person, you don't even know where they're going on their next vacation or if they have hobbies, what topics of conversation are you going to have besides the professional side? With our colleagues we build relationships by knowing a little about their private lives, without going into details either. It's the same with customers. On the other hand, it has to work both ways, I too have to open up.”

Anne

If you are interested in the job of customer manager, do not hesitate to ask us your questions in the comments. Remember one of Anne's mantras now: You can only respond to a smile with a smile 😀. No doubt it will serve you more than once!