The Account Management & Client Services Summit
This is your chance to hear how other agency client services leaders are engaging clients, growing accounts and developing their roles
• Get inspired! Take away ideas to implement in your agency
Thursday 12th June 2025 – 9.30am to 5pm
The British Library, Kings Cross
Client services is as much about new business as it is about retention.
And as more and more holes poke through their pipeline, agencies are looking strengthen and grow their relationships with existing clients.
This has created a mounting pressure on account managers and client services teams.
Yet still…
- Clients still don’t want to pay for it.
- Project managers think they could do the job themselves.
- Communication between sales teams and account managers is still abysmal.
It’s enough to make anyone’s legs buckle.
So while you’re battling cheeky contract changes, cancelled projects (despite great performance) and client-side staff changes – we’ll be looking at how you can manage the expectations put on your role, by your team and your clients, whilst leaving enough time to do what you do best: keeping clients close and committed.
For the agency founders in the room – we’ll be looking at why account management needs your support now more than ever, as well as the ways you can make client services more of a team effort.
How Client Conferences Can Make Your Agency Indispensable
Brightec noticed something curious about their clients – many of them faced similar problems.
As the business developer for the mobile app development agency, Simon Brading wanted to help.
After discussing the possibilities, a big swing of an idea was decided on – the Brightec Exchange!
An all-day event gathering their client base and wider network together for knowledge sharing, problem solving, and community building.
By facilitating a genuinely valuable event and positioning themselves as the connection point for their clients, Brightec secured their status as a key strategic, trusted partner who invests in client success.
“It helped them work out their problems, and it helped us understand them better. The day was a win-win for everyone.”
At Happy Clients, Simon will share how being a driving force for solutions can secure new business, increase value and strengthen relationships. [Read More]
How a Secondment Won Our Agency a Major Client Account
Jenny Keyte kept coming up against the same problem.
Growing a major account was near impossible due to lengthy client approval processes killing time–sensitive social campaigns.
Then the client approached Jwoo with an idea that would change everything.
They needed an extra pair of hands in their internal marketing department and asked if a member of the Jwoo team would consider taking a secondment with them.
Only they didn’t need someone for a day, a week, or even a month. They were initially looking at a six-month stint.
Jenny decided to go for it. While working on the client side she presented to the leadership board, was involved in high-level meetings, and played a key role in decision-making.
“I learnt to speak their language – understanding their priorities, challenges, and ways of working. Once I adapted to their communication style, everything became more efficient. Conversations flowed better, decisions were made faster, and we were able to collaborate more effectively to drive results.”
At Happy Clients, Jenny will share how a secondment can increase trust, improve efficiency and make your agency the ‘go-to’ for key clients. [Read More]
Workshop: Turn Difficult Conversations Into Win-Win Outcomes
Trenton Moss was facing the dreaded scope creep.
Unbillable hours were piling up as a client kept shifting the goal posts by requesting “small” amends, which had a big impact on the overall project and budget.
He knew a difficult conversation was on the horizon.
Or was it? Trenton had a brilliant idea – what if the key to tricky client conversations was listening like a counsellor, not a project manager?
Drawing on years of coaching and his time as a Samaritans volunteer, Trenton used deep listening and guided discovery to uncover what the client truly needed.
“By getting to the real issue, we were able to stop the revision cycle and agree on what success looked like – for them and for us. You’re not saying, ‘Sit on my couch and tell me how you feel’ – but it’s still the same techniques a counsellor would use, just in a client meeting.”
At Happy Clients, Trenton will run a highly interactive workshop to equip you with everything you need to truly understand your client’s needs, turn tricky conversations into productive ones, and create an outcome that works for everyone. [Read More]
How to Manage Difficult Client Behaviours
Catherine Warwick knows about challenging client behaviours.
As the client partner for digital agency Numiko, Catherine had to opportunity to run a session with their clients and ask them an important question: what was the cause of difficult client behaviours?
Their answers were invaluable:
- Lack of internal stakeholder alignment.
- Absence of a clear, long-term strategy.
- Changeable budgets.
- Ineffective briefing processes.
This information allowed her to implement changes that improved Numiko’s internal processes and in turn, helped their clients.
“When you invest time in truly understanding what your clients are going through, you’re not just solving a problem – you’re building a partnership.”
At Happy Clients, Catherine will share how to uncover the root causes of your client’s woes and implement practical changes that improve both your agency’s processes and your clients’ happiness. [Read More]
How to Scale Your Agency and Land Bigger Clients
Mike Lander has some advice that you might not be ready to hear.
“If you work with smaller clients, you get referred to smaller clients, and then you’ve got a portfolio of small clients. Unless you deal with the historical culture of working with 10 small clients, it’s pointless.”
To make the switch and scale up, Mike says there are several key steps every agency leader must take:
- Identify and remove low-profit clients.
- Rehire and restructure to ensure your team is capable of managing bigger and more demanding clients.
- Ensure there’s enough capital and cash flow to see you through the transitional period.
- Be willing to make tough, strategic decisions that initially shrink the business before enabling sustainable growth.
At Happy Clients, Mike will be joined by Kevin Gibbons, founder and CEO of Re:signal, a specialist e-commerce SEO agency. Together, they’ll present a real-life case study illustrating how Re:signal successfully transitioned to landing bigger clients through the co-development of a tailored systematic approach. Mike will outline a repeatable, structured framework, offering actionable and practical guidance for agencies aiming to scale effectively and avoid the over-servicing trap. [Read More]
How to Be a Client Chameleon: Build Stronger and More Profitable Relationships
Rachel Raphael, co-founder of outskirt collective, knows that clients come in all tones and temperaments.
From warm and fuzzy to cold and direct – it can be nearly impossible for client service professionals to adapt to each personality type while maintaining boundaries and demonstrating value.
In her over 25 years of experience, Rachel has developed a simple yet effective solution – she aligns her communication style with their personality.
“It takes the mental load off. You still get to be yourself – you’re just delivering it in a format they actually want.”
At Happy Clients, Rachel will share how to implement a more flexible and effective approach to communication by identifying your clients’ personas and training your team to confidently adapt to them. [Read More]
Complaints Are a Compliment: Why All Client Feedback Is Good
“There’s another agency that can do it for half the price.”
It’s the last thing most agency leaders want to hear – but for Fiona Skilton, it’s a compliment.
As client services director at Collective Content, Fiona welcomes uncomfortable conversations with her clients.
“Weirdly, I do take it as a compliment if they say, ‘I’m not happy about this,’ because it indicates that they want to fix it. Otherwise, why would they bother saying anything?”
In this session you’ll learn:
- Why client complaints can be a positive sign.
- How to respond to feedback without defensiveness.
- Ways to stay proactive and avoid client drift.
At Happy Clients, Fiona will share her unique take on negative client feedback and offer tangible advice on how to implement a system that keeps you and your clients on the same page. [Read More]
More speakers coming soon…⏰
Meet other people improving how their agency runs
Happy Clients is a day that will help you get inspired, and meet other agency client services and account leaders that you can learn from.
We blend interactive talks and group discussion.
- We dot you around the venue so you can interact – and we mix up the groups so you meet different people.
- We poll you before the event to see what you want to talk about.
- We make sure all the talks are original and interesting. We facilitate questions and reflections throughout.
It’s aimed at agency leaders and their process or operations leaders – but anybody can come.
- Our venue is the Knowledge Centre at The British Library. We have the entire building, so you will explore the venue interacting with different agency leaders. We mix up the groups so you meet different people.
- We poll you before the event to see what you want to talk about.
- We make sure all the talks are original and interesting. We facilitate questions and reflections throughout.
Five Rooms of Learning and Inspiration
Who you’ll hear from…
🚧 We’re working on the line-up. We typically post this two months before the event, so check back Friday 11th April 2025.
Q: What actually happens on the day?
We start the event at 9.30am, so try to arrive by 9am.
The day’s format is pretty simple: you will spend some time hearing from guests with interesting stories that you can learn from, and you will also spend some time in small groups discussing your journey with like-minded agency leaders.
The event is hosted by an Agency Hackers facilitator who makes sure that everybody with something interesting to say gets heard. (We poll attendees before the event, so we know who to ‘pick on’ on the day.)
Q: Who will I hear from? Who are the speakers?
The people you’ll hear from are all agency leaders with interesting stories to tell about agency process or operations.
We also decide who to spotlight based on the information we capture in the weeks before. (Look out for our emails!)
We will publish the line-up a few weeks before, but mostly we hope that you will trust us to select interesting folk from our audience. We find that the people who choose to attend our events are overwhelmingly on fascinating journeys that will resonate with you.
Also, the ‘talks’ aren’t really linear presentations. They’re more like structured case studies, with lots of questions and reflections from the audience.
You could potentially call them ‘fireside chats’, but these are not rambling cosy conversations. They are planned and structured . We put a lot of work into researching our guests, out of respect for your time.
Q: Who can attend?
This event is mainly for people who work in client services in agencies – but it’s potentially of interest to anybody interested in making their agency run better.
Basically, anybody can attend if you think it looks up your street.
