Someone asked me the other day about my least and most favorite parts of my job. It sounds cliché, but I couldn’t think of a least favorite thing.
My most favorite thing, though, is working with my client contacts. For example, I’ve worked with one of my clients for five years, and always with the same person. She’s friendly and professional, and we have a great working relationship. She knows she can call me with questions – no matter how simple or complex – and I’ll always help her find an answer. Likewise, if I have a question for her, I feel welcomed to call and ask her. We’ve developed a mutual understanding that we’re in this together, and we have the same goal – to make her campaigns and her company successful.
I really enjoy visiting my client contacts in person, too. It’s always fun to meet my contacts in person for the first time – you recognize their voice, and you’re finally able to put a face with a name. It’s equally difficult when a client contact decides to take a position at a new company. When they move on, it’s like I’ve lost a friend!
I’m in contact with most of my clients daily. On days when I walk in thinking I don’t have much on my schedule, I’m always pleasantly surprised to find out that I’m busy all day long with helping to support my clients’ on-the-fly needs. Our conversations involve everything from, “Julien, I have a question on a new feature in my SmartLead account” to “I need an urgent shipment of marketing materials for our tradeshow on Friday!” Yes, we warehouse and ship marketing materials on behalf of our clients. When we say we take end to end responsibility for the lead process that includes assuring our clients have the marketing materials they need.
When these fires arise, I’m happy to help put them out. It’s easy to do this at SmartLead because all of our services are under one roof. I can run down the hall and visit with the IT team to determine how we can customize a feature so it fits beautifully with my client’s business needs, or speed down two short hallways to visit our warehouse manager and make sure my client’s brochures arrive on time. With all of us in one building, we can keep our finger on the pulse for our clients’ experiences. That’s refreshing for our clients and makes quick responses to their issues easy.
Another fun challenge is working with my clients overseas. When I come in at 8:00am, it’s 3:00pm in parts of Europe. So you have that little window to reach out and help them with their needs for the day. If something comes up before I get to the office, my clients can reach me directly by cell phone.
The good thing about how our Account Management team is that we are cross trained on every account. I have confidence that if I am not here, my colleagues will make sure our clients get the attention they need.
The great relationships I build with my client contacts make even the most pressing tasks into fun challenges. This will always be my favorite part of the job – I’ll let you know if I come up with a least favorite part!