GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR – PROPERTY

The Role:

 

The role of Group Account Director - Property is a Director-level role, responsible for overseeing and driving my agencys property division across PR, Comms and Marketing.

It is a newly created position taking into account the evolution of the agency and the opportunity to offer a more holistic suite of services to a wider mix of clients.

The role encompasses three main areas of responsibility which are outlined below:

 

1. New Business Development – approx. 20% of the workload

 

The role will include driving new business both in existing and new sectors with a clear remit to grow the agency's many divisions and services.

This may also extend to developing and driving new services to further improve profitability in new sectors over time.

 

The core outcome of this component of the role includes securing new clients in new divisions.

 

• Strategic sector profiling and industry opportunity identification
• Approaching existing and new networks to request to pitch on new campaigns
• New business strategy brainstorming sessions with the Director team
• New business approaches and meeting attendance
• Strategic and creative input across new business proposals as required
• Creation of pitch documents, proposals, responses to brief and quotes
• Attending pitch and briefing meetings

 

1. High-level Client Management & Client Strategy – approx. 60 % of the workload

 

Part of this role requirement will see you sitting across a number of key clients from a strategic point of view, to help guide and mentor staff on how to handle and manage difficult / demanding clients.

These tasks are varied and not set, however at a high level could include:

• Guiding staff on how to manage and handle clients and their requests
• How to manage unachievable timeframes, deadlines or requirements placed on staff by client contacts
• Management of internal workflow in order to meet external deadlines
• Attending key client meetings
• Providing strategic insight and direction into key accounts across strategy, media, paid content, communications and social
• Re-negotiating retainer fees or hour allocations based on over-servicing, and training staff in how to manage these conversations and track client profiatbility
• Document approval or strategic guidance/exploration of angles or client-facing work when required

Other key requirements of this component of the role include:

PLANNING:

• Preparing project/campaign proposals alongside the team
• Identification of client goals and the ability to tailor campaign ideas and concepts accordingly
• Guiding the project team on presentation of concepts that are within budget, on brand and achievable within project time-frames / management scope
• Ability to creatively conceptualise and guide your team on effective campaigns that span media, communications, community relations, content creation, key messaging, social media and events

IMPLEMENTATION:

• Meeting attendance for strategic planning sessions or high-pressure clients
• Sitting across key strategic major clients from an advisory perspective, to manage and oversee the SAM/AMs and other account staff as well as provide strategic guidance
• Copy/document review and editing
• Staff workflow management
• Ability to deliver constructive and helpful feedback to internal staff and provide ongoing feedback regarding their work

RELATIONSHIPS:

• Risk management – identifying possible client issues (either account facing or project-facing) and implementing solutions with minimum impact to client or the agency
• Client management / rapport, relationship management and client retention

MEDIA LIAISON:

• Ability to identify key media opportunities and train / guide internal team members on how to generate favourable / opportunistic coverage for clients based on your sound understanding of the media landscape

DIGITAL:

• Integrated social media strategy and concepts – ability to work with the social media department to oversee integrated social media/PR campaigns that deliver tangible results based on campaign goals

STRATEGY:

• Strategy planning and development
• Best-practice understanding of PR, social media, paid content and communications industries
• Sound topical knowledge of current affairs and topical issues for our client base
• Creative thinking – delivering ideas that impress the client whilst delivering tangible ROI
• Strategic evaluation and reporting
• Strategic recommendations based on knowledge of the industry and campaign best-practice

CRISIS COMMS:

• Crisis campaigns are usually managed exclusively with the Director team therefore an ability to lead crisis communication campaigns in conjunction with other Directors is necessary
• Crisis campaigns are undertaken on an at-needs basis with functions of the campaign including briefings, media recommendations, internal and external reactive comms, stakeholder management and reputation / crisis mitigation management.

As a property and associated industries PR specialist, it is expected that the Director level team is abreast of any new trends, topical news and new planning policies which may affect our clients’ campaigns, as well as maintain an excellent relationship with key media and suppliers.

1. Operations – approx. 20% of the workload

Part of the role will be to drive operational processes, business strategy and organisational change alongside the Director team. This component of the role will include improving business efficiencies, managing sustainable growth and overall profitability, as well as managing team processes and staff management.

The core responsibilities include, but may not be limited to:

• Business structure review as they relate to the Accounts team and seeking out new strategies for business efficiencies
• Managing growth sustainably while maximising profitability and efficiency across staff, client billing and service offerings, in conjunction with the wider Director team
• Oversight of invoicing process as it relates to clients
• Competent and timely back-end management of the agency's documentation, processes and internal functions such as HR feedback and review management, resource management, invoicing documentation and new client set up
• One-on-ones with team members as a shared function of the Director team
• Regular operations and performance meetings with the Director team to present and assess business health, and to regularly evaluate further requirements

As part of the role you will be jointly responsible, along with the Director Team for staff guidance, training and up-skilling as well as mentorship and performance management of key staff members.

While the specific reports shall vary, the role will see you provide direct guidance and training to staff, managing KPIs for these roles, and creating clear pathways for progression and upskilling.

Tasks may include:

• Mentoring and guidance
• Guiding staff through difficult situations and conversations with clients when required
• Constructive feedback
• Staff workshops – sharing skills and knowledge
• Media relationship management
• Management of regular performance reviews and performance management
• HR and issues management as required

Culture and Teamwork

• Ensuring the office is a bully-free, positive and supportive workplace
• Ensuring that staff are encouraged and supported in their roles
• Providing a harmonious environment free from negativity

The required skills and attributes needed to complete the responsibilities of this role include:

ACCOUNT DIRECTION;

• The ability to clearly understand and identify client objectives through initial strategic planning workshops, effectively on-boarding new clients in the planning stages with a clear understanding of their business objectives, key messages, desired positioning, and market challenges
• Creative thinking – delivering ideas and conceptualising effective campaign responses
• Confidently lead client meetings and ascertain key action items after said meetings
• Clear, effective and timely briefing of key team members who may be working on the account, including managing internal and external expectations and deadlines
• Ability to confidently understand and distil key deliverables from regular WIPs and client requests, and effectively lead and manage internal teams to roll out these requirements
• Implementation and regular management of internal account documents such a WIPs, agendas, critical paths and budgets
• Strategic and creative intuition
• Best practice knowledge and insight as a comms industry professional
• Exceptional client communication and management skills
• Organisation and effective time-management
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Manage multiple deadlines and expectations
• Ability to problem solve and work well within a team
• Attention to detail

MARKETING, BRAND AND COMMUNICATIONS

• Clear understanding of marketing and brand communications and ability to think strategically and clearly about how marketing and branding can help deliver on our client’s objectives
• Clear management of internal marketing and brand / graphic design teams to manage creation of deliverables within the agency team
• Ability to take complex briefs and conceptualise holistic campaigns that make effective use of different PR, comms and marketing modalities, understanding both the ‘big picture’ and how to break down annual campaigns into monthly outputs

CLIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

• Ability to create meaningful, enriching client relationships and anticipating their needs and drivers, ultimately retaining them within the business long-term
• Risk management – identifying possible client issues (either account facing or project-facing) and implementing solutions with minimum impact to client or the agency