You say “toh-MAY-toh” and I say “toh-MAH-toh,” the song exclaims, suggesting that it’s the same thing simply pronounced a little differently in each instance. Does a similar dynamic apply in the ongoing debate of Account Management versus Client Service? As I understand it, this is not a matter of simple semantics. It is a deeper discussion about what we do as agency folks.

Client Service is the older of the two terms and has been used for generations. I was part of the Client Service department when I started in the agency business many years ago. The term is easy to understand (“it’s the people who work with the clients”) and tried and true. It focuses on the client.

At the same time, there are those who see a more negative meaning here. They feel that the term connotes subservience (the “service” part of the term makes many an account person bristle) and a “jump!” “how high?” mentality that is not the reality in business today. They believe that today account managers lead client businesses and thus they need a term that more accurately reflects that: Account Management.

Account Management is a newer term that focuses on the account versus the client. It drives home the point that account people manage the client business rather than servicing anyone or anything. It’s perhaps a stronger term.

However, some people believe the term suggests that it’s taking the people out of the equation and that account managers are all about the business and not about the softer side. They feel the term connotes an arrogance about the account manager (we know what’s important, the account) versus giving clients their due.

And of course there’s the hybrid Account Service term, which perhaps means that we provide service to an account. Not loving that one.

To me, it really isn’t about the name. It’s about what’s behind it. In my opinion, we need a little account management and a little client service. My view, and what I tell my teams, is that we need to do both.

We need to do Account Management. That is, we need to manage the client’s business. We need to manage their account, get the work done, lead the process, etc. That’s the nuts and bolts part.

We also need to do Client Service. At the end of the day, agencies are in the service business where clients pay the bills. And by clients I mean human beings. These are the folks with whom we interact every day, the folks who approve (or not) our briefs, our work, and our fees. We need to provide service to them, to be a resource to them, to be nice and engaging to them, to be accommodating and sympathetic. You get the point.

Clients hire and fire agencies both for the quality of the work and for the human element of the relationship (among other factors). Therefore, having a strong relationship with both the account (the business) and the client (the people) is critical.

The best work done by arrogant jerks will get you fired just as crappy work done by the nicest most accommodating people in the world will. The challenge is balancing both in a way that the client feels listened to, understood, and valued as a person and contributing member of the team, while managing the business as passionately as if it were your own.