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Series is now full. Registration will open in April for the June series.

Who it’s for

This training is for mid-level client-facing team members who manage accounts and projects.

 

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Why it matters

Client expectations of agencies have spiked. They want stronger leadership, deeper strategic thinking, more integrated activation, and tangible business impact – agency account managers are the linchpin.

How it works

This certification training program is delivered live over 5 virtual sessions of just under 2 hours each. Each session is a series of sequential building blocks and addresses one critical skill for managing clients.

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Who it’s for

This training is for mid-level client-facing team members who manage accounts and projects.

Depending on your agency’s structure, this may include account management, client services, project management, department leads, practice leads, etc. For those in account management/client services, consider those who are Senior AE, up through Account Supervisor and Junior Account Director.

If you are sending a group, it is ideal to have those who work together on a client. The training is a series of sequential building blocks, with interactive breakout exercises that are applied back to an account in the agency. When teams work together on these exercises, the impact on that account is almost immediate.

How it works

This certification training program is delivered live over 5 virtual sessions of just under 2 hours each. Each session is a series of sequential building blocks and addresses one critical skill for managing clients.

By participating in this training, participants will learn how to:

• Apply new models and frameworks to accelerate the ability to be more strategic with clients
• More confidently lead clients (now being empowered with their new methods)
• Better understand and address each client’s most pressing business needs
• Better lead the agency’s resources to provide more value to clients
• Increase the agency’s fees

To ensure everyone applies the training to their own unique agency and situation, every session includes interactive breakout exercises. Participants will select one account and apply all the training back to this client. With this in place, they can then apply their new learnings back to all their accounts.

If you are considering sending a group, it is ideal to send those who work together on a client. When teams collaborate on the client exercises together, the learning and impact is even greater.

Ultimately, the goal of the training is to provide new methods, models and tools to immediately improve the effectiveness – and value – of those who manage clients.

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Five-part virtual training series

Mastering Client Leadership

The New Role of Account Management

How to become an indispensable strategic partner to each client.
Mar 2 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET
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Mastering Business Analysis

The Client Metrics You Must Understand

How to to more effectively address each client’s most pressing business needs.
Mar 7 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET
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Mastering Strategy

Writing More Effective Strategy Briefs

How to craft strategies more focused on business impact and deeper target insight.
Mar 9 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET
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Mastering Strategy

The New Role of Journey Modeling

How to use this strategic tool to increase the agency’s impact, value and fees.
Mar 14 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET
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Mastering Scope Management

Better Manage Project Scope & Agency Profitability

How to write these critical documents to increase margins and reduce scope creep.
Mar 16 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET
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1 Mastering Client Leadership

The New Role of Account Management

Mar 2 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET

As client expectations of agencies continue to increase, the role of client services continues to evolve. In the kick-off session to this series, we’ll address the critical elements that now make up an effective account person.

Expect your teams to leave this session with a new and motivated outlook on their role. Two models will outline how the most effective account managers now perform. In fact, each participant will self-assess their current abilities and identify next steps to improve their effectiveness:

  • Proactively leaning in and leading each client forward (vs. subservient order-takers)
  • Understanding each clients business goals and measures
  • Being assertive and resourceful in achieving each client’s (and the agency’s) objectives
  • Leading the agency’s teams to more efficiently deliver effective work

The goal is to have your account managers become indispensable strategic partners to your clients.

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2 Mastering Business Analysis

The Client Metrics You Must Understand

Mar 7 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET

By applying a Client Business Analysis Model, your teams will learn how to conduct a more robust analysis of each client’s business – in far less time. Without this base knowledge in place, they risk becoming tactical order takers with no credibility.

We’ll outline how to understand each client’s business model, unique KPIs (key performance indicators), business and marketing goals, most pressing business needs – and how the client is performing in each of these areas.

Helping to standardize your approach, we’ll address how to collect and organize this intel in a way that captures the key implications for your agency. This will arm your teams with actionable insight, position them as strategic partners, improve the effectiveness of the agency’s work, and lead to more organic growth.

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3 Mastering Strategy

Writing More Effective Strategy Briefs

Mar 9 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET

As clients work to navigate the new realities of commerce, they’re now adapting in real-time to best capture new opportunities as they arise. As a result, they need bigger, more innovative strategic thinking – in far less time.

To that end, this session will outline how to write (and provide feedback on) strategy briefs that are more effectively focused on each client’s business needs, deeper target audience insight and more meaningful results. Applying a more consistent approach, your teams will learn how to achieve this in far less time.

We’ll also take a look at the new research methodologies working to more quickly uncover bigger insights – knowing that most agencies are strapped for time (and budget).

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4 Mastering Strategy

The New Role of Journey Modeling

Mar 14 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET

Journey Modeling has become one of the simplest and most profound strategic tools an agency team can master. When used methodically, it reveals new insight into the purchase behavior of each client’s target audience – helping agencies provide work of much greater financial value.

Taken a step further, like the practices of management consulting firms, it becomes a powerful diagnostic tool. Journey Modeling can be used to pinpoint the most critical challenges – and business growth opportunities – for each individual client.

Within this session, participants will be put to work creating a new (or improving upon a current) Journey Model for a client – which is then immediately put to use. Ultimately, the goal is to apply a new method for increasing the agency’s impact, value and fees for every account they work on.

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5 Mastering Scope Management

Better Manage Project Scope & Agency Profitability

Mar 16 1:00 pm - 2:45 pm ET

Keeping clients on scope is one of the most significant challenges in the agency business. In fact, on a daily basis, ineffective scope management is costing agencies a small fortune.

It’s one thing to write an effective scope, another to get it approved, and even more challenging to keep the client on track. This training session will address all three. We’ll outline how to better establish and manage SOWS, estimates and proposals for every client project.

Step-by-step, this session will cover:

  • Better communicating the value of your agency’s work
  • Why scope creep happens (and why the agency team is responsible for it)
  • Writing scopes that ensure the agency gets paid for everything it provides
  • Securing client approval on these critical documents
  • How scope creep can become a revenue opportunity (when properly prepared for)
  • How to make it a standard practice to charge the client for all incremental work (without making it feel personal)

Ultimately, we’ll outline how to write and manage estimates/proposals/SOWs in a way that ensures the agency gets paid for all its work – while reducing scope creep and increasing margins.

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Past Mirren Workshop attendees have included

Meet your instructors

Brent Hodgins Managing Director, Mirren About
Laura Matthews Director, Agency Growth Strategy, Mirren About
Sharon Honjiyo Director, Agency Growth Strategy, Mirren About
Brent Hodgins

Brent is the Managing Director at Mirren and specializes in training agency teams how to master client leadership, strategy, organic growth and new business. Ultimately, the goal is to have agencies become indispsensable strategic partners with their clients.

 He can also be heard encouraging agency teams to be careful of submissively bowing down to clients. “As soon as you put the client up on a pedestal, you lower your position in their mind. It’s a downward spiral from there. If you bring a high level of expertise to the table, then take a stand and command the respect you deserve – as a peer.”

 Brent began his career in account management at Leo Burnett, where he worked on Kellogg’s, Johnson & Johnson and McDonald’s. Later at TBWA, he ran the digital group in New York, before moving into new business at Wieden + Kennedy.

After 10 years in New York, Mirren moved its offices to Seattle. Brent resides in the Ballard area with his wife and son.
Laura Matthews

Laura is Director of Agency Growth Strategy at Mirren. She brings experience across a range of industries and agencies (digital, full service, PR) – giving her a well-rounded perspective in her training.

 At Mirren, Laura trains agency teams on client retention, growth, strategy, and new business. In particular, she believes agencies need to lean in more with their clients. “Too often, agencies limit themselves to a vendor role where they’re seen as order takers. The most successful agencies make the effort to deeply understand their clients’ categories and bottom-line goals, and deliver work that is clearly positioned to impact those goals.”

 Laura spent nearly six years with VMLY&R, where she led work for Bridgestone, Tennessee Tourism, and Intel, among other brands.

 Originally from South Carolina, Laura moved to Seattle in 2019 after spending a decade in Nashville, TN.
Sharon Honjiyo

Sharon is Director of Agency Growth Strategy at Mirren. She brings senior experience for the agency and client-side. As head of brand marketing at Holland America, she ran their agency rosters and competitive reviews. In her agency tenure, she ran accounts, strategy and new business pitches. All combined, this brings tremendous insight to her training. 

At Mirren, she empowers agency teams to become more proactive and strategic business partners. In fact, she believes there are many untapped revenue opportunities for agencies. “As a client, I regularly experienced my agencies missing many of our strategic needs that would have resulted in significant additional work.”

Sharon led account management and strategy at a number of agencies, including DDB, HL2 and Hornall Anderson Design. Prior to joining Mirren, she ran the brand marketing team at Holland America, a premium cruise line within Carnival Corporation – the world’s largest leisure travel company. 

Originally from San Francisco, Sharon currently lives in Seattle with her husband

Series is now full. Registration will open in April for the June series.

Special Group Discount

Receive special pricing when you register more than 4, or more than 10 participants from the same agency (combining “sister agencies” within a holding company does not qualify).

Standard
All Access
Access to all 5 sessions
Bonus Training Session:
Mastering Insight Development: Faster Research for Bigger Insight
Mastering Insight Development

Faster Research for Bigger Insight

Mar 28 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm ET

Being able to conduct simple and effective research has become a base skill for all those involved in the development of client strategy –whether or not there is the support of a strategic planning team.

However, there are three key challenges: time, budget and skill.

Often, timing is exceptionally tight, with the project being due within just weeks or days. Clients rarely provide enough budget to conduct the depth of research you’d prefer. And, many team members are simply not skilled at conducting effective research.

This training session will address all three. We will outline the most effective methodologies (the skills) to uncover deeper insight in less time and on a smaller budget.

With the goal of accelerating the design and execution of your research, a new framework will be provided. This model will help to confirm the most effective methodologies, plan those approaches, and ensure fresh new insight is uncovered.

We’ll also address how to conduct two of the most fundamental and effective forms of research: intercepts and surveys. These two methodologies remain the most cost-effective and fastest ways to uncover genuine target audience insight – but only when orchestrated correctly.

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Bonus Training Session:
Mastering Organic Growth: Write an Effective Organic Growth Plan
Mastering Organic Growth

How to Write A Plan That Is Assertive, Actionable & Accountable

Apr 4 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET

Most agency organic growth plans are a single page, outlining random financial targets. The truth: there is no plan to achieve those goals. The result: no growth. This is the fundamental breakdown at most agencies.

Step-by-step, we will walk through how to craft an Organic Growth Plan for each client – one that more clearly outlines exactly how you will achieve assertive organic growth targets.

Key principles include:

  • Identify meaningful client business goals to address
  • Articulate goals that generate a stronger return for the agency
  • Outline more detailed implementation schedules
  • Clearly assign accountability and target dates

To immediately apply this new framework, participants will be put to work as they begin writing individual client Organic Growth Plans.

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Special Group Pricing (10+)
$360
$600
Special Group Pricing (4+)
$560
$800
Single Pass
$760Full Price $1,180
$1,000Full Price $1,420
Standard
Access to all 5 sessions
Special Group Pricing (10+)
$360
Special Group Pricing (4+)
$560
Single Pass
$760Full Price $1,180

Register Now  
All Access
Access to all 5 sessions
Bonus Training Session:
Mastering Insight Development: Faster Research for Bigger Insight
Bonus Training Session:
Mastering Organic Growth: Write an Effective Organic Growth Plan
Special Group Pricing (10+)
$600
Special Group Pricing (4+)
$800
Single Pass
$1,000Full Price $1,420
Register Now  

If a participant must miss a session, a rebroadcast of that session will take place as listed here.

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About Mirren

Mirren is a training firm that specializes in providing agency teams with the skills to capture a greater share of each client’s spend. Our team has experience client-side and at agencies that include Wieden + Kennedy, TBWA and VMLY&R.

We provide the new methods, models and tools to have agency teams more effectively lead clients, become indispensable partners, generate organic growth and win more new business.

In addition to this training series, we provide Custom Training for agency teams and produce Mirren Live, the annual event focused on agency industry innovation and creativity.