Having spent the last 20 years at ad agencies large and small, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly of running retainer relationships. In 2017, I took on my first role as the lead agency creative overseeing a global tech account. I had never led a team in this capacity but had a wealth of experience working on mundane retainers. 

Far too often, once an agency has won a retainer client, they switch out their A team for their B and C teams. Having not fought to win the business, those teams begin the dull process of punching the clock on every project that rolls in, treating each one like a to-do list instead of an opportunity. Thus begins the slow decline of the agency-client relationship—dead before it even has a chance to thrive.

Also: Tracking ad agency account reviews

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can produce work that will keep your team, the client and even yourself happy. Simply put: It starts with you. 

Team leads are in a unique position to benefit both the client and the agency, and I have advice for those tasked with leading a retained client team. It starts with changing the culture to be more focused on team development. However, shifting an organization’s perspective to one where colleagues can openly and candidly give feedback about projects doesn’t happen overnight. 

Here are 10 ways to help you get started:

Stay connected with your team

Putting together the right mix of talent is an obvious first step. It’s important to define your team’s strengths and weaknesses, but running a successful team takes a leader who cares about the people and their professional development. Do you really know your team? Do you understand their growth goals and have a plan to help them get there? Create a culture of learning and improvement.

Rotate resources

Client needs can shift year to year, even quarter to quarter. You’ll need to be adaptable and constantly reevaluate whether your team is staffed and assigned appropriately. Identify skill gaps and what roles may be needed or removed to satisfy fluctuating client needs. Orbit all the work your team is doing so you can make informed decisions about where the work should go and how your team members can grow from it. 

Get out of your own way

Don’t let egos run meetings or determine what ideas prevail. Sometimes the best creative ideas come from the production team, and the most sophisticated solutions come from a junior team member. Ignore the title, trust the people. 

Challenge your own expectations

Allowing people to be their authentic, creative selves may surprise you. Passion can be contagious. When you see it in someone, let them run with it and remove obstacles in their way. This could include keeping other projects off their plate so they have more time, realigning with producers around expectations or shifting the whole team’s perspective from a quick-churn project to a creative opportunity. 

Quality over quantity

Not every brief looks efficient on paper, but if you invest the time now, you’ll enjoy the payoff later. Having a team that is steadily building their portfolio with at least one or two projects a year will allow everyone to have more pride in the work. In time, over-delivering will build trust and rapport that will lead to clients inviting you into business areas that agency partners normally aren’t a part of or approving proposals they might have declined before. 

More: Agency reviews—how incumbents can defend accounts

Be in tune with your client

Keeping up with trends in their industry, understanding their internal organization and knowing how your clients’ efforts are received in market can help shift perspectives, avoid unnecessary risks and hone better decision-making. Understand your brand-side team so well that when you put your presentation together, you already know what concerns will arise. As an outsider, you’ll be able to see the big picture, and you’ll know how to respond because you’ve mentally integrated into their business. 

Be strategic about how you frame your work

Review all the decks, train all the staff on how presentations should be structured, write scripts if needed and run mock presentations so junior team members can build confidence and practice before sharing with the client. 

Keep yourself entertained

Create challenges that keep growth in mind for you and your team. Keep everyone engaged with internal initiatives to develop skills when things are slow. Make it a common practice to share inspiration with members of the team and encourage them to do the same. 

Encourage play

Sometimes creatives just need permission to be … creative! Treat work like a playground, let people explore and take on new challenges. Create a safe space for ideas to fail and have backup plans for when they do.

The next step is to take those templates and … throw them away

Avoid a copy-paste mindset. You'd be surprised how many times “the client liked it last time” justifies the next approach. If a client is happy with the same template over and over, it’s not difficult to fall back on what was expected. Although it may look like great ROI on a timesheet, it leads to boredom, burnout and turnover. 

Ultimately, as team lead, you need to be the change you wish to see. Take risks, put in the extra effort, experiment, share your passion and be bold. No one got into this business because they wanted to make the 200th version of the same template. Everyone wants to do good work. Let’s provide real value to our clients and find solutions that work for us and them.