Client Account Manager

Location: applicant can be based anywhere in the UK but please note that the client portfolio for this role is based predominantly in the Midlands/South Wales

About the company

Public-i are the UK's leading provider of livestreaming, meeting management software and audio-visual solutions to the local government sector. At Public-i, we pride ourselves on our commitment to customer service and ensuring our customers stay with us for the long term. We have customers across the UK and Ireland.

About the role

This post-holder will be responsible for looking after approximately 40 clients in the South-West, Wales and Midlands.

Account Managers at Public-i are not salespeople. Their role is to nurture client relationships to ensure that our customers are getting the best value from their contracts with Public-i so that they stay with us for the long-term. We never actively "sell" to our clients: we let our exceptional products and customer service do the talking.

Account Managers act as an interface between the customer and the internal teams here at Public-i. That means ensuring client issues are seen through to resolution, following up on requests from clients and making sure that feedback reaches the right places. Account Mangers act as advocates of both the client and the business with the ultimate goal of retaining clients as their contracts come up for renewal. It is a challenging, but ultimately rewarding, role.

The role typically involves two or three days per week "on-the-road" visiting clients, attending conferences/events, or visiting one of the two Public-i offices (in Hove and Halifax). This will include the occasional evening work (max 1-2 evenings a month). The rest of the time will be office based (working from home). There will be some overnight stays required: this is typically three or four nights per month but this will depend on the location of the successful applicant. Please note that the client portfolio for this role is based predominantly in the Midlands and south Wales.

Key tasks of this role include:

• Building and maintaining strong client relationships through regular meetings, calls and emails. This can - at times - involve handling complaints from senior managers at clients.
• Giving training to new clients and refresher training to existing clients
• Working with clients on their problems and implementing solutions
• Assisting other teams with work related to the client base, especially with new client installations
• Upkeep of client records and information through CRM ensuring the client journey is fully documented
• Following up client issues with other departments to ensure they're seen through to completion
• Feeding back client information to relevant colleagues

Skills and experience

This role needs a creative and organised individual who can manage their own workload effectively without direct oversight. Your ability to build relationships is paramount and this is the absolute priority for the postholder. Previous experience as an account or portfolio manager is advantageous.

Although our Account Managers are not expected to be engineers, they do need to be able to understand the software and hardware that we sell. Much of the role involves taking our expert technical knowledge and distilling it to a non-technical audience. As such, a keen interest or background in technology is a real bonus.

The role requires a range of skills and attributes, some of which are set out below;

• Exceptional 'people' skills and the ability to build meaningful, quality client relationships
• An ability to remain calm under pressure, handle complaints and diffuse difficult situations.
• Self-motivation, time management and workload planning skills
• Experience of delivering training or mentoring
• Clear communication skills, with experience in creating clear documentation a bonus
• An interest in technology or experience of working with AV or software
• An eye for detail as well as a "completer finisher" mentality!

Full training and a complete handover for the role will be given from the existing post-holder.

Travel is required within this role, and you should have a full, clean driving license and the ability to plan your journeys in accordance with safe driving practice.

Benefits

We think Public-i is a great place to work. We have a real team ethos, and we genuinely care about our staff and clients. Some of the best bits about this role are:

• Generous remuneration with additional car allowance
• Company pension, life insurance and critical illness cover
• Childcare schemes
• 20 - 26 days' holiday, plus bank holidays and Christmas closure
• Social events - Christmas and summer parties, plus team building
• Generous training budgets
• Refer-a-friend bonus for new staff