How Sarah Robertson Learnt to Ask The Tough Questions
Sarah Robertson is the driving force behind George P. Johnson as vice president of account management EMEA with an impressive tenure at the agency spanning over eight years.
In our quest to understand the nuances that set the truly outstanding apart from the merely competent, Sarah Robertson’s remarkable journey becomes even more relevant. For her, the world of B2B experience marketing is a canvas for innovation and change.
Her extensive background in agency, and account management has seen her orchestrating projects for Fortune 500 companies, a testament to her deep understanding of the B2B realm. Sarah has a wealth of knowledge in growing brands globally, drawing on GPJ’s decades of experience working with large brands in particular, IBM.
Here Sarah reflects on her early kick-start into account management, her advice to all those starting their career in the role, and the key to strong, collaborative client relationships
LBB> How did you first get involved in account management and what appealed to you about it?
Sarah> My first taste of account management was at a hotel Saturday job when I was 16. I relished the opportunity to solve guest problems and partner with different departments to improve the overall customer experience – that was my early kick-start.
What appealed to me most – and still does – is the dual role of being both an internal champion and an external partner. I’ve enjoyed representing companies on both the agency and client side, creating lasting, win-win partnerships. It’s a dynamic role where you constantly need to be on top of the latest industry trends and client developments, which means there's truly never a dull moment.
LBB> What is it about your personality, skills and experience that has made account management such a great fit?
Sarah> Firstly, I am naturally curious and results-oriented. This means I’m genuinely interested in the latest client announcements and understanding what keeps my client partners awake at night. I enjoy understanding the key vision for their event experiences and ensuring all our combined hard work ladders up to achieving those goals.
Secondly, I genuinely enjoy connecting with people and understanding their motivations. My experience working across both agency and client side has given me a deep appreciation for the pressures on both teams.
To me, the core of account management isn't simply about delivering a service, it's about building a shared roadmap with our clients where we become an extension of their team.
LBB> What piece of advice would you give to someone just starting their career in account management?
Sarah> The single most important piece of advice I would give is: Listen, listen, listen!
There's a common tendency to rush through an agenda or a deck in a meeting. When you have slides prepared, you often feel a need to get to the end, but in doing this you can dominate the conversation and miss the client's input and true priorities.
My advice is to always have your talking points prepared, but be ready to throw the script away. Some of the best and most productive meetings are those where you don't even get to the presentation because you are hearing directly from the client.
It’s the account manager’s job to ask the right questions. By listening first, we earn the credibility to offer strategic advice later.
LBB> Thinking back to some of your most challenging experiences you’ve had in your career, what do you think tends to lie at the heart of the more tense or difficult client-agency relationships?
Sarah> When I reflect on my most challenging experiences, the heart of the tension almost always lies in misaligned or unmanaged expectations.
The problem is rarely the quality of the work, it’s usually the gap between what the client expected to receive and what is actually delivered. This is why investing time in asking the right strategic questions before the start of a project is absolutely critical.
Crucially, when things get tense, one’s natural reaction is to pull back, but this is exactly the time for account management to step up and provide clarity and honesty. Our role is to immediately address the misalignment, re-establish transparency and anchor the conversation back to the client's core business goal.
In fact, some of my strongest relationships have been forged by navigating difficult situations. Whilst avoiding issues is always the priority, demonstrating leadership when problems arise can build trust. Show clients that you own the solution and not just the success.
LBB> And what are the keys to building a productive and healthy relationship?
Sarah> I’ve already touched on the topics of trust and transparency. Empathy is also key. It’s crucial to understand a client’s goals and pressures – that means genuinely viewing things through their eyes. The ability to empathise is what allows us to be invested in their long-term success, not just the current project’s delivery.
Ultimately, the relationship thrives when the client views you as a strategic partner and not just a cost on their bottom line. I lead a team that focuses on partnership and mutual growth.
Delivering commercial success for our clients is in our account management DNA.
LBB> What’s your view on disagreement and emotion – is there a place for it and if not, why not? If so, why – and what does productive disagreement look like?
Sarah> Emotion, passion and productive disagreement absolutely have a place in a collaborative client relationship. Quite often, no challenge means no added value! If you simply agree with everything and add no strategic viewpoint, you become easily replaceable.
Passion and emotion are signs that the stakes are high. If you truly have the client’s commercial success at heart, you will start to feel comfortable with having these uncomfortable conversations. As one of my client leaders taught me, “change and comfort do not coexist.” This simple phrase taught me to keep challenging myself and I apply the same to my client relationships.
The value agencies bring is a viewpoint that clients might not have internally. At GPJ, we are passionate about thinking about event experience goals through a strategic lens. This strategic challenge can shift client thinking, ultimately leading brands to pursue a bigger, better or different strategy – this is when productive disagreement wins!
LBB> Historically, account management has been characterised as the mediator in an adversarial client and creative relationship – what do you make of that characterisation, is there any nugget of truth in that or is it wildly inaccurate?
Sarah> I love the energy of creative teams and am always excited to see the reaction of clients when they view amazing work for the first time. But those moments don’t always go to plan.
Earlier in my career, a client asked us to ‘turn everything on its head’ and show them ideas that were truly ‘outside the box’. When we presented our creative ideas – a clear ‘10 on the scale’ – they admitted that their comfort zone was realistically ‘a six’. That taught me a valuable lesson: award-winning work requires risk, but it's my job to quantify that risk upfront. Now, I always ask the tough questions to ensure the client's stated ambition matches their actual appetite for change.
Creatives have a strong desire for breakthrough ideas and artistic freedom, whilst clients have a commercial goal, budget restrictions and their organisation’s comfort zone for change. Disagreement is usually the symptom of a flawed brief. The priority is absolute transparency and boundary-setting at the start – this is the non-negotiable path to success.
The idea of account management being seen as a mediator is very much outdated for a high-performing agency. Account management is the creative team's best advocate, confidently linking boundary-pushing ideas directly back to the client’s commercial goals. I see account management as proactive strategists versus reactive mediators.
LBB> These days, agencies do so much beyond traditional campaigns, and as account management, you’re pulling together creative, experience, data, e-commerce, social and more – can that complexity often be mirrored on the client stakeholder side too? What’s the key to navigating (and helping the client navigate) that complexity?
Sarah> The complexity you describe is precisely why the account management role is more important than ever. My time spent continuously adapting to new technologies and audience trends has taught me that the fastest route to clarity isn’t by trying to be a universal expert myself, but by recognising when and where you need a key specialist. My approach is to act as a strategic hub that unifies all the moving parts.
This strategy is even more important because of the economic pressure we are all under. Clients are asking us to ‘do more with less’, which means we can’t afford any waste or fragmentation. By ensuring that agency subject matter experts are introduced to client experts at the right time, we bring efficiencies, ensure clients hear the most informed perspective and maximise commercial success.
LBB> What recent projects are you proudest of and why? What was challenging about these projects from an account management perspective and how did you address those challenges? What was so satisfying about working on these projects?
Sarah> One of my favourite projects was my first deep exploration into AI. We partnered with The Weather Company on a visual storytelling installation at Cannes Lions, which shared how the weather has changed history.
The activation ultimately won awards, but - to my earlier point about alignment - our ambitions had to be firmly agreed from the beginning. The greatest challenge was multiple stakeholders and complex legal sign-off with AI being so ‘new’. There were many instances when either side could have sacrificed the core ambition, but we held firm. The extra effort we put into jointly aligning commercial goals with creative vision was what made the end result. It was a bold, award-winning piece of work and it was worth every challenge.
But my satisfaction isn’t limited to large installations and campaigns. It’s the outcome of human connection that interests me most. At a recent event, I was near a four-player activation we had created and noticed several guests standing alone with their coffee. I approached each of them and encouraged them to join the game. After some laughter and sharing of client stories, I later observed all four of them walking into the auditorium and sitting together for the keynote. For me, bringing people together for a shared, authentic experience is very rewarding. A small moment that reinforced the power of human connection in driving larger business goals.
