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Overcommunicate with every department to ensure things don’t fall through the cracks or folks miss out on crucial information when a hot client ask comes through
Tell the client that you want to regroup with the team and then get them their answer by EOD. That way they can weigh in on what is realistic but the client also gets a swift answer.
I also work at a small social agency, and have a long history of working at social-focused agencies.
Overpromising is something I still have to actively remember not to do every day. As an account person, ever ounce of my being wants to satisfy and appease my clients, which often means I want to give them more details than necessary. Fight this feeling. Notice how almost everyone else around you likely never promises anything or gives specifics about timelines, what they're working on, when they'll be ready to show you something? You need to operate like that to a certain extent.
As account people, it's our job to be accountable, but in order to save yourself, you need to try to always leave a little bit of ambiguity because you'll find quickly that other departments are never held as accountable as account is.
Underpromise. Ask for more time. Always say "I need to regroup / circle back and get back to you." It'll benefit you in the long run!
Recap agreements in writing, give ranges instead of absolutes (“2–3 rounds,” “end of week vs Thursday 3 pm”), and flag risks early with options, not roadblocks. That helps you stay realistic without sounding obstructive, because you are offering trade‑offs (“We can hit that date if we drop X or simplify Y”) instead of just saying no.
As a creative, I’ll say I respected the account side people most who understood our vs. the clients’ needs. I made sure to communicate them in the clearest way, using analogies and such that our account director relayed to the client, which really smoothed out our process and synced expectations.
That account director was a pretty exceptional case. Most others did not have her rizz/professionalism.