How do you manage a client relationship where the account represents a significant portion of the agency's revenue, and what risks do you foresee?
RoleMarketing Lead
DifficultyExpert
TopicCommunication
Asked at
Why This Is Asked
No verbatim questions are publicly documented for this role. Cheil's heavy dependence on the Samsung account is a known industry concern, and the Digital Director must balance client satisfaction with business risk. This question tests strategic acumen and long-term thinking.
General Approach
Acknowledge the risk upfront, then describe your dual approach: strengthen the current client through value-added services while simultaneously building a pipeline. Use a real or illustrative example to show you've thought about this. Highlight communication and transparency.
General Answer
When a single client accounts for a large share of an agency's revenue, the core risk is that losing the account, or even a reduction in its budget, has an outsized impact on the agency's overall business. Managing this well means doing two things at once rather than choosing between them: protecting the relationship and reducing dependence on it. Protecting the relationship involves consistently delivering strong results, building relationships with multiple stakeholders on the client side rather than relying on a single point of contact, being transparent about performance and proactive about flagging risks early, and looking for ways to expand the scope of services provided so the relationship becomes more embedded. Reducing dependence involves actively building a new business pipeline so the agency's revenue mix diversifies over time, and internally tracking revenue concentration as a risk metric so leadership has visibility into exposure at any point. The goal is not to under-invest in the large client to protect against its loss, but to grow the rest of the business so that no single account's departure would be existential.
PH Interview Gotcha
Avoid saying 'Alaga lang namin si client, wala naman silang reklamo' because it overlooks strategic risk. Instead, demonstrate forward-thinking: 'I continuously look for ways to add value and reduce single-client risk.'
Sample STAR Answer▾
S
Situation
In my previous agency, a single telecom client accounted for 70% of our revenue. While the partnership was strong, the client's quarterly reviews became increasingly demanding, and a new CMO was rumored to be considering a pitch.
T
Task
My task was to diversify the client's reliance on us by embedding our services deeper into their ecosystem, while simultaneously preparing a contingency plan to mitigate revenue loss if they left.
A
Action
I initiated a free digital-maturity audit for the client, which revealed gaps in their CRM and loyalty programs. I proposed a new retainer module to manage these areas, which increased our contract value by 30% and made switching costs high. Internally, I mentored a business development team to prospect for two new retail clients, achieving pitch wins that reduced the telecom's revenue share to 50% within a year. I also maintained transparent communication with the client, sharing our agency's growth plans so they didn't feel taken for granted.
R
Result
The client remained for two more years, and when they eventually shifted to a global AOR, our revenue only dipped 15% thanks to the new accounts, which was manageable without layoffs.
Key Takeaway
Client dependency must be managed proactively through value expansion and internal diversification.
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