What a valuable course, I left feeling positive and armed with a number of tools and practices I can bring to my day to day role which will make a huge difference in how we work together with our agencies. In a nutshell, think couples therapy with a work twist. Our host James was incredible personable and authentic. I would definitely recommend. It gave our fairly newly formed team much needed headspace to reflect, go back to basics and spend quality time together face to face. Thank you.
For someone who has only worked client side, this course is a great way to peak behind the curtain and find out the drivers on agency side and what makes them tick. It's been really helpful for me and i'm reframing how I think about and work with the agency. Lots of practical lessons to take away and put into practice.
The Magic Sauce course was a brilliant way to really understand the agency/client relationship from both sides, ad how to be considerate to the challenges both face. I feel like I'll be in a better position to build a great relationship with the agencies I work with having done this course!
It was great to have so many insights from an experienced marketer for both client and agency side like James. The whole course was really engaging and James made sure to grab everyone's attention the whole time. I enjoyed all group activities between us and the agency. I feel like i learnt a lot about how to be a better client and how to approach in a more efficient way all sort of comms between client and agency.
I have been to a lot of courses in my time, and this was definitely one of the best. It teaches you not to take each other for granted and that the best results come from the best relationships. It makes you think about how we act, communicate, brief and deal with each other, and gives really good suggestions and insights as to how we can make the relationship so much better, and more fruitful for everyone.
Well run course bringing relationship at the heart of success between a client and their agencies and reinforcing the magic in transparent, honest conversations.
Magic Sauce is an excellent course which helped me to reframe my perception of the role I play, and gave actionable insights into using my soft skills to better my client relationships. James's delivery was interesting and interactive, and I would highly recommend. Thank you!
James has provided me with a toolkit to take forward into my day to day, which I'm confident with increase my ability to bring growth to my agency.
The Magic Sauce course has really allowed me to sit back and think about my role and the different elements that impact day-day relationships as well as the part I play in this. I have much more confidence to go out and ask for some new opportunities.
Great course, it really helped me with finding alternative ways to build relationships with my clients. James is very insightful and tailors the course to your own personal growth.
James was brilliant at making the course feel open and constructive. In our role you often sprint from one thing to the next so it was incredibly useful to take a step back and actively consider how we approach certain situations.
James and the Magic sauce course are essential for any account person who wants to take account growth seriously. Speaking from the perspective of the client and armed with quotes and tools I am convinced we are going to see more growth from every person who attended the course.
The Magic Sauce course was really helpful in getting us to put ourselves in the shoes of our clients, giving advice on how to build strong relationships and useful tools for difficult conversations. James facilitated open discussion and created a non-judgemental environment to ask questions. Would definitely recommend the course to anyone in client-facing roles!
Great to have the time each week dedicated to thinking and learning about this, think it will be a huge benefit to me and my client relationships.
Would highly recommend this course. It had a great blend of theory, and practical tips that feel achievable to implement into the day-to-day.
The course has boosted by confidence in my role, but also my desire to perform better at it. I am already noticing significant improvements in my client relationships and the creative output is benefitting as a result. Every accounts person should do this course!
Giving me the language to confidentially talk about what a successful account person looks like. To my clients, my team, my wider agency and even my nan.
Well structured and super interesting course. Thought provoking and interactive. Loved the homework part as it really made me reflect and think about things. What you put in, you get out :) Thank you James.
The Magic Sauce course offers valuable insights to develop your skills as an Account Person. Through the shared quotes, reference materials such as books, ads, and Ted Talks, and the interactive nature of the course, it provides you with the necessary tools to gain a deeper understanding of your role, boost your confidence, and ultimately improve your performance in your job.
Really useful and insightful course to help you understand your clients better, build empathy and drive better work.
A wonderful refresher of the fundamentals and power of client service. James shares his extensive experience and gathered insights from both sides of the relationship dynamic with humility and charm illustrating the power of empty and trust in the pursuit of better.
The course was great - I've come out feeling more inspired about my role and motivated around client relationships
Brilliant course for Account Management. Well structured and super interesting course. Thought provoking and interactive. Loved the homework part as it really made me reflect and think about things. What you put in, you get out :) Thank you James
The Magic Sauce course was a productive several weeks spent thinking about the most important part of producing great work: relationships with our agencies. A treat to be able to spend dedicated time reflecting and having thought-provoking discussions on new ways in.
When so caught up in the madness of day to day, this has been a great chance to take a step back and reflect in how we can be the best clients in an agency roster. We spend a lot of time together as internal teams focusing on ways of working, so why shouldn't we do the same with agencies who we spend more time with than some of our team?!
Really insightful course focusing on an important area of your role that is often just taken for granted and not shaped with practical support or process.
We worked with The Magic Sauce to run an afternoon with all our marcomms agencies where we focussed on the power of relationships. It was a brilliant session where James shared his wisdom of having both client and agency experience. We also diagnosed where we could do better collectively too as well as started to map out practical solutions. Moreover, James is a pleasure to work with and a thoroughly nice chap.
We partnered with the Magic Sauce to run an all-agency session covering 26 specialist agencies across multiple disciplines. James was brilliant - he helped bring the topic to life and set us up as a client and agency team to supercharge our relationship for the future. I could not recommend this enough.
This course has been the missing piece of the puzzle to my role - it really shifted my mindset and has given me the perspective and tools on how to work with my client in creating the best possible environment for both of our businesses to thrive. I would recommend to all agency account people, and my clients too!
This course has helped build my confidence in setting up a great relationship with my clients, provided tools for managing difficult conversations and scenarios, and James' experience is so valuable to learn from. It's also great to discuss with a wider cross-agency group and feel like you're not alone!
A brilliantly insightful course that brings to the fore everything you didn't realise you were already thinking about.
James is in a unique position to have set on both sides of the fence at big companies and so really understands the problems and processes we go through. Therefore is the ideal person to help you grow your client relationships.
James is a great teacher and facilitator. Having had senior experience on both agency and client side, he offers a unique perspective on what are the key ingredients to make a successful client/agency relationship, offering practical and actionable insights. I learned a lot from this course and would highly recommend.
James' course is a vital way to understand the value of Account Management, and the best ways to unlock that value for personal growth. The course is incredibly varied and engaging, and I think for me teaches the soft skills that make a brilliant account person, and by extension how to make advertising businesses function to their best potential. James uses a variety of teachings from his experience client side and agency side to bridge the empathy gap, and answer questions we've often been afraid to ask or simply not understood. I've already seen the benefit to my own career, and couldn't recommend this course highly enough/ will be sharing with my industry colleagues.
James' experience both leading agencies and working client side on international brands is invaluable as he has a thorough understanding from both sides of the fence. The course content is full of ideas, learnings and skills that you can implement into the day to day way you work with your clients. He also takes the time to get to know you, your experience and the live projects you are working on which adds a really personal approach.
Engaging and interactive course which provides insight into the client/agency relationship and advice and building blocks to improve client service, enhance relationships and grow business. Would highly recommend.
I'd definitely recommend James' magic sauce training - it enabled me to take a step back and really think about how I approach relationships, conversations, and generally showed me the importance of seeing situations from my clients' perspectives. Sometimes you get so caught up in the day to day work that it can be tricky to think about the bigger picture - we all have pressures that we face and our clients aren't immune to this. I'm looking forward to implementing everything James has shown us and opened our eyes to over the last six weeks and have no doubt it'll help me take my client relationships from strength to strength.
A brilliant course, that's made me view the way my team and I work with clients differently.
Really brilliant course. Re-focussed my appetite and invitation towards Client Servicing and helped switched my sentiment from a negative one to a positive, empathetic one.
James is excellent, I've thoroughly enjoyed the course and learned a lot. I'd Definitely recommend it to anyone considering.
James' course was brilliant. Right from day one, it was immersive, impressive and informative. The reason it resonated so well was that it it actually opened up a lot of home truths. So many simple fixes to a series of complicated issues. Brilliant.
I've thoroughly enjoyed the Magic Sauce training course, as it's allowed headspace each week to really think about what we take for granted as the account team. It's been really useful to break down why our role is important, and how we can maximise our role from both an internally and externally facing perspective. Getting the whole account team together to share experiences is so rare within such a fast-paced agency world, and it's been really great and appreciated to have the time to discuss with other people who get it.
Guidance and real world examples from someone experienced in both sides of the relationship is incredibly valuable.
Brilliant course. Insightful and informative, opening my eyes to the daily thoughts, considerations and concerns of my clients. Ultimately paving the way for better relationships building and career success. Thanks James!
Everyone should do this course! Regardless of sector or department. The power and importance of relationships is unspoken in modern marketing and this course brings everything you already knew to the forefront, but formalises it and teachers you how to do it better. If you get the chance to do it - don't hesitate!
James was outstanding. He helped bring to the table years of accumulated accounts / advertising knowledge, packing it all into an easy understand 6 week course that I'd happily recommend to any suit.
The Magic Sause course was fantastic. James delivered the training in a professional, yet personable way - bringing it back down to earth and making every situation extremely relevant and from past experience. Having insight from both client and agency side was invaluable, and was the perfect mix of presentation and interaction. Basic lessons I'll keep with me throughout my career.
I thoroughly enjoyed Magic Sauce. I learned a lot from James, he offers a unique and clear perspective of what is usually an over complicated and conflicting area of business. Our clients have commented on the step-change in how we now run our accounts.
Loved the Magic Sauce course! Full of really practical tips and advice that have already improved relationships with our clients and interagency teams. James was brilliant and kept the whole team really engaged during the sessions
We have loved having James work with us, showing the many ways in which we can deepen relationships with our clients, partners and colleagues. The course was filled with knowledgeable, real world experience, which James was able to discuss from both a client and agency perspective.
Fantastic course that really made me think about how I can build stronger relationships with the internal and external stakeholders I work with.
Having spent time searching for a fresh approach to 'client agency relationship management' I was initially struck by the description of The Magic Sauce course. Billed as a behaviour change programme that at its core values the relationship between agency and client and views it as a key strategic asset that can unleash high performance both sides the fence was unique. The insightful and practical content coupled with James's approachable expert delivery style has achieved excellent results. Thank you James!
The Magic Sauce course with James came at a pivotal time of our agency/client relationship coming out of Covid-19. It was fantastic to go through a remind ourselves of the basics of the good working relationship, as well as explore and discuss new ways of doing things. We have found ourselves to be more open about our challenges as a result of the course, which ultimately helps us get the best out of our agency relations and enables us to solve the challenges as a true team. I'd highly recommend this course for any level of experience when it comes to agency management. We particularly valued James' approach to ensuring the course was 100% right for us and our challenges as a client/agency team.
James brings a fresh and humble approach to agency/client training. His experience working both sides of the fence is invaluable and his collaborative and friendly approach made the whole process thoroughly enjoyable for all
It's really helped to get to know one another and James' questions and structures really enable conversations that you'd normally not have but really should have
Prior to taking The Magic Sauce Programme I felt anxious or at least very self conscious about having conversation with the client that were either financially driven or particularly focussed around upselling. The course, and particularly The Magic Catch-ups, helped me understand that by taking the time to understand a client's business - and therefore their broader businesses objectives - as well as my client's individual objectives I could find the 'win win' for both client and agency. This 'win win' situation is where I can solve a problem they may or may not know they have and provide a solution for it, thereby building a stronger relationship with my client and delivering additional revenue for my business.
The Magic Sauce course with James was insightful and genuinely beneficial to getting the best out of our agency/client relationship. As a client, you rarely get the opportunity for this kind of training and it was incredibly insightful/challenges everyone to think differently (even if it's going well!). Our team often find ourselves referring to the course content in our day to day! Thanks James
I've never done a course like this before but would do it again anytime. James is excellent at facilitating conversations and creating an environment to collaborate. The questions he poses are quite eye opening and he manages to do it without making anyone feel awkward. Really great experience, it really makes a difference to the relationship.
The experience was excellent. James did a fantastic job of energising the team and getting us committed to making things better with our clients. The mix of hands-on learning and more theoretical learning was perfect. Highly recommended
This was one of the best training courses I've done in my career. Full of super valuable and insightful nuggets which not only made me feel sure about my role but also levelled up my personal confidence and ambition to be better.
Gave a good, emotional insight into what goes on on the other side. Thanks James
Formal client service training is a rare thing, such is the intangible and intuitive nature of a lot of what CS people do. But James's Magic Sauce course effectively distills the fundamentals of what drives great client relationships into actionable principles and approaches, with first-hand insights from both sides of the fence. It validated and reinforced the instincts I've developed over 12 years in the industry, giving me a renewed recognition that what I do is a real craft, and gave me some new tools to help hone it.
James' extensive experience both client and agency side means he has true empathy and understanding of the challenges. He created a safe space where the team shared current concerns and provided practical advice and pragmatic tools which built confidence in the importance of the client services discipline.
Found the training incredibly useful and I really enjoyed the format of real world quotes. 90mins a week over 6 weeks is all great - less impact on diaries and a longer period to get to know each other and consider the sessions. I really feel like as a CS team we have gelled better and have a clearer team agenda.
This is an extremely course on a subject that doesn't get the attention and focus it deserves. I think it should be mandatory for everyone on the client and agency side! It gave us the right forum to delve into our relationship with our external agencies and also internal creative teams. The open, discursive discussion with James and his expert guidance and fresh thinking has helped us make immediate improvements. The best course we've ever done!
The best training sessions not only explain the fundamentals and the utopia of what to aim for, they also give practical (and realistic) steps which are relevant to your market and that you can put into practice the next day - James' session delivered all of this! Highly informative and enjoyable training
James' wealth of experience, both agency-side and client-side, has him uniquely positioned to share thought-provoking insight and advice. His openness and honesty makes Magic Sauce feel more like a meaningful coffee with a mentor than formal training
As someone on the more junior level of account management, this course was invaluable to me but at the same time it's for account people on all levels and sharing the courses with people of all levels has made the course even more useful!
James is wonderful at facilitating the conversation in the group. He also has LOTS of wisdom from client and agency side to impart.
This course has been superb. James has invaluable insight from having seen both sides of the client and agency relationship. The course undoubtably sets you up to be better at your job.
Fantastic course delivered by someone with a wealth of experience. James is passionate about building great client relationships, but also empathetic to agency pressures, and seeks to find ways that will help both client/agency succeed. 5/5 would recommend.
I liked the format of using the course as a forum to discuss current challenges and getting James' advice and tips on how to best respond to these. It was also great to read real quotes from real clients in order to understand them more as people. Thank you for the course James, it was really insightful!
I would recommend this training to anyone working in Account Management, whether you're just starting out, or have been doing it for over a decade! James' course was invaluable to me and I'm so glad that I took part as it has helped in shaping who I am as an account person, Charlotte Wheatley, Dec 2021
This was one of the best training courses I've been on - super insightful, valuable and enjoyable all while feeling effortless. I left with a bunch more conviction in my role and confidence to work towards my ambitions. Highly recommend if you can get on one of these!
James' wealth of experience, both agency-side and client-side, has him uniquely positioned to share thought-provoking insight and advice. His openness and honesty makes Magic Sauce feel more like a meaningful coffee with a mentor than formal training
I can't speak highly enough about Magic Sauce. It's an enjoyable programme full of 'real world' insight and knowledge on how to improve the client-agency relationship. The programme gets you involved, gets you thinking and gets you communicating better. It's already made a huge difference. I would highly recommend it
James's course was really helpful for all levels of client service. The training was interesting, engaging and well delivered by James. It focuses on the softer skills of our jobs that is so often neglected and rarely trained, giving you tangible examples and actions to take away and use to improve your relationships with your clients to get to better work for all. I'd highly recommend taking the course.
An invaluable course in re-energising your mindset towards client/agency relationships. James has the benefit of both an agency and client mindset, and whilst always challenging us to be the best version of ourselves in the workplace and to our clients, also empathetic to the pressures that we face. The course provided real, actionable steps we could take to become better client partners, and James is a great sounding board throughout the process. 5/5 Would recommend!
James delivered a hugely insightful course. It really encouraged me to consider my relationship with clients from their side. The style of delivery is informal and encouraged everyone to get involved. Highly recommended
This is a brilliant course for agencies that want to get their client service teams thinking more deeply about the experiences they deliver and the relationships they build.
This course was really fantastic for a number of reasons. Firstly the format was excellent, having it spread across consecutive weeks for short periods allowed for continued discussions and 'homework' where we put the theories and insights into practice.
Also the use of quotes from both client side and agency allowed for interesting discussions and insightful anecdotes from James and from my own colleagues. This helped us form our own interpretations of the course guidance, not only helping us to make clear links to how we could utilise the learnings in our own day to day work, but also helping to bring the client service team together and understand each other's roles better.
I would recommend this course to anyone working in the client service department of an agency. James's knowledge, experience and insight from both agency and client side is extremely helpful, interesting and revealing! He delivers the course in a very relaxed, informal and conversational manner allowing for open and honest discussion throughout
We lined up key members of our account management team to engage in the 'the Magic Sauce' training with James.
What was so striking about it were 2 elements 1) the simple but important premise at the heart of it and 2) the realisation that no matter how junior or senior you are, there are a multitude of things you can do to improve relationships and get better work done.
I'd recommend this course to anyone involved in generating ideas and getting them made, the lessons learned will be lasting.
Ours is a people business and James' focus is human-centric and informed by real experience and pragmatism. He promotes situational awareness and empathy; pre-requisites for establishing and sustaining trust. I think our team finished this course better equipped to do their best work, and more focused on how to build mutually profitable, sustainable relationships with our Clients.
James was so friendly and knowledgeable during the six weekly workshops on working with agencies. The sessions would be useful for new and or clients experienced working with agencies. It really was a useful exercise to reframe the working relationship and improve communications.