So, what does good account management look like? Inevitably, ideas about good account management vary from client to client, but broadly speaking they want three things.

The first is knowledge—primarily knowledge of the client organisation and the opportunities and challenges it faces. Without this foundation, any suggestions from the professional services firm will sound at best generic, and at worst irrelevant. They’ll insult senior executives rather than enthuse them—and you only need to read the vast majority of thought leadership that’s explicitly targeted at senior executives to see just how painfully patronising that becomes in practice. Demonstrating a deep understanding of a client’s organisation can only come with time and extensive engagement, so the relevance of a firm’s suggestions is a measure of how much they’ve invested in a given account. The best account managers take their time; like good engineers, they work the problem, pinpointing what’s needed.

But clients, made ever more demanding by economic uncertainty, are also looking for knowledge about their industry—proven best practice they can adopt quickly—and knowledge about technology. It’s important, too, for account managers to know about their own firm. Sounds obvious? We couldn’t count the number of clients we’ve spoken to who say they had to persuade a client partner or account manager that their firm really did have the skills required to work in a different area. “Half the time we know more about their firm than they do,” one client pithily put it.

The second thing clients look for from a client partner or account manager is the ability to solve problems creatively. Clients don’t ask for outside help when they know the solution; professional services firms can add the most value by bringing the type of new thinking that can help solve long-standing, intractable issues in an innovative way. Some people are better at this than others, but the length and breadth of their experience is critical, as is their willingness to turn problems on their head. A creative account manager will recognise that if you’re hitting your head against a wall in business terms, then it makes sense to go round the wall by redefining the outcome you’re trying to get to.

The third thing, which may be more of a surprise to professional services firms, is good project management skills. In other words, clients want lead partners and account managers who can get things done. That means getting things done in the client organisation, because they understand who to talk to, to clear obstacles, the politics of who and how to get senior stakeholders on board. And getting things done within the professional services firm: When a client has an unanticipated need and would welcome advice from a specific expert, they turn to their account lead to make that happen—and happen quickly.

There’s one thing that clients are much less interested in: Personability. The communication skills and even the friendliness of an account manager may be nice to have, but these qualities are not enough by themselves.

Knowledge trumps charm.