Start of our overview of the different jobs at Feed Manager!
Today, we open our doors to you and take you into the heart of the Feed Manager adventure! For this first episode, we introduce you to Baptiste, Account Manager. He tells us about his daily life in the agency and the reality of his job in the field.
What is an Account Manager?
The Account Manager is responsible for the product flows of his/her client portfolio: he/she must ensure that these are up to date, of good quality and adapted to the various distribution channels. Within the agency, this may involve acquisition levers (Google Shopping, comparators, etc.), marketplaces (Amazon, Cdiscount, ManoMano, etc.) or more specific feeds (customised feeds for particular needs).
He proposes optimisations to help his client achieve his objectives and accompanies him in his various needs.
He is proactive, offering the latest innovations to his clients. His role is really to be the customer's point of support for everything related to the flow and performance of products on the various platforms.
1. Who are you?
Baptiste, 25 years old, passionate about video games and digital since I was very young (before we called it "computing", I swear). I've been in Bordeaux for 5 years, and this is my second year at Feed Manager.
2. Can you describe your background in a few sentences?
I have a rather classic background: it all starts in the first grade... No, seriously, I followed an education and a path that a lot of people take nowadays. I got my BAC ES (Economic and Social for the youngest). I recently learned that there were no more BAC S, ES and L. So I feel old, but happy to be part of history. After that, I did a little tour in DUT (Technical University Diploma) in Marketing, then a business school specialised in the digital economy, the ESCEN in Bordeaux. That's when I joined Feed Manager, during my first year of a master's degree, as Assistant Traffic Manager for one year, before leaving to try new things (professionally, of course)! Finally, I joined Feed Manager again in January 2020, so it's been about a year since I came back.
3. What is a typical day for you?
There's not really a typical day! This is a good thing for me because I don't like being stuck with the same tasks all day long. Of course, some tasks need to be done every day, such as checking the status of feeds and updating them, but in general, no two days are alike! For example, you might spend part of your day optimising the quality of a feed, or you might work on improving a product marketplace catalogue, and then you might think about what sales strategy to adopt with a customer. It will really depend on the customers and the periods. Sales or Black Friday, for example, can be... intense periods!
4. What are the 3 qualities that seem important to you for this job?
If I had to keep three important qualities, I would say that you have to be organised, rigorous and curious.
- Organised, because it can happen on busy days that there are many subjects to deal with and a lack of organisation can quickly become a handicap in the midst of the flow of information. This is a point that I personally had to work on, and I managed to use the right tools to improve on this point.
- Rigorous also because we deal with data, data flows (or feeds). A small mistake can have big consequences, so you have to know how to control yourself and be precise in what you put in place.
- And finally, being curious, being interested in what we do, digging to understand. I would even say that curiosity is one of the most valuable qualities you can have when you manage flows and work on catalogues that you don't know. But being curious also means being interested in customers and working with them on what could improve their performance. In the end, being curious and involved is already a big part of the job.
Baptiste
5. What do you enjoy most?
It's quite personal, each Account Manager has his or her own affinities. Personally, I like two aspects of my job today:
- Customer relations: understanding their needs, discussing with them the problems they encounter, but also our own, managing to understand their strategy and integrate it, and also passing on our knowledge in terms of flow management so that they too can integrate into the flow optimisation process. Establish a healthy relationship based on trust.
- The satisfaction that everything works: optimising a flow, a process so that everything works together automatically to something satisfying. It may sound silly when you say it like that, but just like a developer who manages to solve a problem or create a script that works, there is a certain satisfaction that all the flows work together.
Oh yes, and at Feed we have a table football.
6. What surprised you?
I would say flexibility: you have to be able to adapt to all situations and platforms. You also have to be flexible and move from client to client, and therefore adapt to several types of products, several markets, sometimes even several countries. That's why being rigorous and organised can be a great help in managing all your clients and all your flows.
7. What is the difference between being an Account Manager at Feed Manager and elsewhere?
Feed Manager is now part of a larger group: Labelium. This allows me to keep the 'start-up' spirit that I have always known and loved at Feed Manager, but with the opportunities that a large group offers in terms of mobility, tools and expertise. It was very important for me to be able to evolve in a company on a human scale and with ambition.
We also have a 'family' feel to us. The values transmitted by Maxime (editor's note: Doreau, founder of the agency) when he created the agency 10 years ago are still the same and you can feel it, both in human relations and in our work. We trust people by giving them responsibilities while remaining available and caring with them to allow them to progress, to learn and to become experts in a field where there is no real "school" training.
A good proportion of Account Managers and Team Leaders have been through the Assistant or Account Manager stage before moving on. We look for people rather than degrees, and that can make a big difference at the end of the day.
Being at Feed Manager also means having the opportunity to evolve in what drives us: everyone has their own skills and facets of the job that they prefer. Some will be more comfortable with the marketplace and others with comparison/acquisition feeds, for example. The aim is not to direct people towards the needs of the company, even though this may sometimes be necessary, but to give everyone the opportunity to express themselves on the levers on which they like to evolve and to train people in this direction. I would say that each one of us charts our own course if I want to be heavy-handed, but I'm not going to do that (laughs).
A word to conclude? What could we wish you for the future?
I would say that being at Feed Manager is above all having the opportunity to work in a human-sized agency but within a larger group. As for the future, I hope to be able to diversify my skills, for example in the mastery of more aggregators and/or tools, and to continue to contribute to the development of the agency after what has fortunately been a rather intense year for us. I'm also looking forward to getting back into the office as soon as possible so I can get out of my cave!
Did I mention that we have a table football?
By the way, if you want to join us, don't hesitate to contact us via: contact@feed-manager.com or via Welcome to the Jungle, we are always looking for new talents!
