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The Art of effective Client Management

For agency SEO professionals who want to do better work for bigger clients

The Art of Client Management course will help you:

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Join over 200 SEOs enrolled in the course

Every successful project has a foundation of strong client management

Managing clients is all about understanding what clients value - putting ourselves in their shoes to understand the context for our project. We must understand the goals, resources and priorities that drive our clients so that we can provide recommendations and projects that create impact, not just documents that gather dust.

Client management matters because SEO is a complex discipline. We require our client's teams to allocate resources in service of our goals whether engineering, product, marketing, editorial or PR. We need to do more than provide recommendations, we need to advocate for SEO initiatives.

This course is designed for anyone who works at an agency, whether you are a:

After completing the course you will:

Manage client expectations more effectively
Communicate more clearly and confidently
Get buy-in and budget for your recommendations
Upsell and retain clients for longer
Be more skilled at building trusted relationships

Get A Pay Rise!

If you want to reach more senior agency roles, client management skills are essential. It's almost impossible to reach more than $100k (US) without building your soft skills: Read more about the SEO skills matrix.

5 Modules Packed with Case Studies & Examples

1. Delivering Client Value

Managing client expectations requires aligning ourselves with our clients on goals, resources and priorities. We need to understand how to provide value, even if we're facing resistance. Learn how to:
  • Understand what's most important to your client
  • Be valuable even when we can't get things done
  • Align with our clients on reporting and metrics
  • Tie our recommendations to business value
64 mins video
CC subtitles (EN)
homework assignment

2. Effective Recommendations

Everyone wants to avoid making documents that get dusty and sit on a shelf. But how? Here we look at how to frame our recommendations so that clients find them compelling and actionable. Learn how to:
  • Create a north star for the project to get everyone excited
  • Understand our client's revenue more deeply
  • Build a business model for SEO investment
  • Tie our recommendations to business value
35 mins video
CC subtitles (EN)
homework assignment
bonus:
SEO business model spreadsheet

3. Clear Communication

Communicating our ideas clearly and confidently is crucial. Especially if we're trying to win over senior stakeholders at our client's organization. Learn how to:
  • Communicate effectively in meetings, emails and documents
  • Structure technical communication clearly and logically
  • Create effective business presentations
73 mins video
CC subtitles (EN)
homework assignment
bonus:
full SEO strategy presentation

4. The Habits of Client Management

Great client relationships are built one interaction at a time. Here we look closely at the various different touchpoints with clients. Learn how to:
  • Create better statement of work (SOW) documents
  • Run great kickoff meetings
  • Retain and upsell clients effectively
  • Deliver recommendations that actually get implemented
55 mins video
CC subtitles (EN)
homework assignment
bonus:
SEO project kickoff guide

5. Building Trust & Handling Conflict

Trust is crucial to good relationships and good communication. But how do you actually build trust? We'll explore deliberate frameworks and strategies. Learn how to:
  • Use the trust equation in real situations
  • Communicate the right way over time as our client relationship evolves
  • Reduce panic before high stakes interactions
  • Use the STATE framework to structure difficult conversations
59 mins video
CC subtitles (EN)
homework assignment

Professional Tier Access

The professional tier gives you the most value - with direct access to 1:1 feedback from Tom Critchlow on your assignments and access to weekly office hours.
Use the homework assignments to get real feedback on real work.
Weekly office hours are intimate spaces to talk about the course or real client situations.

What People Say About the Course

“Tom's course has impacted my daily way of working with clients in an invaluable way. The presentations and discussions are always extremely engaging and interesting.”

Becky Weatherley
Digital Strategist, Supreme Optimization

“The SEO MBA course opened my eyes to a different way of viewing client management, change management, and interpersonal communication that has allowed me to level up my interactions across the board.”

Gary Magnone
Principal, Agency Ops

“I don't think I'll ever interact with a client without referring to and implementing what I learned in Tom's course.”

Jon Nastor
CEO & Co-Founder, Digital Commerce Partners

“Whether you're agency-side, freelance or working cross-functionally with in-house teams, this is an excellent course on all things client management.”

Areej AbuAli
Head of SEO, Papier

“SEOs get too focused on data, numbers, and technicalities, often neglecting a client's experience. This course takes your SEO expertise and makes it translatable for clients at all levels to ensure they fully understand what's happening, how they can report internally, and how things get done!”

Jason Berkowitz
Founder, SEO Director - Break The Web

“Tom has put together an advanced course that can help just about anyone consulting on SEO to level up their business acumen, better connect with their clients, create change inside of complex organizations, and grow accounts for the long term.”

John-Henry Scherck
Principal Consultant, Growth Plays

See more testimonials here

Learn with Tom Critchlow

An industry leader with over 15 years experience in SEO and digital strategy. Tom has worked with well known brands, trained teams of SEO consultants and worked with agencies to improve sales, process and operations.
“Tom brings a unique mix of SEO, business strategy and executive presence. Working together we have successfully secured investment to build modern SEO programs, driven valuable revenue growth and transformed SEO into a strategic business lever with executive leadership at various enterprises.”
- Robert Bellovin, VP Product, Angi
“Tom is a 'CEO Whisperer'. He is truly a world-class listener and mentor who knows how to knock down walls inside companies to get strategic projects delivered.”
- Jeremy Cabral, Co-founder & COO, Finder

Clients I've Worked With

Enroll Today

Two Course Bundle: Last Chance!

The SEO MBA is going on pause, so I'm bundling both courses together for $500 (normally $975!) only until August 31st, at which point I'll pause new course sales.

Access to The Art of Client Management. Over 5 hours of video instruction, case studies, resources, assignments and more.
Access to Executive Presence. Over 5 hours of video instruction, case studies, resources, assignments and more.
Real work templates. Get the full SEO presentation template, business model spreadsheet and kickoff questions document.
Lifetime access. Access to all future updates and revisions as the course expands.

“The SEO MBA has been transformative to my business. Each week I learned how to be a better communicator, better strategist and better industry professional.”

Chris Hackett - Founder, Face Digital

FAQ

Can I get my company to pay for this?
I hope so! Many organizations have L&D, training and professional development budgets that you can use to help pay for the course. Feel free to put your manager in touch with me!
Can I pay by invoice?
Sure thing. Send me an email: [email protected] and I'll get you set up.
Is there a discount for buying multiple seats?
Sure thing. Send me an email: [email protected] and I'll get you set up.
Are there captions for the videos?
Yes, there are English captions for all course videos. Hopefully more languages coming soon.
How long will the weekly office hours continue?
Office hours are held weekly and will continue at least through the end of 2024.
What if I can't make the office hours?
I can't guarantee to cover every single time zone but I'll do my best to vary the time of day and day of the week so that everyone can get a chance to attend these sessions. Most commonly they'll be Thursday morning, Eastern Time
Do I have to follow the 5 week schedule?
No, you don't have to. You get lifetime access to all of the materials on day 1 and can study at your own pace. That said there's a lot of materials so I suggest pacing yourself with the weekly emails!
Will this course share any advanced technical SEO?
No. In fact, there's very little "SEO advice" in the whole course. The focus is specifically on developing client relationships and managing expectations.
Do I get a certificate when I complete the course?
Yes! You'll receive a digital certificate when you complete the course materials.
How can I afford the course outside the US?
Parity pricing is available for countries where the price makes it prohibitive. Email me and I'll sort you out!
Can I get a refund?
There's a 30-day money back guarantee. If you've watched the videos and still aren't getting value then send me an email within 30 days and I'll refund you the course: [email protected]

The SEO MBA contributes 1% of revenue to carbon removal. See more info here.