CLIENT SERVICES MASTERMIND: The Golden Moments That Grow Project Clients

“Gossip is such gold.”

That’s Adam Millbank’s blunt way of describing what agencies miss when they treat project delivery as a straight line from brief to final sign-off.

Adam is co-founder of BLANKET, a production company where the work is often intense, high-stakes, and project-based. Which means the commercial risk is obvious: do a great piece of work, deliver it, then … hear nothing for two years.

So, instead of leaving client relationships to chance, Adam and his team have built a system around the moments when clients are naturally most open, engaged, and likely to say yes.

“It’s working out when those magic moments are,” he says. Not forced networking, or awkward dinners. The real points where your agency is already showing real value, the trust is high, attention is sharp, and conversations about future work can happen (often without the client consciously aware it’s happening).

In Adam’s case, that could be an on set recce, or midway through post-production, when the project is shaping into the final cut and the client’s excitement is peaking. Those are the magic moments where the JonesMillbank team ask for favours, secure introductions, lines up meetings, and opens the doors for the next opportunities.

“It’s about knowing where your value points are and monopolising those moments so the client feels held, but not bugged.”

In this session, Adam will unpack how to map your own project flow, spot the key relationship moments to pounce on, and build a smarter way to grow accounts when you don’t have the luxury of a monthly retainer.