How a Strong Client Services Team Elevates Your Design Potential

Let's talk about something that doesn't get nearly enough credit in design studios: a really good client services team.

I'm not talking about someone who just answers emails and books meetings. I'm talking about the kind of team that creates actual space for your designers to do their best work. The kind that means your creative director isn't spending half their day managing client expectations or decoding vague feedback.

If you've ever thought "we need another designer" when what you actually need is someone to handle everything around the design work, this one's for you.

What Happens When Designers Are Also Client Managers

Here's what I see all the time: talented designers spending huge chunks of their day on calls, writing follow-up emails, chasing approvals, managing scope creep, and trying to translate "can you make it pop more?" into something they can actually action.

It's exhausting. And it's expensive, because those are hours they're not spending on the work you actually hired them to do.

A strong client services team changes that equation completely. They become the buffer, the translator, the organiser. They let your designers be designers.

What This Actually Looks Like in Practice

They handle the communication so your designers don't have to. Every back-and-forth with a client, every status update, every "just checking in" email. That's all managed by someone whose job is communication, not creation. Your designers get clear, actionable briefs instead of messy threads and last-minute panic calls.

They're really good at getting useful feedback. Not all feedback is created equal, and not all clients know how to give it. Client services teams know how to dig deeper, ask the right questions, and translate "I don't like it" into something your designers can actually work with. Less guessing, more doing.

They figure out what actually needs to happen first. When everything feels urgent, nothing is. A good client services team assesses what's genuinely time-sensitive, what can wait, and what needs the most attention right now. Your designers stop firefighting and start focusing on work that actually moves the needle.

They build the relationships that make projects easier. Trust takes time, and someone needs to be building it consistently with your clients. When that's handled well, clients are more patient, more collaborative, and way less likely to derail a project with constant changes. Your designers get the breathing room they need to do great work.

They spot opportunities your designers might miss. Because they're in regular contact with clients, they hear about upcoming projects, shifting priorities, and new needs before anyone else does. That means more work coming in and your design team getting to stretch into new areas instead of wondering where the next brief is coming from.

They balance workloads so no one burns out. A good client services team knows who's swamped, who's got capacity, and what's coming down the pipeline. They manage expectations on both sides so your designers aren't over-promised to clients and under-supported by the studio.

What This Actually Gets You

When client services and design work together properly, everything shifts. Projects run smoother because communication is clearer. Quality goes up because designers have time to actually think. Capacity increases because you're not losing half your team's hours to admin and client management. And clients? They're happier because someone's genuinely looking after them, not squeezing them in between design tasks.

It's not about adding headcount for the sake of it. It's about structuring your team so everyone's doing what they're actually good at.

Is Your Team Set Up Right?

If your designers are spending more time managing clients than designing, or if you're turning down work because you "don't have capacity" when really you just don't have the support structure, it's worth looking at how your team's built.

Sometimes the answer isn't hiring another designer. Sometimes it's hiring the right client services person who makes your existing team twice as effective.

I'd genuinely love to hear how your studio's currently set up and whether this is something you've thought about. If you're trying to figure out whether you need to expand your client services team or restructure what you've already got, let's talk. I work with studios navigating this exact question all the time.

Looking to build or strengthen your client services team? Let's have a conversation about what would actually make a difference for your studio.