SOLOMON STRATEGIC· EST. 1999
If you are seeking an expert in achieving behavior change with advertising/ marketing/PR agencies, clients, and individuals, I'm here to help.
Consultant · Coach · Workshop Leader · Author of The Art of Client Service
For agencies, clients and individuals with a strategy challenge, writing project, speaking assignment, coaching issue or client service problem in need of behavior change.
AN ANOMALY
A micro conglomerate with one objective.
In a world of mega conglomerates and narrow specialization, Solomon Strategic is an anomaly. The work encompasses brand strategy, new business, writing, speaking, workshops, client service, and executive coaching. The common thread is simple: each assignment is about helping a company, client, employer, team, or individual change behavior.
THE PRACTICE
Several disciplines. One purpose.
Brand Strategy
Helping organizations find, refine or reposition the story that makes them more useful, more distinct and more persuasive.
New Business Development
Helping agencies and marketing firms improve how they present themselves, pursue opportunities, and earn trust.
Client Service
Helping account people, agency leaders, and client-facing teams become better stewards of relationships, trust, and work.
Writing
Commercial writing, speeches, presentations, website content, and other assignments where words need to carry judgment.
Workshops & Speaking
Practical sessions for teams that need to improve client service, leadership, or communication.
Read more
The assignment may change.
The objective does not.
Each assignment is about helping a company, client, employer, team, or individual change behavior to solve a problem, capitalize on an opportunity, or chart a new path forward.
Behavior of a company.
Behavior of a client.
Behavior of an employer.
Behavior of a consumer.
Behavior of an individual trying to navigate what comes next in their career.
THE BOOK
The Art of Client Service
The classic guide for people who manage clients, relationships, and work that depends on trust.
Much has changed in the last ten years: there has been the rise of client procurement, a sharp decline in agency compensation, the sudden emergence of large-language-model artificial intelligence, the growth of working remotely, the increasing influence of social media, and the regressive devaluation of creative work.
These changes speak to a long-overdue need for a new book to address their impact; the new, fourth edition of The Art of Client Service is that book. It preserves what remains timeless from the book’s previous edition, while addressing subjects that have transformed how people work.
The new book discusses six core principles that define stellar client service/account management tradecraft, preceded and followed by content readers should find timely, relevant, and applicable to their careers. There’s a timely discussion of artificial intelligence, a conversation about what’s good and not-so-good about working remotely, and a check-in with a wide range of industry experts and authorities, so readers have the benefit of their counsel in addition to the author’s.
What makes The Art of Client Service truly indispensable is it shares what matters most to those who want to emerge as highly accomplished, confident, and capable client service people.
A PHILOSOPHY
Responsiveness is not the same as service.
Weak account people do little to improve work and sustain client relationships. Strong account people filter, clarify, interpret, and build, serving not as a messenger for others, but rather as a key source of enduring, trust-based relationships that fosters advertising and marketing that succeeds.
The brief is often hiding inside the client's ramble.
Relationship builds trust.
Great work strengthens the relationship.
Every small action either builds trust or spends it.
Trust helps clients buy brave work.
The work survives when friction does not.
WHO TURNS TO SOLOMON STRATEGIC FOR HELP?
The work tends to find five kinds of people.
Advertising & Marketing Agencies
For agency leaders trying to improve positioning, new business, client service, or team performance.
New Business Development People
For firms that need sharper strategy, clearer writing, and stronger relationship management.
Client-Facing Teams
For account people and executives who need to serve clients with more judgment, confidence, and trust.
Executives & Individuals
For leaders navigating career change, job search, communication challenges, or leadership decisions.
Organizations Needing a Speaker
For teams that want a practical, memorable session on client service, communication, or behavior change.
WORKSHOP & SPEAKING
Workshops that teach people what experience has already proven.
I speak with and lead workshops for agency teams, account management groups, marketing service firms, client-facing professionals, executive groups, industry associations, founder and CEO networks, and career transition audiences.
Why Client Service is an Art.
Can Account Management Be Saved?
Five Ways to be More Creative
One Agency Meltdown plus Two Client Disasters equals Three Difficult Conversations and How to Navigate Through Them
Formulating a Creative Brief that Drives Great Creative
How to Run a Meeting, Brief a Colleague, Write a Conference Report, and Formulate and Give a PowerPoint Presentation
Avoid the Pitch from Hell
COACHING
Coaching for people at a point of decision.
My coaching is more than just motivational theater; it is hands on, imaginative, yet practical counsel for people trying to make better decisions, communicate more clearly, and move forward with confidence.
Executive coaching
Career change counsel
Job search strategy
Resume and narrative development
Leadership counsel
Communication and decision support
ADVENTURES IN CLIENT SERVICE
A weekly refuge for people who deal with clients.
PERSONAL
How I Learned to Drive
A small lesson with a long shadow over how I now think about teaching, coaching and patience.
AI & WORK
New Business Development
There are no silver medals in the Olympics of new business.
AGENCY LIFE
Is Meeting Remotely Better Than Meeting in Person?
Convenience has a cost. So does pretending nothing has changed.
PERSONAL
Why I'm Taking a Sabbatical From Adventures
On stepping back, looking up and listening longer.
CAREER
A Little Help From My Friends
When it got hard to get by, all I needed was a little help from my friends.
CAREER & EXPERIENCE
A career built across strategy, direct marketing, digital, commercial writing, and client service.
Founder
Solomon Strategic
CEO, New York
Rapp Collins
President, Direct & Interactive Marketing
Ammirati Puris Lintas
Managing Director, Direct Marketing
Foote Cone & Belding
SVP Marketing, Associate Partner
Digitas
M.A. Literature
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.A. American Studies, Phi Beta Kappa
George Washington University
PRAISE
What people learn from Robert tends to stay with them.
Robert is a thoughtful and inspiring manager, fantastic at educating along the way. I learned more about servicing clients in the 2 years I worked for Robert than any other period in my career.
Lisa Lefebvre
The Art of Client Service is the book that named my mistake. The job is not responding to the client. It is reducing friction so the brave work survives the meeting.
Sam Davies
On The Art of Client Service
THE NOTEBOOK
Notes on client service, behavior change and better work.
Receive thoughtful updates from Robert on client service, strategy, writing, coaching, leadership and the occasional human story that has something useful to teach.
If the assignment requires behavior change, start here.
Strategy, writing, speaking, coaching, and client service are not separate disciplines here. They are different ways of helping people and organizations act with more clarity, confidence, and purpose.
Solomon Strategic
A micro-conglomerate built around one experienced generalist with a single objective: changing behavior.
READ & EXPLORE
© 2026 Solomon Strategic. All rights reserved.
Robert Solomon · Author of The Art of Client Service