Team Spotlight: Client Operations

At PHM, we reimagine the health experience everyday—but how does that play out in the day to day lives of our employees?

To answer this question, PHM presents the Team Spotlight, highlighting a different team each month and detailing not only the work they do, but how they make PHM a great place to work.

This edition: Client Operations, through the lens of Debbi Stahl and Katie Waylett, Directors, Operations

On the Client Operations team, we view PHM like a cell. As we all remember from high school biology, cells have many parts—ribosomes, cytoplasm, mitochondria. We often describe our team as the nucleus of that cell, working hard to ensure the various cross-functional teams at PHM have structure in place to work efficiently.

Our team has foundational knowledge of all of the capabilities at PHM and we use that knowledge to guide and promote internal forward progress.  To that end, we are responsible for many things, including scoping work, analyzing staffing, overseeing finances and revenue, project management and driving process improvement. All of this contributes to our defined goal of supporting and driving solutions for our clients. Because we touch many different areas of the business, it’s essential that we foster collaboration with all of our partner teams. Working in the health industry also adds layers of complexities to these processes. We are tasked with understanding the individual media needs for HCP and DTC brands, as well as implications for FDA drug approvals and access. We have to stay nimble to support our teams in an ever-changing landscape.

Because of these nuances, no two days are ever the same. One day, we’ll create a pricing estimate for a new brand, while the next, we may write a scope for a different brand. By the end of the week, we may be finalizing a revenue forecast. On any given day, we could be reporting on the financial health of the business in our monthly account meetings, creating a Smartsheet template or resolving a billing issue. Amid all of this, we are also working with PHM client leads to provide updates on the business, understand growth opportunities and proactively anticipate the needs of our clients. Many of our client teams span across several brands and audiences, requiring us to track against several workstreams. Our group constantly focuses on problem solving by engaging with other teams, which keeps our days busy!

As Directors on the Client Operations team, we also often work directly with our client marketing teams and procurement contacts. We are a resource for them through scoping, navigating new or existing scopes of work and troubleshooting any billing needs. This requires a deep understanding of basic responsibilities across agency departments.

The Client Operations team has evolved a great deal in the last few years at PHM and the impact of our group has never been clearer. Between the two of us, we have a collective 8 years at PHM (5 years for Katie, 3 years for Debbi) and we both continue to be challenged every day. Our teammates are highly skilled in finance, project management, process improvement and client service, as well as all having a deep interest in healthcare. It’s so rewarding to work with extremely smart individuals, who are always helpful in navigating any gray areas. Due to the highly collaborative environment that PHM fosters, we are never alone when it comes to solving a problem. At the end of the day, its rewarding to know that our work contributes to meaningful connections and enables healthcare providers and patients to make informed treatment decisions.

Connect with Debbi and Katie on LinkedIn.

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