A Common Google Interview Question: Account Strategist/Google Ads

Here is a common question you may be asked in a Google interview, especially if you are going into a client-facing role:

I want you to imagine that you are tasked with improving customer satisfaction from 80% to 90% without any additional tools or resources. How would you go about doing this?

In this article, we will answer the question from the perspective of an Account Strategist focused on Ads at Google. Next week, we will answer the question from the perspective of a Sales Engineer focused on Cloud at Google. 

Remember the best way to answer open-ended questions is to use the C.F.A.S. method (Clarify. Framework. Assumptions. Solution.). Click here to learn more or check out my full video on this topic for a high-level breakdown of each step in the C.F.A.S. method. 

Account Strategist

Let’s imagine we are interviewing for the Account Strategist role. Our interviewer, Sue, asks us the question above. Now, we can walk through the C.F.A.S. method: 

Clarify:

“Sue, my first question is if this is a new or existing customer? What I want to understand is if they have been a customer for only a quarter, six months or maybe a year. Sue, I would also want to understand my personal relationship with this client. Have I ever worked with this customer before or is this my first time? What is the client industry, regulated or non-regulated? And is this something we have worked on in the past or this the first time we are working on it?

“The biggest question I have is: Are we trying to improve customer satisfaction between us and the client or between the client and their customers? Are we dealing with a physical product or a service? Have we run any surveys in the past? Lastly, are we targeting the entire customer base or just a section of the user base?

“Sue, I know that is a lot of questions. Can you clarify any of these items for me?”

Framework:

“Sue, let’s just chat about a few concepts that I think are going to be helpful for us to narrow down our focus. The number one place I am always going to start is data. Then, I am going to be thinking about resources or tools. And what is their budget and timeline?

“In addition, I would want to understand the scope and scale. Who are the target customers? Who are the critical stakeholders I will be working with? And focusing on how to best create a shared vision and plan to address their needs.

“Sue, I would love to start with the data, but is there another area you would like to focus on?”

Assumptions:

“I would like to start with just a few assumptions. I am going to assume this is an SMB client we’ve been supporting for about a year in the ecommerce space. They are using our full suite of Google Ads. The last thing I want to assume is that we are focusing on customer satisfaction for their clients. They are looking to improve customer satisfaction with their client base.”

Solution:

“If we are going to look at the data, this really comes back to the first logical step. We’d want to ask the client to tell us what is happening. What is going wrong? Can they provide us with a little bit of data? 

“In correlation, we are absolutely going to want to look at the last survey results they ran with their customers. We are going to dig into everything, including yes-or-no questions, multiple choice selections and especially any free-range comments. Then, as we look at those items, we are going to look for themes and trends. Specifically, we will look for things like performance, utilization, scalability, ease of use, etc. 

“Then, we are going to use internal data on the overall competitive landscape. Have we been working with similar SMB/ecommerce companies for a similar amount of time? My best guess is we probably have. We probably have some really good use cases. We could even dig into the POCs that we’ve done for those competitors and pull any pertinent data.

“The last step is looking at the product types. Whether it’s display, search or YouTube, we want to get a pulse on how they are using our suite of services. We would want to look at that data before we meet with them. 

“Sue, let’s pause here. I would love to dig more into the performance component. That is one of my favorite items to chat about. Or, we could take a step back and look a little bit more at how they are scaling across these platforms. Or we could go back and dig more into one of the initial concepts I mentioned in resources, is there an area that you prefer?” 

Through the C.F.A.S. method, we are able to show our entire thought process when addressing this common question. We are able to engage the interviewer and gather important clarifying data that will help us present better frameworks and solutions.

Watch my full video on this topic below and stay tuned next week as we walk through the same process relating to Google Cloud and a Sales Engineer role at Google.

For more resources visit my website -  Practice Interviews and check out our AI Practice Interview App.