Key Accounts Manager at Diageo

Purpose of Role:

Aspiring consumers are influenced by what the high-end consumers and the experiences they enjoy. To influence aspirers, we first need to influence the high- end consumers by activations. If you target the aspirer – then it no longer becomes aspirational. We need them to aspire to the cultural lifestyle we project via our brands in the high-end accounts with their customers. PR via the culture teams is the engine which drives the aspiration. The glue of the reserve model is the partnership across top accounts in chose strategic cities.

To ensure we win in market, now and in the future, Diageo needs inspired, motivated, and equipped commercial managers capable of exceeding the goals asked of them.

Role Responsibilities:

• Management of profit and NSV targets – “own the Premium numbers”. Develop truly world class collaborative customer partnerships and strategies,
• Develop, and orchestrate end-to-end relationships via a cross functional network within Diageo and the customer base,
• Develop and co-ordinate tailored brand activity by channel and major customer. Drive the highest standards of execution for all specified outlets.
• Contribute to shopper and category insight resulting in powerful and breakthrough category strategies, Obtain and apply facts and data, driving excellence in planning, decision making and performance measurement and taking corrective action as required,
• Develop accurate forecasting through demand planning resource.  Monitoring, evaluating, and advising on Brand/Customer volume, trends, and dynamics with objective to grow in line with business ambition.
• Create, develop, and execute world class account plans.
• Identify and manage brand distribution (listing) opportunities as defined for the fiscal for all Reserve brands.
• Event co-ordination: co-ordinate experiential events to build Premium brands’ equity
• Win with consumers through world class trend setting experiences that can be codified.
• Contracting 100% TLA, 50% of gold and silver accounts through world class JUCPS.
• Elevated quality of JUCPs anchored on data analytics and qualitative insights, Consistency in execution with no start/stops.

Execution Excellence

• Identify the everyday minimum execution standards for the customers we work with and understand the 365 Essentials principles and how they translate into these execution standards.
• Navigate a sales call/appointment using the clearly defined and proven commercial selling skills to understand customers’ needs and match them to the business propositions.
• Use proven selling techniques to deliver propositions that exceed customer expectations, satisfy needs, and create ‘win, win, win’ opportunities to ensure distributor coverage and call frequency targets are achieved.
• Persuasive selling to deliver a customer proposition; using knowledge of customers to write winning persuasive customer propositions that are used to achieve/exceed objectives.
• Commercial Competence - have a good understanding of the commercials (spend, volume, margin, etc) to make good business decisions that drive profitable growth for Diageo and its customer.  Also, to have a deep understanding of the various financial levers at our disposal and can use these to positively impact Diageo and our customer's P&L.
• Use the processes, tools and plans provided to ensure brilliant execution by building customised plans for priority accounts against nominated growth drivers and ensure that the plans are driven brilliantly at the point of sale. To coordinate the overall execution agenda of the customers we work with.
• To balance the short-term needs with a mid-term perspective and a disciplined activity management approach.
• Ability to implement, track and improve adherence to the minimum execution standards by segment as defined by the market to drive growth. Owning the measurement of the minimum execution standards in the customers we work with and reporting back the results to the sales organisation on an ongoing basis.

Experience / skills required:

• Suitable university degree.
• High cognitive ability Experience
• 3–5 years’ experience gained across commercial and other functions – cross functional experience an advantage.
• Exposure across different channels and different levels of customer sophistication (e.g. Modern Trade, Key Accounts and Field Sales) • Track record of success in highly demanding sales organisations (FMCG) and in alcoholic beverages
• Solid understanding & demonstrated delivery in challenging trading environments, understanding of channel, pricing, negotiations, and strategy development
• Exposure resolving numerous conflict-filled situations
• Negotiation and conflict resolution with powerful customers