Group Customer Development Manager

Customer Development

Lead the annual customer planning process across all categories, ensuring alignment with FC’s overall strategic objectives for the account.

Support the development of a comprehensive 3-year Total Customer Business Plan and budget, identifying strategic directions and commercial opportunities across the entire FC business.

Ensure that Category Strategies and Shopper Marketing Plans are clearly integrated into each Customer Plan, both by category and at a total customer level.

Support the development of customer-specific strategies and guidelines that allow FC to leverage its size and scale within the customer organization.

Lead the Joint Business Planning process with the customer at the total business level. Drive the agreement of a mutually agreed scorecard, and track and review it on a quarterly basis.

Approve the promotional framework for each category (as recommended by the Category Development team) and ensure its implementation by the Customer Development (CD) team. Follow the guidelines established by the National Customer Development Manager for the total customer.

Customer Contribution / Cost-to-Serve

Lead the review and management of Customer Contribution and all key financial metrics (e.g., sales, margins, returns, volume, chargebacks, program impact) for the customer.

Develop strategies to improve Customer Contribution and Cost-to-Serve. Monitor and track the implementation of these strategies, taking corrective actions as required.

Trading Terms & Trade Spend Guidelines

Lead the development and implementation of the Trading Terms framework for the customer (at both the total business and category levels). Take charge of trading term negotiations with the customer.

Align all commercial policies and ensure consistency in trading terms across categories. Minimize FC's exposure to risk, ensure transparency, and optimize effectiveness.

Enforce trade spend guidelines by category, ensuring efficient overall spend and minimizing "non-performance" spend for the customer.

Customer Relationship / Needs

Support the development of a strategic partnership with the customer, based on aligned goals and a deep understanding of the category and retailer dynamics from a total business perspective.

Act as the primary point of contact for all commercial issues from a total business perspective, taking corrective actions when needed.

Lead the development of a customer engagement strategy that builds and maintains strategic relationships with all key stakeholders within the customer organization.

Support the Customer Development Manager (CDM) and Customer Development Executive (CDE) in resolving ongoing or complex category-specific issues with the customer.

Champion the needs of the customer within the FC business.

Sales Forecast / Customer Service Levels

Ensure the timely submission of a consolidated sales forecast (total customer) to the Demand and Supply team.

Establish and implement clear internal and external initiatives to improve forecast accuracy.

Ensure customer service levels are reviewed monthly by the Customer Service team and the CDM.

Proactively address any ongoing service level issues.

Review and Evaluation

Lead the assessment of overall customer performance, including sales by account and account profitability.

Lead a formal quarterly internal review of customer plans.

Ensure that category plans are reviewed with the customer on a quarterly basis.

Lead the annual Top-to-Top meeting with the customer to review total business performance, identify opportunities, and evaluate the achievement of jointly agreed targets.

Evaluate the effectiveness of FC’s investment choices within the customer.

Proactively drive strategy reviews in cases where sales objectives are not met or trade spend is misaligned.

Team Building and Development

Ensure the Customer Development / Sales team has the necessary skills and competencies to deliver on key business, category, and customer objectives.

Ensure each team member has clearly defined annual objectives aligned with business priorities. Line managers should review progress quarterly and report summaries to the senior leadership team.

Ensure each team member has a personal development plan to enhance their competency, category expertise, and channel know-how.

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