Account Management Roles & Goals Presentation Script

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I was at home the other night, doomscrolling on social media, as I sometimes do, when a clip came up from one of those marketing gurus.

Normally, I would probably have kept scrolling. But she introduced a framework that genuinely resonated with me. It was being discussed in a marketing context, but it made me reflect on how we have been operating as a team.

The framework was three letters: V, A and E. Can anyone guess what they stand for?

V is vision: what are we trying to accomplish, why are we trying to accomplish it, and why does it matter?

A is alignment: having the right stakeholders in the room, doing the right things at the right time.

And E is execution: getting on with the work and delivering the result.

It made me think about where we are as a team. I do not think any of you would disagree that, for some time now, we have had our heads well and truly in execution.

That is not a criticism. Everyone has been working incredibly hard. There has been a huge amount of change, not least bringing two businesses together, and the work has still needed to get done.

But there is a risk when we spend all our time in execution. We can be working extremely hard while operating from different perspectives, prioritising different things or approaching the same situations in different ways.

So today gives us a valuable opportunity to pause, lift our heads from the day-to-day and strengthen the alignment between us.

And specifically, I want us to become aligned on three things.

And specifically, I want us to become aligned on three things.

Three Things

So, if I have done my job properly, by the end of the next 20 minutes everyone should come away clear on three things: why Account Management exists, what we own, and what success looks like.

Why We Exist. What We Own. What Success Looks Like.

Not just as words on a slide, but what they mean for how we run our accounts and operate as a team.

I also want you to come away recognising the opportunity in front of us, and the part each of you can play personally in driving the Fresh Division forward.

So let us begin with why we exist.

We Are a Sales Team

We are a sales team.

I want to let that sink in for a moment because it is something I want us to be absolutely clear about. Fundamentally, we are here to drive profitable growth for the business.

I know from conversations I have had over the past few months that the word "sales" can make some people slightly uncomfortable. The reaction can be, "But we're not salespeople."

We are. But that does not require us to become something we are not.

We Lead Customer Relationships That Create Value and Drive Profitable Growth

Our route to growth is through the development of established customer relationships.

If we manage those relationships effectively, understand our customers and remain in control of our accounts, we will identify opportunities to protect revenue, create greater value and grow the business.

That is what sales looks like in Account Management.

So, if that is why we exist, the next question is: what do we need to do differently to deliver it?

We Need to Respond Brilliantly Today Whilst Actively Shaping

Tomorrow

One of our real strengths as a team is our ability to respond to problems and resolve them quickly and effectively for our customers. We do that brilliantly, and it is one of the reasons customers value their relationship with us.

But if all our time is spent responding to what happened yesterday, or even what happened this morning, we are not creating the space to influence what happens tomorrow.

I have spoken to many of you about this already. Historically, our Account Management has tended to be more reactive than proactive.

That is the shift we now need to make. But it is not a choice between responding to customers and looking ahead. We have to do both.

We still need to be brilliant at responding when customers need us. The danger is that the urgent can very easily crowd out the important. If all our time is spent dealing with today's issues, we never create the space to shape where the account goes next.

Responding well keeps the account moving today. Being proactive determines where it goes tomorrow.

We also need to be honest about what it takes to create the space to be proactive. This is not simply about asking you to work harder or manage your time better.

If you are repeatedly being pulled into the same operational issues, we need to understand why. Is it genuinely a one-off problem, or is there a recurring pattern? Is ownership clear? Is there something in the process that needs to change?

Our role cannot be to absorb the same issue every time it occurs. We still own the customer outcome, but proactive ownership means identifying the pattern, bringing the right people together and helping to address the underlying cause.

Christian and I have a responsibility to create an environment that gives you the clarity, information and support to do that. The working sessions today will help us identify what is getting in the way and what needs to change.

Because if we do not create that space, we will continue to respond to today brilliantly, but we will never get far enough ahead to shape tomorrow.

So let me make this practical. I want to look at two areas where proactive Account Management really matters: commercial performance and the strength of our customer relationships.

Let us start with performance. Revenue has fallen.

Reactive to Proactive: Performance

Those of you who have worked with me for a while will have heard me use the phrase “weather reporting”.

Here is a good example. Revenue has fallen. We have a report that tells us it has fallen. We repeat the number, perhaps offer a headline explanation, and then move on.

It is a bit like looking out of the window and saying, "It's raining." The obvious response is, "So what are you going to do about it?" And the answer is, "Nothing. It's the weather. I can't change it."

The problem with weather reporting is that it treats commercial performance as something that simply happens to us.

But revenue is not the weather. We may not control every reason it moves, but we can understand what has happened and influence what happens next.

So, what would proactive ownership look like?

Reactive to Proactive: Performance – The Proactive Response

First, find the loss. Where is it? Which sites, categories or products are driving the decline?

Then establish why. Is it a site closure, reduced ordering, incomplete implementation, category leakage, competitor activity or a service issue?

Once we understand that, we can quantify what is realistically recoverable and build a plan. That will probably involve working with the customer and bringing in the right people internally.

But the plan is not the end of it. We follow the actions through, reflect the expected recovery in our forecast and track the response, so we know whether what we are doing is working.

Reporting tells us what has happened. Account Management takes responsibility for what happens next.

The report is not the work. It tells us where the work begins.

The commercial picture tells us where to look. But the quality of our relationships determines how much we can understand and influence.

Reactive to Proactive: Relationships

I have been thinking about the range of customers we manage. At one end, we have smaller family-owned caterers and businesses. At the other, we have large, complex global organisations.

The scale and structure may be different, but the question is the same: are we really making the most of the relationships we have?

Interestingly, I was out walking the dog with a friend of mine a couple of nights ago. He works in Account Management for FedEx, so I was picking his brains about how they approach it.

He said to me, “Ben, I always think three up and three down.”

What he meant was that, wherever his main day-to-day contact sits, he deliberately tries to build relationships at different levels above and below that person. Not necessarily three levels every time, but the principle is to understand the organisation from more than one perspective.

The senior leaders can tell him about the direction of the business, its priorities and what is coming next. The people closer to the day-to-day operation can tell him what is really happening, where the friction is and what could work better.

He told me that customers will sometimes say, "You seem to know more about what is happening across our business than we do." But that understanding has not happened by accident. He has built it deliberately.

This is not about bypassing or undermining our main contact. It is about building a broader, stronger and more resilient relationship with the customer.

One strong contact is valuable, but relying on one relationship limits what we can see and makes the account vulnerable if that person moves on.

So, what would proactive relationship ownership look like?

Reactive to Proactive: Relationships – The Proactive Response

Our opportunity is to understand where influence and decisions sit, build the right relationships and adapt how we communicate. I expect us to be able to speak credibly with anyone from a C-suite leader to a chef in a kitchen.

Because every level gives us a different perspective. The more perspectives we understand, the better placed we are to create value, influence decisions and identify opportunities.

Those are two very different examples, but there is a common thread running through both of them, and that is ownership.

What We Own

For me, ownership is responsibility for what happens next.

That does not mean doing every task yourself. Account Management involves lots of different people across the business, and there will be decisions that do not sit solely with you. But you are the person making sure the account continues to move forward.

Leading the relationship is more than having a good relationship with your main contact. It means understanding the customer's business, knowing who matters across the organisation, what pressures they are facing and where the opportunities sit.

Owning the performance means being able to explain what is happening across your account. Where is revenue moving? What is happening with service?

What does the forecast tell us? Where are the risks, the leakage and the opportunities? You should understand the story behind the numbers, not simply receive the report.

Building the plan means deciding where we are taking the account. What do we need to protect? What needs addressing? Where will growth come from? What are the priorities, actions and commercial outcomes?

And then we make it happen. We make the decisions that sit with us, bring in the right people, maintain momentum and close the loop.

At any point, I should be able to ask you four questions: where is your account today, where are you taking it, what could prevent you from getting there, and what happens next?

Being able to answer those questions is what being in control of your account looks like.

Now, at this point, I can almost hear a response because it is something I am told regularly: "But we can't do anything about it. It isn't up to us."

Control and Influence

Sometimes the final decision will not be ours. A customer may decide whether to adopt a product, open a category or change a process. An operational decision may sit elsewhere in the business. Pricing, contractual terms or the service model may need wider agreement.

But there is a huge difference between not controlling the final decision and being unable to affect the outcome. We absolutely can influence it.

Influence is not vague. It comes from understanding the facts, knowing the customer, identifying the right stakeholders, making a strong recommendation, communicating it well and following it through.

If a customer has not adopted an agreed range, we may not be able to force them to do it. But we can establish where adoption has stalled, understand the barriers, demonstrate the value, involve the right decision-makers and agree the next action.

If a decision needs approval elsewhere in the business, our role is not to stop at “It isn't up to us.” Our role is to bring the facts, explain the customer and commercial impact, make a recommendation and help the right decision get made.

We may not own the final decision, but we own the quality of our influence.

Account Management is about improving the likelihood of the right outcome, not withdrawing from it because we cannot guarantee it.

And that influence becomes much stronger when it is built through a deliberate rhythm, rather than appearing only when there is a problem.

The Account Management Rhythm

Proactive Account Management needs a rhythm. Cadence is not simply about how often we speak to the customer. It is about making sure our contact is purposeful and moves the account forward.

For larger and more complex customers, appropriate contact may happen several times a week. But several calls a week about immediate problems can still be entirely reactive.

As a minimum, every managed account should have a meaningful, planned customer touchpoint each month. Quarterly, our strategic accounts should have a formal business review covering performance, insight, risk, opportunity and the forward plan. Annually, there should be a clear account plan and a review of the relationship, stakeholders and commercial priorities.

Particularly within N.C.B, some of that regular Account Management rhythm has become inconsistent while the business has worked through significant change. This is our opportunity to reset the standard across the Fresh Division.

A Q.B.K should not become an operational weather report or a data dump. It should answer a much more valuable question: how are we helping this customer operate better, and what are we going to do next?

Every meaningful touchpoint should create greater understanding, a decision, an action or forward movement. Cadence is purposeful contact, not diary compliance.

A clear rhythm gives us the structure. But structure only works if the people who understand the account and the customer impact feel trusted to act.

Empowered to Act

You are empowered to run your accounts. Empowerment is knowing which decisions are yours and being trusted to make them.

You do not need my permission to set the customer rhythm, arrange and lead meetings, build the right relationships, investigate a service or performance issue, bring the right people together, own your forecast or progress agreed opportunities.

Some decisions need wider alignment, specifically where they change the commercials, contractual terms or the service model, or where they create material financial or reputational risk.

In those situations, I still expect you to own what happens next. Establish the facts, understand the implications, decide what you recommend and involve the right person early. Bring the facts, your recommendation and the next step. Then retain responsibility for moving it forward and closing the loop.

I have a responsibility to create the environment in which you can do that successfully. That means clear direction, useful information, support and access to the right expertise. Your responsibility is to apply your knowledge and judgement and act.

I want good decisions to be made confidently by the people who understand the account and the impact on the customer.

So make the decision where you can. Bring a recommendation where you cannot. Own what happens next in both cases.

Being empowered to run your account does not mean running it alone. It means knowing how to use the capability around you without passing on ownership.

One Account Management Team

no fear of criticism or repassal.

We are bringing together three colleagues from N.C.B and two from U.F.C. Each person brings different customer knowledge, experience, relationships, category understanding and strengths.

Customers cannot experience one Fresh Division unless we operate as one team.

Nobody here needs to know everything. But everyone should understand the capability available around them and know who can help them reach a better decision.

So I want each of you to think about three things. Do you know the strengths of the people around you? Are you sharing what you know? And are you using the team when it will improve the outcome?

Using the team is not passing ownership. It is drawing on the right expertise while continuing to own the outcome.

The working sessions later today are where we make this practical: understanding what each person can contribute, what support is needed, what remains unclear and how we work together more effectively.

The direction and expectations are clear. Your opportunity is to help shape how we work together to deliver them.

If we combine that shared strength with proactive ownership, this is what success should look like.

What Success Looks Like

For the customer, we make their lives easier, deliver consistently and help them achieve better commercial and operational outcomes.

For the Fresh Division, it means profitable growth: revenue protected, leakage addressed and opportunities converted.

For you as individuals, it means proactive ownership: greater clarity, stronger commercial judgement, confidence to make decisions and visible evidence of the impact you are having. It means feeling in control of your accounts rather than feeling that the accounts control you.

And for the team, it means five people using their collective capability to deliver more than they could separately.

Success should not only appear as a number in a report. It should be visible in the quality of our relationships, the decisions we make, the opportunities we create and the way this team operates.

So let me come back to the promise I made at the beginning and close the loop.

And we have fun doing it.

From Alignment Back to Execution

At the beginning, I said that if I had done my job properly, you would leave this session clear on three things.

Why do we exist? To lead customer relationships that create value and drive profitable growth.

What do we own? The relationship, the performance, the plan and what happens next.

What does success look like? Customer value, profitable growth, proactive ownership and one team using its collective strength.

Zayn will now take us into Pricing and Data and how that supports better commercial decisions.

We need to respond brilliantly today whilst actively shaping tomorrow. The rest of today is where we start doing exactly that.