Customer Business Manager

**Company**:Nestlé
**Qualification**: Business Degree or equivalent

**Experience**: More than 8-10 years in business operations.

**Closing Date**: 11 December 2024

**Position Summary**

With a history spanning over 150 years, Nestlé didn’t become the world’s leading food and beverages brand by chance. Perfection is at the heart of what we do, and our people are always looking for the next big idea to cement our status. We are now looking for a Customer Business Manager to be based in Bryanston.

In this role you will be responsible Develop and implement annual customer plans that are aligned with the overall business and customer objectives & strategies, while achieving profitable sales objectives.

**A day in the life of a Customer Business** Manager**:
**Customer Planning & Management**
- Develops a deep understanding of the customers and Route to Market opportunity (organization, strategy, business plans, cost structures, KPIs and key personnel).
- Acquires solid knowledge of the customers and RTM (Route to Market) operation (purchasing, supply chain logistics, commercial, technical capabilities, outlet and POP operations).
- Leads the building of customer and RTM within the cross functional team and ensures a common understanding and continuity of knowledge base during internal transitions.
- Understands Nestlé’s strengths, weaknesses and gaps based on comprehensive business and competitive insights in the market and at the customer.
- Leads the customer and RTM strategy development process with key internal stakeholders and ensures clear linkage between the market business strategy (MBS), category strategy, channel strategy and customer’s strategy and develop and priorities commercial initiatives around the same.
- Develops the customer and RTM plan by developing clear objectives and tactics that are aligned to the integrated commercial plan (ICP).
- Aligns the customer plan with relevant stakeholders internally and obtains needed functional support for executing it.
- Able to priorities customer based on specific criteria (e.g. sales value, profitability, growth) and on their future development.
- Recognizes the customer’s potential to move from pure trading to a more collaborative approach and can develop a strategy to capitalize on this opportunity.
- Identifies influential personnel within the customer and establishes cross-functional engagement based on an aligned customer contact framework.
- Is able to partner in a joint business planning (JBP) process by collaborating with the customer to develop and establish mutually agreed business objectives and plans with shared responsibility.
- Within the monthly business planning (MBP) cycle, ability to derive an intelligent forecast.
- Manages the customer plan, periodically reviewing the performance and revising the course as needed.
- Sets clear selling goals using SMART objectives for the selling agenda of any topic (e.g. category growth projects, pricing, promotion, placing initiatives, new product launches and in-store communication).
- Identifies the key contacts in the customer as well as the key decision makers in Nestlé that are relevant to achieving the selling objective.

**Compliance**
- Adhere to all Company principles and policies including Nestlé trade policy, local Sales policy, local Trade Terms, Safety and legal regulations.
- Ensure compliance to pricing strategies.
- All the employees will strictly abide by the WHO and Local Code in the execution of their job in its letter and spirit.
- Employees are prohibited from making any direct contact with pregnant women and mothers of infants and young children in their business capacity.

**People development**
- Ensure development of careers, succession plans, development and coaching of sales personnel as well as direct reports.***

**What will make you successful?**
- Business Degree or equivalent
- More than 8-10 years in business operations.
- Strong experience in Sales or marketing.
- FMCG and/or Wholesale experience (in channel and category development), Key account management, CCSD, Sales Operations and marketing.
- Demonstrated success in previous roles.
- Demonstrated ability to lead, coach & develop teams.
- Experience with building and managing RTM solutions and distributors.