This made us think about what skills, planning tools and processes we needed to manage these relationships.  We also felt that the processes we needed to put in place to support big global players should be scaleable, so that smaller retailers could apply them as well.

RTM: So how does the Account Management System (AMS) achieve that?

PJ: By putting in place a culture and a system that makes account managers more efficient and more proactive.  AMS is really a philosophy of how to do business, backed up by systems and training.  We wanted to create a culture that encouraged all this, which could help account managers assess potential and realise it.  It has almost to force the account manager constantly to ask: "What can we do to sell more, using HP and the account’s assets?"

RTM: Why are consistency and scaleability so important?

PJ: We wanted a senior manager anywhere in the world to be able to pick up any account plan and assess it.  All account plans can be viewed on line.

Scaleability means that the same principles are employed; the core principles are the same.  Scaleability also means that you can apply the same principles to every channel.  AMS could be applied to all HP channels right across the group.  Scaleability also has a benefit internally – it provides a career ladder for our account managers.

RTM: I am still unsure as to what AMS actually consists of.

PJ:  Well, it’s a number of things.  It is a consistent, worldwide training programme, which takes the account manager through to dealing with very sophisticated accounts.  It is also a standard information system, a template we could use around the world, and one which new people coming in could use to immediately grasp what was going on with the account.  All this leads to a process for formulating and managing innovative account plans.

The planning tools we’ve provided are also pretty in-depth.  So in the account plan you have a detailed description of the account, its aims and activities, its strategy, and what is happening at category level with a SWOT analysis.

Then there is a more strategic planning exercise with long and short-term perspectives, leading to a set of tactics to help the account achieve its goals.  We also need to understand the key personnel in the account and what motivates them, so we have allowed space to capture this information as well.