There are National Account Managers who are simply brilliant within a blue chip FMCG businesses, but who would genuinely struggle working at a challenger brand.
Most hiring managers don't think about this distinction until they've made the wrong hire. Then it becomes very obvious, very fast. A CV that looks perfect on paper with blue chip training and solid account experience doesn't always translate into what a challenger brand actually needs from that person on day one.
Having placed a lot of NAMs into challenger and scale-up businesses, here's what I've found separates the ones who will thrive from the ones who don't.
The job itself is different
At a big FMCG business, a NAM is often largely there to manage things. They manage relationships (that generally already exist) accounts (that are generally already listed) and have budgets that are already allocated. There'll be a category team, a shopper marketing team and probably a trade marketing function sitting behind them. Their job is largely to maintain and grow what's already there.
But at a challenger brand, it’s usually just them!
They're building buyer relationships from scratch, often with brands that a Tesco or Waitrose buyer has never even heard of. They're arguing for listings against products that have been on shelves for twenty odd years. They're trying to tell a compelling commercial story with less data than they'd like and having to make the most of promotional budgets that don't begin to compare to the competition. Plus, somewhere in between all of that, they're probably covering bits of category management, trade marketing and commercial planning too.
It's a very different job. Not harder or easier, just different. And the skills that make someone great at what they do in one environment don't automatically transfer to the other. Which is where businesses can easily make a misstep in their hiring process.
What you're actually looking for
☎️ Blue-chip training, challenger brand hunger.
The best NAMs in this space have usually spent some time in a larger FMCG business. They’ll have some understanding of how buyers think and how major grocery accounts work. But they want more. They want to build something, not just manage it. They want to see the direct impact of what they do and they want to be able to move quickly and nimbly without layers of red tape (which let’s face it can be a major issue in the bigger blue chip environments).
That’s the combination you need. Pure blue-chip candidates who've only ever worked with full support structures can struggle with the autonomy. Pure start-up candidates sometimes lack the commercial rigour that buyers expect. The sweet spot you need is usually someone who's had the training and now wants the freedom.
🙌 Genuine belief in the brand.
This matters more than most hiring managers think. A great challenger brand NAM isn't just selling a product, they're selling a story when they walk into a buyer meeting at a top 4 grocer and make the case for why a brand with a teeny amount of the distribution and marketing budget deserves shelf space.
That's hard to do well if you don't believe in what you're selling. The NAMs who win are the ones who are genuinely excited about the brand's mission, its product quality, its point of difference and who can communicate all this in a way that makes the buyer feel some of it too. The Buyer needs to be swept up in part of that story!
🎨Commercial creativity.
Challenger brand budgets are leaner and every penny must work harder because there's less of them. Great NAMs in this space don't just know how to execute the plan. They know how to shape it, doing more with less constantly.
💪Resilience and adaptability.
Things move fast in a challenger brand and they change often. A new SKU is added. A funding round changes commercial priorities. A buyer changes and you have to rebuild the relationship. A NAM who needs certainty and structure to function well won't thrive in this environment. The one who treats disruption as part of the job and enjoys the problem solving that comes with it will fare much better.
The questions worth asking
When I'm interviewing NAMs for roles with challenger brands there are some questions which feel relevant.
Tell me how you have grown your account or accounts and did the outcome see growth? This tells me several things, that they understand how to create growth rather than rely on spend and that they are commercially creative and resourceful with the mindset to think like a challenger brand.
What's the most commercially risky decision you've made and why did you decide to take it? It shows me that they aren’t scared to take risks if the reward is going to be beneficial to the business and shows me they can think strategically rather than being purely reactive.
There's one more I always suggest to hiring managers for their own interview stage: "What do you know about our brand and what genuinely excites you about it?" It sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many candidates come unstuck here, either with thin research or enthusiasm that doesn’t feel quite genuine. The ones who really know the product, the wider category and the story so far, with real opinions about it, are the ones worth progressing.
Getting the hire right
The cost of a wrong NAM hire at a challenger brand isn't just financial as it can set back key account relationships that are so precious and sought after in those early days. It's one of the most consequential commercial hires you'll make.
If you're building out your commercial team and want to think through what the right profile looks like for your specific business and growth stage, we're happy to have that conversation. It usually takes about twenty minutes and it tends to save a lot of time further down the line.
Hiring for a challenger brand at the moment? Check out our latest report.
George Robinson is a Managing Consultant in PIE's FMCG team, specialising in sales and commercial recruitment for challenger brands and scaling consumer businesses.
Get in touch: george.robinson@pie-recruitment.com | View current FMCG roles