Mike Laney
Head of Channel – Distributive
Home based but travels nationwide and overseas
A truly global organisation
“It’s my role to lead, train and motivate account handlers to develop customer relationships and achieve key business objectives. I’m also personally responsible for developing and implementing my trade channel strategy.
I joined Imperial Tobacco because I wanted to work for a truly global organisation who would provide me with opportunities you would only get from a FTSE top 30 business. I started my career here as a National Account Manager for Managed Forecourts, and was promoted to my current role in June 2006.”
Uniquely supportive
“The long standing culture within ITUK is very much one of teamwork and support – there’s a marked absence of “politics”. As we work in a category that has massive outside pressures, it produces an internal support culture that I’ve never experienced in previous employers. Also, because we’re at the leading edge of legislative development, our relationships with major customers is very different too. There’s a co-operation you don’t find elsewhere.
Of course, if you’re hard working and focused on developing your career, you’ll find this intensely rewarding. There’s the challenge of facing issues that have no textbook answer. What’s more, you’ll find a great balance between on-the-job training and personal development. You definitely get back the effort you put in.”
Work faster and smarter
“The continuing support you’ll receive from our Learning and Development Team will be invaluable. Personally, the one to one support I get gives me great hope that I’ll achieve my ambitions to work in a foreign market, at either General Manager or Market Manager level.
We’re market leaders in the largest sterling value FMCG category in the UK – everyone wants to be us and everyone wants to beat us. So to stay in front you need to work faster and smarter than the competition. It’s a challenge we face every day. But joining Imperial Tobacco was the best career decision I have ever made. I’d recommend it to anyone with a real desire to deliver and develop in a tough commercial environment."