Posted By Greg Hilton
Here is a simile for you . . . Buying a reporting solution and not considering the cleanliness, accuracy and timeliness of the data being analyzed, is like installing a beautiful water faucet in your kitchen and hooking the plumbing directly to your sewer line.
Good data is like a filet mignon!
I was on a phone call with a potential customer the other day. I love being involved in the sales process because you really get energized by offering answers to the problems that your potential customers are facing. It is a really neat experience when a potential customer has one of those “ah-ha” moments.
We were demonstrating our trade spend reporting and analytics tool, ContractPro® with AthenaSM, and the question came up, “How do you set yourself apart from your competition as far as reporting? Isn’t ContractPro with Athena just a reporting tool? I think my answer was something like, “No it is not just a reporting tool and SteakUms® are not just another fine cut of steak.”
Data is like a foundation!
I was a bit more political with the individual on the phone but it underscores one of the most misunderstood and often missed differences in trade promotion and trade spending solutions in the industry. Long before there were standard contract management software solutions like ContractPro and ValuTrak®, Answers Systems was working on standardizing data collection. We understood that the foundation of reporting and information solutions must be built on rock solid data from distributors and operators.
Build a “trick” suite of software with cool analytics… and then lay it on top of inaccurate and delayed, unmapped generally ugly data… and you get a really pretty picture of the aforementioned sewage plant. In other words, do not make your solution selection based on the beauty of the analytics sales presentation. Consider the big three elements of data…
The big three is like the big 2 plus 1!
1. Most any solutions provider (most) can work with you to get your own manufacturer data into the solution software. If you are a manufacturer, you sell product into distribution, you have customers in a database, you have products in a database, etc. These are all pretty easy to get to (since they sit in your database), and they are all needed to make any trade spending solution work.
2. Contracts should come from somewhere. For Answers Systems customers, we store customer contracts in the industry leading ContractPro product. You track all of your deals, you interact and get deals approved, you analyze the performance of the contract. . . all the cool stuff software can provide.
3. Claiming data is pretty important in this mix. Actually, this is where lots of other solution providers miss the boat. Getting claim data from the distributors and operators, cleaning it, matching it to your sku, contract, customers, etc. helping to reconcile discrepancies is not just a “nice to have” in this equation, it is the lifeblood of the whole process.
Data is NOT like a cute little fluffy bunny!
Remember, if you are not getting your claim data coming into your trade spending solution within 5-7 days after the delivery date. . . If you are not matching every piece of unit-level data to a real operator. . . If you are not embracing electronic claiming data initiatives . . . do not try to lay a reporting or analytics solution on top your data. Unless you are a fan of balcony seating at the county waste disposal site.
Want to embrace the issue, consider the solution and really improve your organization’s trade promotion management? Contact us. Answers Systems' ContractPro and ValuTrak solutions are software and outsourced services designed for the unique and specific needs of the foodservice industry.