John Nicholas
Posts by John Nicholas, Director of Sales at Answers Systems.
By John Nicholas
Answers Systems corporate offices are in Oldsmar, Florida. We have a secondary office and a Tier 4 data center in Chattanooga, TN. We also maintain a field sales office in Evansville, Indiana.
ContractPro® is our contract management solution for food manufacturers. We support the management of their agreements with distributors and operators.
ContractPro® provides foodservice professionals with a high tech, online solution that allows users to input, approve, and track the performance of their distributor and bid/ chain operator agreements.
Our value proposition is pretty simple, we do not allow the payment of invalid claims. For tenured clients,...
Recently Kristin Avery sat down with John Nicholas to have a conversation about his recent Top2Top experience.
1. In a 100 words or less, what is Top2Top?
Top2Top is an annual conference sponsored by FSMA (Foodservice Sales & Marketing Association). Top2Top is a chance for Brokers/Agencies to come together around issues that are critical to their business. It also allows attendees the opportunity to stay up-to-date on current trends and to hear concerns within the Agency community.
2. What year did you start attending Top2Top?
I started attending Top2Top in 2005.
3. What was different about Top2Top 2011 than Top2Top...
By John Nicholas
There is a harsh truth for every food manufacturer. If you can’t see down into your business, eventually, you will lose your business! It might be a gradual loss, but you can’t manage something that you can’t see. Successful foodservice manufacturers must gain greater visibility into their supply chain.
This increased visibility can be a scary thing! If you have been bleeding for a long time, when you first expose the wound, it can look pretty ugly. One of the main obstacles to successfully managing trade spending is fear of the unknown. Many people are afraid to know...
by John Nicholas
What are the business practices that will help me maximize my profits and return on investment?
What metrics do I use to measure the effectiveness of my sales efforts and spending?
How can I increase the rate of new product penetration?
What are my real costs of doing business?
These questions must be asked! Finding the answers to those questions will be nothing short of the difference between success and failure.
Analytics are the tools needed to prepare a road map for actions steps. Manufacturers that are highly data-oriented and make use of analytics are much more likely...
Not only do we have an economic downturn, but today's businesses must navigate a number of major issues from heightened competition to a demand for more customized product. Even in tough times, a successful company must deliver on the bottom-line. There is a tendency and a mindset with most every company that to increase revenue, you just need to move more product out the door. In a challenging economic environment, the pressure is especially on to increase sales.
The obvious problem is that
If you do not want to know what happens for most foodservice manufacturers concerning ineligible deductions read no further.
Unless a manufacturer has a very quick way to validate, reconcile and process claims, in most cases a request for payment from a distributor will turn into a deduction. In fact, here at Answers Systems we find that an average new client is settling at least 80% of their claims by deduction and some 20% by check. Our Distributor Liaison Team and Settlement Group know th
The Foodservice Industry is changing. Foodservice has evolved to a $600 billion industry. Along with growth comes “growing pains”. Manufacturer’s trade promotion spending now totals more than $70 billion annually. Where foodservice trade spend was just a black hole that companies tried not to think too hard about; the elephant in the room has grown to extent that it can no longer be ignored. There is a new awareness of the need for more accountabilities, and greater transparency in not only wher
by John Nicholas
Todd is a CFO for a mid size foodservice manufacturer. He is frustrated! He just asked his Director of Finance to provide him with a report on the dollars and cents impact of raising the price on one of their SKU’s. He simply wanted to know, based on last year’s sales, what the price increase would mean for their bottom-line. It seemed like a simple request on the surface, but the Director of Finance explained to him, that before she could get the numbers to Todd, she needed
Posted by John Nicholas
I am old enough to remember life before computers. There was no real information to guide business decisions. I had to rely strictly on my good looks and personality. Okay, I exaggerated; I just had my personality to work with. But the point is that I remember a time when everything was based on relationship, not numbers.
“Back in the day”, as a foodservice manufacturer rep, if I had a great relationship with a distributor or operator buyer, many times I could
Posted by John Nicholas
Over the past eight years I have interviewed scores of foodservice manufacturers. At some point in the conversation, I ask them whether their sales and marketing efforts and trade spend dollars are primarily geared toward operators or distributors? Every manufacturer recognizes the value of their distributor partners, and the need to support the distributor’s efforts in getting their products to market. Having said that, most manufacturers feel more than a little quea
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