Sue Sanford

Trade Contract Management...and Repeat

Answers Systems — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:26:30 GMT

By Susan Sanford

So you have reached that point where you realize there is not enough time in the day to get your work done. What do you do? Like most, you will probably read a time management book, take a class, or use the latest technology to organize your day. All of these resources will incorporate some sort of strategy to help you find efficiencies in your processes; usually incorporating a “touch it once” theory. Every time you can save a touch point, you can save time. Your Trade Contract Management works the same way.

Maybe the whole sentence could change to indicate that sales mismanagement of the original contract creation is why they don’t have time: As a Training Manager, I always hear that Sales Reps don’t have time to manage contracts. That’s because they don’t take the time to do it right from the beginning. Short cuts are often the quickest route to spending more time on a task than you had originally intended. So, what are a few of these pitfalls?

• Not entering the contract into ContractPro® and utilizing the system letter to communicate the program.
• Not adding all of the eligible products to the contract (only adding what they believe will be billed).
• Entering the wrong pricing.

All of these factors listed above, result in a user having to “touch their contract multiple times” instead of once. Just think about it, if you create a contract, communicate that contract via the system it was created into the Operator or Distributor, the billing submissions would match the contract and there would be no need to manage it. You only had to “touch it once” and now you have gained time back into your day!

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.

ContractPro FAQ Corner -- Quick Entry of Estimated Volume & Pricing

Answers Systems — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:43:28 GMT

by Sue Sanford

This week's frequently asked question concerns quick entry of estimated volume and pricing when you have multiple products on a contract.

Question: I have over 50 products on my contract, is there a way to enter the estimate volume and pricing quickly?

Answers: Yes, there are two ways in ContractPro® to price multiple items quickly.

Bulk Pricing - you can access this by clicking on the $ symbol located on the left hand side of screen above the products. This feature allows you to tab through the fields so you can enter your volume and rebate quickly.
Excel Offline Pricing – allows you to export the products to an Excel spreadsheet where you can utilize the Excel tools like formulas, copy/paste, and drag/fill. There is a video in the Help section that demonstrates this tool.

Technorati tags: bulk pricing, excel offline pricing

ContractPro FAQ Corner--Difference Between Program Types

Answers Systems — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:13:59 GMT

by Sue Sanford

The ContractPro® Support team often gets the following question from ContractPro® users: what's the difference between Program types Deviated Pricing and HQ Rebate?

Deviated Pricing – is when their pricing (fixed rate or fixed price) is passed through their distributor. The distributor will bill back for the re-imbursement and provide proof of delivery to the Operator (Contractee). Distributors will generally submit their billbacks on a weekly or quarterly basis.

HQ Rebate – is when the Operator will submit their tracking reports (velocity reports) from their distributors to receive their rebate. They generally submit their requests on a Quarterly basis.

Check back in next week for our next FAQ--"is there a way to quickly enter estimated volume when you have numerous products to enter?"

Technorati tags: HQ Rebate, deviated pricing, distributors, billbacks

Amend, Renew, Copy? What’s the difference?

Answers Systems — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:37:12 GMT

by Sue Sanford

One of the number one questions we receive through our support line is, “I amended my contract and it won’t let me change the dates, why?”. The answer is that the user made the wrong selection during the Manage Contract selection for the action that they needed to do. There are three options during the Manage Contract function which have very specific purposes and should not be considered interchangeable.

Amend is to make changes to an existing contract like adding a sku or a distributor.
Renew is used to change dates of a contract and since the renewed contract will its own effective/expiration dates, you will can make other changes as well like sku, pricing, distributors, etc.
Copy is used a shortcut to creating similar contracts quickly by copying the guts of the contact to a new Contractee.

Technorati tags: amend, contract, contract management

Monthly ContractPro Training Webinars in 2010

Answers Systems — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:04:23 GMT

Interested in additional ContractPro® training? The ContractPro® Support team is now offering monthly training webinars for all users. To view the training schedule, please click on “Training” on the Answers Systems home page and register for the session you would like to attend, if you have any questions, please contact ContractPro® Support.

A Pending! Why? I Entered a Contract for This!

Answers Systems — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:27:05 GMT

Posted by Sue Sanford

As the Training Manager for the ContractPro® solution at Answers Systems, I have seen many contracts created that cannot be used to pay on the claims submitted for that contract. The creator (usually a Sales Rep or Broker) logs into the ContractPro® application and finds a pending or learns that their customer has not been paid. What do they do now? Some will go to the pending claim and enter a comment to use the contract they created while others will investigate to determine why the contract was not used to pay the claim. These types of pendings are usually caused because the contract was either set up as a direct rebate (HQ Rebate) and a distributor has billed back for the deviation, the time period of the contract does not match the time period of the claim; or a program was set up as a Market Support (lump sum) instead of at the SKU level.

How can this be prevented? By pausing for a moment and taking the time to think or writing down the basic parameters of the contract before launching into system and hastily creating a contract. A few extra minutes taken during the contract creation process will save you time later on. You want to think about the intent of your contract and ask yourself the following questions:

During your deal discussions, did the Operator say they would like their rate deviated through the distributor or would they be receiving velocity reports from the distributor(s) and submitting for their rebate?
What was the agreed upon time period for this program?
Is this a SKU only program or does it include a marketing, lump sum type of element?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you are ready to create your ContractPro® contract! After your contract is approved, send a copy to the contractee and request that they reference the ContractPro® ID on their submission. By using the contract letter from the ContractPro® system, you will eliminate the chances of misbillings which results in pendings and slow pay. ContractPro®, Answers Systems

Technorati tags: Rebates, Contract Management, Claims