Trade Promotion Management

Facebook Freak-out!

Answers Systems — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 16:28:40 GMT

By Kristin Avery

If you’ve been on Facebook recently then you heard the rumor that Facebook was going to start charging its users. There was one posting in particular that I saw several times and it went like this:

"FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO...IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS Facebook WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND Facebook WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY!!"

At first, I brushed it off but the more I saw it, the more I started to think that Facebook might actually start charging me to stay a member. Shortly after having a social networking panic attack, I came to realize this was clearly a hoax. This Facebook hoax got me to thinking. If I was convinced, I couldn’t be the only one that believed it was true. It only took a few people a couple of hours to get the rumor started before it spread like wildfire. This Facebook fabrication spread to the point where it was even covered by “The Christian Science Monitor”.

No matter where you go, rumors and misinformation are sure to follow. There may even be misconceptions and misinformation floating around your organization regarding the performance of your trade spending programs. I encourage you to get all the facts before making critical decisions that will greatly impact your organization. Answers Systems, a division of AFS Technologies, can help you squash any trade promotion management fallacies and provide the right answers to all your questions to ensure best-in-class trade promotion management for your organization. To request your online ContractPro® demonstration today, click here.

To follow Answers Systems, a division of AFS Technologies on Facebook for free, click here.

Technorati tags: contractpro, trade promotion management, facebook

Here's a Tip!

Answers Systems — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:42:34 GMT

By Kristin Avery

Did you know there are 1001 tips for cleaning with white distilled vinegar? Did you also know there’s an inexpensive tip for curing a sore throat? Just add one teaspoon to one cup of warm water and gargle. Well, no matter who you are everyone loves a good tip. You name it, there’s a tip for it. Everything from cooking tips to tips on how to save money on your next electricity bill. Tips are meant to provide us with useful information and make our life easier. Here at Answers Systems, we understand the appeal of tips. That’s why we have people like Natalie Rice, Senior Trainer, to provide tips on a monthly basis that make using ContractPro^® easier.

Natalie Rice, Senior Trainer

Here’s a recap of some helpful ContractPro^® tips that will make your trade promotion management life easier.

· Don’t forget, you can communicate via email about a pending claim through the Claim Detail, Claim Comments tab, and keep all of your communication in one place. Just remember to check the “do not send to Answers” if Answers does need to take action.
· When creating a contract to clear a pending claim, remember to enter a claim comment after the contract is approved. You will receive an alert of the approval in your User Messages.
· The Quick Search is an “exact search” so if you do not receive a result to your search, try the Advance Search and utilize “like”. You may just find what you are looking for.

Do you still need ContractPro^® help? Email Support

Not a current ContractPro^® client? Would you like to know more on how ContractPro^® can help your organization gain critical trade promotion management insights and increase ROI? Please Contact Us and learn more about how our service and software solutions can work for your organization. Connect and collaborate with the industry leaders today.

Did You Hear the News? Answers Systems Joins the AFS Technologies Family

Answers Systems — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:46:09 GMT

On September 1, 2011, Answers Systems was acquired by AFS Technologies. AFS Technlogies Inc. is the leading provider of business enterprise and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions. The company serves over 1,200 customers across the Americas with a portfolio of solutions for the food and beverage, supply chain, and financial segments. AFS Supply Chain Solutions and AFS Food & Beverage Solutions are designed to reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase sales and margins, streamline internal processes, and assist in regulatory compliance; including data synchronization to GS1. All AFS solutions utilize service-oriented architecture (SOA) built with Microsoft .NET framework technology. With a focus on modular design, the solutions allow customers in manufacturing, sales agencies, distribution, and complex software companies the flexibility to upgrade specific elements of the software without affecting the rest of the system. To match the needs of our diverse customer base, products are available on both a license and true SaaS model basis.

"The merger with AFS will allow Answers to expand the scale of products and services that was my vision in building Answers," said Bud Hilton, Founder and CEO of Answers. "I will continue to work with AFS to build the vision that we both share," he added.

AFS Technologies also acquired Synectics Group Inc. on September 1, 2011. Synectics Group has been focused on focused on helping CPG manufacturers manage and get more ROI from trade promotion spending for over 25 years.

Read the AFS Technologies press release to learn more about this exciting new chapter for Answers Systems.

Tackling the Topic of "Trade Spend"

Answers Systems — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:39:45 GMT

By Kristin Avery

The topic of “Trade Spend” can be a difficult one to tackle. Where does one start? What key words should I type when doing an internet search? Who are experts on the topic? What information can I trust?

All right, don’t panic! Answers Systems is here to provide the answers to all your “Trade Spend” questions. You can start to tackle the topic of “Trade Spend” right here. Instead of conducting a general search on the internet that would cost you time browsing through article upon article, Answers Systems has compiled 5 of their most visited “Trade Spend” blog posts. You can trust the information provided because Answers Systems was founded by foodservice professionals and has met the unique trade spend and trade promotion management requirements of the foodservice industry for 25 years.

Now that your mind has been put at ease, here is a list of the top 5 most visited “Trade Spend” posts. If you still would like to know more about Answers Systems and our ContractPro trade promotion management solution, contact us.

1. "Trade Promotion Management: What is Trade Spend?"

Posted by Tom Tipps

There’s been a lot of dialogue around the topic of trade-spend management in the Foodservice industry; but, in all honesty I’m not sure the industry has ever really agreed on the definition of “Trade” Spending. From my perspective Foodservice trade spending involves incentives paid by manufacturers directly to their operator and distributor trading partners…to motivate those trading partners to purchase, sell or promote the manufacturers products/brands to the restaurant…. (Read More)

2. "Trade Spending Statistics: Answers Systems Clients vs. Industry Standard"

Posted by Tom Tipps

Through our decades of experience in managing trade promotion transactions for foodservice manufacturers, Answers Systems is able to validate many of these statistics with real-world examples. Technomic says, "On average 28% of trade claims are overstated." For Answers Systems' clients the numbers range from a high of 50% for new clients to a low of 22% of seasoned clients. The critical statistic is that the dollar value of invalid claims totals 15% of the total dollar… (Read More)

3. "Data Mapping Stats - Music to My Ears"

Posted by Stacy Jackson

Do you ever get songs stuck in your head? I do. Today’s song is “Surf City” by Jan & Dean. “Two girls for every boy” and “I’m going to Surf City where it’s two to one. Yeah, I’m going to Surf City. Gonna have some fun.” It’s kind of annoying, yet it got me to thinking about ratios. Surf City apparently had a 2:1 ratio of girls to boys. I started wondering what kind of ratios I might find in the quarterly report I received regarding our data mapping for our clients'…(Read More)

4. "Ultimate Questions in Business Intelligence"

Posted by Stacy Jackson

While at work this morning, I had one of those random memories pass through my mind. It was of a scene from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. You may remember this part where Slartibartfast (crazy name, huh?) tells Arthur Dent about a race of super-intelligent, pan-dimensional beings who built Deep Thought, a supercomputer designed to calculate the answer to “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.” Much to the beings’ dismay, Deep… (Read More)

5. "Trade Spend or Trade Investment?"

Posted by Bud Hilton

In a recent foodservice conference someone made a case that manufacturers’ expenditures toward the trade should be considered “investment” not “spend.” An executive with a very large food manufacturer made the statement . . . “Don’t try to kid yourselves, most of it is spend, not investment.”…(Read More)

Technorati tags: Trade Spend, Trade Spending, Trade Promotion Management, Trade Spend Formula

Trade Promotion Management - More Than Meets The Eye

Answers Systems — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:36:59 GMT

By Kristin Avery

Have you ever wondered how you receive your fast food so fast? Honestly, I’ve never given it a second thought. All I know is that I turn into a five-year-old who’s been denied a toy when my food takes longer than two minutes. The television show “How Do They Do It?” on the Discovery Channel recently helped me put this fast food efficiency into perspective and led me to do some additional research on the topic.

CNN Money provides a taste of how complex fast food drive-through technology really is. According to the article, “Candid Camera at the Fast-Food Drive thru” on the CNN Money website, “Here's how it works: when a customer places an order at the drive-thru speaker, the order is taken by someone at a remote ‘order center.’" The order is then sent right back to the restaurant where it was received.” The article then goes on to say, “The second component of the technology is even more interesting, and somewhat controversial. It involves a camera located at the drive-thru order window that takes a picture of the customer and the car. According to Gagnon, the pictures help staff accurately match the order to the customer, thus cutting down on botched orders.” To read more details about how the drive-through systems works, please click on the link. http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/06/news/companies/wendys_cameras/

“The Long-Distance of a Fast-Food Order” from the New York Times states that employees at that specific fast food location may not even take orders. When describing a typical fast food drive-thru transaction, the article point out how far – literally - some establishments go to provide customer service: “What made the $12.08 transaction remarkable was that the customer was not just outside Ms. Vargas's workplace here on California's central coast. She was at a McDonald's in Honolulu. And within a two-minute span Ms. Vargas had also taken orders from drive-through windows in Gulfport, Miss., and Gillette, Wyo. “

Wow! All that just to receive a number 4. Well, there’s also more than meets the eye here at Answers Systems. More that goes into providing the most accurate data and ensuring that claims are processed in a timely fashion. There is a level of complexity that goes into creating and maintaining trade promotion management solutions.

Answers Systems offers two contract management and trade spending solutions for the foodservice industry. For Foodservice Manufacturers, Answers Systems can increase contract profitability and measure trade promotion management effectiveness with the ContractPro® solution. 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.

For Multi-Unit Operators, Answers Systems can maximize value of their existing supplier programs, identify opportunities for new rebate programs and perform price verification with the ValuTrak™ solution.

Answers Systems has a whole support team that works day in and day out to provide the most easy-to-use, easy- adopt trade spending management solutions. Just in the accounting department alone, 13,000 checks are printed and distributed a month. Settlement has the constant challenge of processing thousands of claims to meet required turnaround times.

The Answers Systems team also includes Six Sigma green belts with expertise in Lean process improvement methodologies. Our Project Management team, Business Analysts with Six Sigma certifications and Quality Assurance team are all part of the group that contributes to; requirements collection, project execution and quality product/process delivery. All these processes are monitored and implemented within a consistent and centralized Project Management Office team. We are SAS 70, Type II Certified and we are Sarbanes Oxley Compliant

Wow! All of that just to ensure your business receives the best trade promotion management. It just goes to show you that not everything is what it seems. If you dig a little further, you might find that there’s more than meets the eye.

Technorati tags: trade spending, trade promotion management, foodservice

A Home Run for Trade Promotion Management

Answers Systems — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:00:03 GMT

By Kristin Avery

It’s baseball season, my favorite season. My favorite team is the Tampa Bay Rays. When I’m not watching the Rays, I’ll even attend an occasional softball game. At a recent softball game, it finally occurred to me that the baseball diamond looks a lot like the Answers Systems logo. While a visual stretch for some, it was an instant connection for me. Well, once I made that initial analogy, it then opened the flood gates for a number of baseball/ Answers Systems trade promotion management analogies.

First analogy...

The first analogy between Answers Systems and baseball goes further than a simple shape comparison. The game of baseball and Answers Systems both have teams that are playing to win. While Answers Systems has a couple more teams on the diamond when it comes to trade promotion management, everyone is out there playing to win-whether it’s pitching the perfect game through crafting perfect contracts or catching the fly ball for an out on some invalid deductions.

Second analogy...

In baseball, it takes teamwork and good sportsmanship to play the game.

The same can be said for Answers Systems. Answers Systems depends on strong customer and stakeholder relationships in order to help clients optimize their trade promotions and trade spending. We build these relationships through our people and our link to page on website) ContractPro® or ValuTrakTM solutions. Relationship, teamwork, mutual respect, and a clear understanding of how the “game” is played are of utmost importance.

Third analogy...

Just like an umpire is there to enforce the rules of the game and ensure the game is played fairly, (Even though it doesn't always happen in baseball and softball- as I witnessed in the recent softball game. A player was safe at home plate before being tapped out by the opposing team’s glove. The umpire was no more than a foot away and called the player out. I digress. . .) Answers Systems monitors contracts that are “in play” and we call strikes (rejects), allow walks (tolerances), and call runners safe (allow clean claims through the systems).

Can you think of any other Answers Systems/ baseball analogies?

Technorati tags: contracts, trade promotion management, invalid deductions, trade spending

Behind-the-Scenes at Answers Systems

Answers Systems — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:23:14 GMT

Since 1986, the people here at Answers Systems have been meeting the unique trade promotion management needs of the Foodservice industry. It's because of the people that the company stays on the leading edge of software development and service delivery with the ContractPro® solution for Foodservice manufacturers and the ValuTrak® solution for multi-unit Foodservice operators. On Fridays we've decided to feature some of those that continue to contribute to Answer Systems success. One individual in particular provides ContractPro® support with a smile.

Check out this week's employee profile:

Q: What is your name?
A: Marissa Greenwald

Q: How long have you been here at Answers Systems?
A: 8 months

Q: What do you do here at Answers Systems?
A: I work in ContractPro Support.

Q: What’s your favorite sport and team?
A: Football, the Chicago Bears.

Q: Do you have any pets?
A: Yes, a dog named Phantom.

Q: Are you originally from Florida?

A: No, I'm orginally from Chicago. I never lived anywhere else but Illinois, so I thought I would give Florida a shot.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do in Florida?
A: Kayaking, sunsets, anything that is by or in the water.

Q: Do you like to travel? Do you have a favorite place to travel and why?
A: I love to travel. I just went to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam and it was amazing!

Answers Systems Goes the Extra Mile To Fight Cancer

Answers Systems — Mon, 16 May 2011 20:27:21 GMT

By Kristin Avery

I hope you can recall a blog post titled ” New Year’s Trade Promotion Resolution” that was posted this past January. I stated that one of my 2011 resolutions was to run a race where proceeds would go to a good cause. I also drew up similarities between making the commitment to train for a marathon and committing to a trade promotion management provider.

I’m happy to announce that this past Saturday, May 14th 2011, I followed through with the resolution to run for a good cause. I was joined by three “Answers” ites (including one family member of an “Answers” ite) in the Miles for Moffitt charity run/walk. Proceeds from this event went to the Moffitt Cancer Center. This Cancer center is the only Florida-based center with the National Cancer Institute designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center for its excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, cancer prevention, and cancer control. Moffitt currently has fifteen affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia, and two in Puerto Rico.

Proof that we ran the race..bright red faces.
In photo above from left to right: Peggy Hupe, Francine Crawford, and Kristin Avery. Not in photo but participated: Karen Lang

I followed through with my New Year’s Resolution of running for a good cause, are you still trying to decide what to do about your trade spending needs?

Are you still deciding who is going to be your trade promotion management provider?

If so, please contact Contact Us if you would like to discuss your trade promotion management (ContractPro® solution for manufacturers) or contract compliance initiatives (ValuTrak® solution for operators).

Thanks again to everyone that came out to the event and/or donated to this deserving charity.

Behind-the-Scenes at Answers Systems

Answers Systems — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:10:34 GMT

Here at Answers Systems, we are more than just a trade promotions management software company. Answers Systems sets itself apart from other contract management solution providers in a sense that it's the people that truly make Answers Systems unparalleled. On Fridays we've decided to feature some of those that make Answers Systems so unique.

Check out this weeks employee profile:

Q: What is your name?
A: Natalie Rice

Q: How long have you been here at Answers Systems?
A: I have been with Answers Systems for 2 years

Q: What do you do here at Answers Systems?
A: I work on the Training Team.

Q: Do you have any pets? If so, how many? What are their names?
A: Yes. 1 cat, Miller

Q: Are you originally from Florida? If yes, what do you think are some pros/cons about living in Florida?
A: Yes. I absolutely love Florida. When where you live is most people’s vacation destination, there shouldn’t be much to complain about.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do in Florida?
A: Anything on or in the water!! Ocean, lake, pool…

Q: Do you like to travel? Do you have a favorite place to travel and why?
A: I love to travel and see new things. My favorite vacation spot is Asheville, NC. I have been there at least 15 times… Biltmore Estate is in Asheville, and it is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.

Q: Do you have any creative hobbies? (For example, Art, film, dance, creative writing.) What do you like to film, paint, or write about?
A: I like to draw, usually architectural.

Answers Systems- Who We Are and What We Do

Answers Systems — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:41:24 GMT

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, we save them 15% of total dollars claimed. For new clients, the savings ranges from 20 - 25%. We are also able to enforce business rules for distributor earned income on street and chain business, as well as broker commission payments for same. We provide opportunities for improved productivity/reduced overhead. We also give real-time visibility into the performance of your distributor and operator trade deals.

Potential ROI
Trade promotion management is approx 12% to 15% of sales
(Technomics estimate).

Trade promotion management claims are overstated by an average of 15%.
(That 15% includes every kind of claim error one could imagine)

For example, a company doing $500 million in sales, would have total trade of about $60 million X 15% error rate = $9 million of overpayments

A quick review of workflow: Your sales organization enters their agreements into ContractPro® where they are routed through an approval process customized to your business rules. Our system monitors compliance & performance of the contracts.

We also provide connectivity between the various industry Networks/Portals; e.g., iTN/CaRMA; FSE and Sysco.
Through an integrated process, we take claims and billback information directly from distributors and operators and compare it to the contract terms. We audit the claims against your contracts, and approve claims passing audit. About 75% of claims pass audit and are paid by check, before the distributors can deduct. The remaining 25% of claims have errors that must be reconciled before payment.

If the distributor deducts, we quickly identify which deductions are invalid, and have a push-button rebill process that allows the client to collect a high percentage of invalid deductions. This process is successful since we operate with very accurate/timely data.

Our analytics and reporting system shows in real time such things as performance of a contract, whether a distributor or operator is in compliance, who is buying and who is not, detailed profitability, etc)

Our client base includes some of the top names in the industry; e.g., Kraft Foods NA, Unilever NA, Nestle, J. M. Smucker Company, Starbucks, Land O’ Lakes, PepsiCo, Hormel, and Campbell’s, and others. With an extensive community of manufacturer users, great ideas about improving our application and services are constantly brought into our development pipeline.

The Answers Systems master database contains over 600,000 Operators and 2,000 + distributors. Due to our commitment to mapping every operator and every distributor to a master record, all of our customers gain knowledge about this information due to our communities’ input. No proprietary information is ever shared across customers.

Hardware/Software Requirements
As a hosted solution, our Trade Management application requires only a web connection and Internet Explorer v6.0 or higher with Javascript and Cookies enabled.

For the Operator
We also help restaurant and operator groups increase revenue and improve processes. I am hoping to schedule a webinar with you to better show you our value proposition. If you will send me available dates and times I will get it set up.
Our ValuTrak® system:
• Makes absolutely sure that you get the monies owed to you from manufacturer rebates
o (We invoice your manufacturers, collect the monies and pay it to either your central office, or pay to your individual units or a combination of both)

• Acquires, maps, and scrubs sales data from almost 2,000 different distributors

• Enforces distributor pricing agreements

• Tracks unit compliance

• Provides detailed Volume Reports at your fingertips by manufacturer, by distributor, by SKU, by unit location

Our ValuTrak® clients include everyone from the US Airforce to Choice Hotels, Buying Groups, and large pizza chains.
Answers Systems was founded in 1986 by foodservice professionals. We leverage all of our 130 full-time employees toward the constant improvement and evolution of our application and services.

Our team includes Six Sigma green belts with expertise in Lean process improvement methodologies. Our Project Management team, Business Analysts with Six Sigma certifications and Quality Assurance team are all part of the group that contributes to; requirements collection, project execution and quality product/process delivery. . All these processes are monitored and implemented within a consistent and centralized Project Management Office team. We have 40 full time IT engineers We are SAS 70, Type II Certified and we are Sarbanes Oxley Compliant.

Technorati tags: operators, trade promotion management, contract management,business intelligence