The business imperative of Trade Promotion Strategy and Trade Promotion Management is nothing new.  As early back as the 19th century, progressive companies innovated by coordinating advertising campaigns with trade spend and then equipped their salesmen with inducements for trading partners – the mom and pop stores and the general stores – to drive competitive advantage and promote their products.  Through the years, ‘anchor’ consumer products companies have relied on year-over-year trade promotion programs to strengthen bonds with commercial partners while concurrently building their own consumer brands. Over time, leading consumer products manufacturers honed their Trade Promotion practices and birthed TPM as part art and part science.

Fast forward to today, where hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on TPM industry wide, with individual companies spending anywhere from 15-25% of gross sales on trade.  Unfortunately, most companies still struggle with the effective management of these funds, and do not have a good handle on their return for these investments. Trade spending is an important tool in a growth strategy and a sophisticated, effective trade promotion strategy is critical to maximizing that spend.

Trade Promotion Strategy

This week, I welcome Nicole Borse to Taking Stock.  Nicole is one of the leads of our TPM Practice within Clarkston and has spent the better part of the past 10 years working with various Consumer Products companies to improve their TPM processes, systems, and overall trade promotion strategy.

Through this discussion, Nicole and I will get into why TPM is such a strategic imperative for Consumer Products companies and, unfortunately, why we as an industry have struggled to make marked improvements through the years.  Nicole will share her perspectives on Checkbook Management, and specifically on why this so critical for companies to get right and the key steps that should be deployed.  Finally, Nicole will offer her thoughts on Revenue Growth Management, share why it is such a hot topic of discussion right now and challenge you to consider a simplified definition that could unlock the key to success.

You can download and listen to the Trade Promotion Strategy: Taking Stock with Nicole Borse here.

Taking Stock

In this podcast series, Clarkston Consulting Partner Steve Rosenstock sits down with experts and thought leaders from both within Clarkston and throughout its consumer products and life sciences client-base, covering a range of topics from industry trends and consumer dynamics, to organizational governance and business strategy. Steve provides you access into the passions of its guests and allows you to benefit from their stories, knowledge, and deep expertise.

Podcast production by Zach McClughen.