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Need a TPM Solution?Trade promotion is an increasingly large expense for

foodservice manufacturers.

On top of the costs associated with trade promotion

contracts, the agreement management software itself is

expensive or can seem out of reach. However, the new

GoSimple Trade Promotion Management Platform gives

foodservice manufacturers all the features they need

at a price they can afford. Whether you are ready to

change providers or simply need to get started, it’s time

to GoSimple.

Schedule a demonstration today to learn how

GoSimple can lower your costs while improving your

efficiencies and productivity.

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IntroductionYou have no doubt heard this before: trade promotion

spending is the largest single item on a manufacturer’s

P&L after COGS. It’s a huge expense; however, as The

Hale Group pointed out back in 2010, it’s an area that

lacks a strong, central focus. In some organizations,

trade “reports” to sales or marketing. In other

companies, finance owns trade. Regardless of what

team owns your trade promotion management (TPM)

efforts, it’s time to revisit your approach to TPM.

This e-Book from GoSimple breaks down the critical

steps for best-practice trade promotion management:

• Standardization

• Agreement Management

• Data Acquisition

• Verification

• Reconciliation

• Settlement

• Reporting & Analysis

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StandardizationWhen discussing the concept of standardization of TPM,

it’s important to realize that you must standardize more

than just a process. Each key component in the process

must be standardized, too.

Standard Contracts

Your sales team should have a trade

promotion contract tool that ensures

every contract is structured the

same way every time.

Standard Letters

There needs to be a standard

agreement letter for issuance to

the distributor and operator with

key areas locked down so that the

company mandated and approved

portions cannot be changed or

deleted.

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Contract ManagementReigning in contract creation and storage process will

improve your TPM efforts. Reduction in lapsed and lost

contracts and creation of an approval accountability are

just a few benefits of better contract management.

Centralized Data

Your TPM platform should centralize

all contract and related claim data.

This ensures access to the data to

approve contracts, pay claims, and

clear deductions.

Creation & Approval Hierarchy

A best-in-class trade promotion

solution will allow you to create

a contract creation & approval

process. Approvals can be

assigned at various levels in your

organizational structure.

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Data AcquisitionElectronic Claims

Your TPM system should allow you

to easily import electronic claim data

via data claim spreadsheets you can

adjust to meet the needs of your

operator and distributor customers.

As the industry moves toward EDI,

ensure your system can accept that

format.

Paper Claims

You need to immediately log all

incoming paper claims so that you

can begin a countdown to ensure

you don’t cut a check to a distributor

if you will not meet its deduction

policy timeframe.

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VerificationContract-to-Claim Comparison

When settling your TPM claims, your

team should compare each claim

against the terms of the contract and

its associated products to ensure

valid payments are made.

Duplicate Data Check

An essential step in settling trade

promotion claims is evaluating

claim data against previous claim

submissions. This research will aid

your team during the reconciliation

to prevent “double dipping.”

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ReconciliationAdjust Discrepancies

If you take time to compare claims

to contracts, you will uncover claim

discrepancies. In a best-practice TPM

process, you will ensure the payment reflects these

discrepancies. Many manufacturers simply pay claims

without this adjustment.

Any claim with a discrepancy should be placed on

pending status until the contract owner has updated

the contract or given direction to reject the invalid

products/invoices within a timely manner. This also

provides reps the opportunity to address issues with

the distributor or operator to ensure the contract

is updated appropriately on their end. This will help

reduce future overpayments and deductions.

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SettlementSettle by Check

Whenever possible try to pay

your TPM claims by check within

distributor deduct timeframes to

prevent deductions and ensure valid

settlement.

Settle by Deduction

Issue a deduction if a check will

not reach the distributor within

the distributor’s deduction policy

timeframe. Minimize deduction

balance by processing claims in a

timely manner. Know distributors

deduction policy. Match claims to

deductions to verify if the claim has

already been paid via deduction.

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Reporting & AnalysisDashboard with KPIs

Once you have begun your efforts

to optimize your trade promotion

management process, you will need

to have a TPM solution that lets you closely monitor

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like # pending

claims & contracts, recalculated claims, rejected

claims, etc. These KPIs help you understand how the

optimization process is going and when/if you need to

make any adjustments in your efforts, perform team

training, or educate your operator and distributor

customers about new procedures.

Key Reports

The right TPM solution will enable you to perform

Distributor Business Review, measure estimated vs.

actuals by contract, and analyze market support spend

against contract budget to name a few key reports you

should have access to.

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Time to GoSimple!Start managing your trade promotion contracts with

a flexible and affordable trade promotion platform

created with foodservice manufacturers in mind. The

GoSimple solution offers:

• Cloud-based, centralized contract management

• Hierarchy approval process

• Standardized contract letters for sales

• Customizations easily made by administrators

• Claim processing management module

• Real-time reporting

GoSimple is easy to set up. Customers who have their

data properly organized can integrate themselves

within a day!

Request your GoSimple Demonstration Today at

gosimple.me/request-gosimple-demo-manufacturer!

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