As CPG companies continuously try to do more with less, gaining productivity is a key goal.
Many CPG companies continue to rely on outdated solutions, trying to manage their functions through spreadsheets. Some CPG teams are working with dozens of spreadsheets to manage hundreds of trade events, across many SKUs - a precarious way to manage millions in trade dollars.
Resorting to these disjointed techniques, hinders your team's ability to accurately plan and track the progress of your current and future promotions.
We have talked about the way a TPM software implementation will enable you to get more out of your spend from a promotional efficiency and effectiveness perspective. In this blog, we want to examine the “easy buttons” your TPM should include to help you accomplish tasks faster, increasing daily productivity.
TPM Capabilities That Will Increase Productivity
There are TPM capabilities inherent in the CPGvision platform that are life-changing for users who were used to spreadsheets. Some of them are:
Advanced Product Search - The search function takes advantage of the powerful capabilities that Salesforce has to offer:
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- Global search with a search bar at the top of every screen, regardless of where you are in the application, you can search the entire application and see all the places within the solution with matching results.
- Users can search and associate different records to one another using a lookup field
- Users can also take advantage of the “where is this used” function - showing all places across the application where a certain field is utilized.
Mass Cloning Capability- Get powerful cloning capabilities to minimize the amount of manual input. Cloning is a function that basically copies the parameters of a promotion or plan and applies the appropriate dynamics to the copied version. Users can:
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- Clone a promotion to another period on the account plan.
- Clone individual or multiple promotion plans(or an entire plan) from one year to the next.
- Clone multiple promotions at once.
- Clone single or multiple promotions(or an entire plan) to another account.
The clone button is the ultimate EZ button!
Mass Approvals- Mass Approvals provides the ability to check multiple promotions or settlements and approve them at once. Automated workflows and auto-settlements can provide further levels of efficiency.
Predictive Planning- You will always have visibility to key metrics of a promotion.
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- Plan with a highly configurable promotion calculator
- Customize the KPIs and can incorporate work-flows around them
- Change parameters of an event and automatically see the projected impact on your KPIs
Chatter function - provides audit trails and documentation- Employees can interact, share data, and store fields.
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- Exceptionally helpful through the promotion reconciliation process
- Contracts can be attached to promotions as can proof of performance
- Deduction personnel can ask questions and all correspondence remains linked to the promotions and reconciliations
- Provides a reliable audit trail that remains intact through personnel changes
Spreadsheets Must Go
As we discussed earlier, if you want to maximize your productivity- spreadsheets must be a way of the past.
You can spend a countless amount of time manually updating your forecasts and promotions, yet still lack the transparency and analytical capabilities for effective revenue growth management.
Manually updating spreadsheets requires your employees to spend time:
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- Forecasting
- Re-forecasting
- Answering questions
- Justifying your promotional spend
This is the opposite of productive.
What happens when an employee who managed a spreadsheet leaves your company? Your team is left stranded trying to make sense of the data.
Using TPM Capabilities to Increase Productivity and Accuracy
Generate accurate sales forecasts- Say goodbye to manual forecasting processes and errors. CPGvision applies modern machine learning techniques to generate and leverage the right historical data and make accurate promotion predictions.
Gain real-time visibility into your performance- Analyze actual results as soon as the data becomes available, and make adjustments to the plan accordingly.
Resolve deductions faster- Manage your reconciliation process in a state-of-the-art UI to clear deductions faster, reduce that AR aging!
Cut planning time- Combine your top-down and bottom-up plans, analyze and close gaps for one source of truth on the forecast.
Generate promotional predictions all in one place- Increase your ROI on trade spend with artificial intelligence-driven optimization and scenario planning and see the impact on your volume, revenue, and profit immediately.
Meet CPGvision: the best-in-class, fully connected, and integrated TPM and RGM solution suite for Consumer Packaged Goods, built on the Salesforce platform. With the most advanced functionality in the industry, CPGvision equips you with real-life problem-solving applications for TPM, TPO, and RGM.
Your success is our success- CPGvision proudly provides a dedicated customer success team staffed with CPG industry professionals. Regardless of where you are in your RGM journey, you’ll be fully equipped with the solutions you need for profitable revenue growth. Contact us today to learn more.