Practice capabilities
Booz & Company believes that effective Trade Promotion transformations require putting in place five key building blocks: Strategic Processes, Organization Alignment, Analytics, Systems & Data, and Transformation Leadership.
The Five Key Building Blocks of Effective
Trade Promotion Excellence Capabilities
Neglecting one or more of these building blocks can undermine an entire transformation effort. Indeed, too often we have seen companies that have focused on only one or two areas. In some cases, we see advanced analytical models that are not integrated into strategic processes or the supporting systems. In other cases, we see sophisticated systems built with little business input and no meaningful analytics. Addressing trade transformations holistically, not piecemeal, is key to driving lasting change and real financial results.
Our clients’ needs for consulting services generally align to these five building blocks. We have provided a brief description of our services and capabilities in each area below. For more information on how we combine these capabilities to address specific client problems, see the Engagement Model section of this website.
1. Strategic Processes
The optimization of trade promotion plans is most effective when done in the context of the overall customer relationship and the business strategies of the manufacturer and retailer – and not as a one-time event but as an ongoing dialogue between trading partners. Several strategic processes are critical to making this happen – e.g., annual business planning, target setting, customer planning, forecasting, and post event analysis to name a few.
We bring a thorough understanding of process best practices, common pitfalls, and benchmarks to help our clients diagnose their existing processes and re-engineer them to be more effective. In many cases, we assist our clients with their thorniest process challenges: e.g., transforming processes to support a new funding structure, optimizing new product introductions, and aligning planning to customer calendars.
2. Organization Alignment
Trade transformations often require some changes to our clients’ organizational DNA. This could involve any combination of changes to organization structure, decision rights, roles and responsibilities, incentives, or skills. For instance, to fully realize the benefits of a robust analytical planning solution, sales planners need to play a more strategic role, which typically requires a new set of capabilities.
Booz & Company offers an array of services to help leading corporations identify, diagnose, and remedy common organizational “roadblocks” to effective execution. We have extensive experience helping organizations achieve their objectives, whether enlightening management, transforming staff capabilities, or motivating major change.
3. Analytics
Advancing beyond basic Trade Promotion Management (TPM) to best-in-class Trade Promotion Excellence (TPE) requires the application of analytics to the optimization of trade. Analytics mean more than a simple lift formula. A consistent set of analytics should be integrated into each strategic process.
We bring a comprehensive analytical framework for enabling Trade Promotion Excellence. Our framework has been continually refined over 20 years and is thoroughly embedded in our proprietary intellectual capital. In addition, we have extensive experience building the sophisticated scan- and shipment-based predictive models that underpin most analytical planning and post-event analysis systems. Our models have been implemented at several major CPG manufacturers.
4. Systems & Data
Systems and data are critical enablers of trade promotion capabilities – analytical or not. Not surprisingly, trade transformations often involve substantial system development and integration efforts.
Booz & Company has been helping clients put in place best-in-class TPM system for over 15 years. We have a dedicated team of designers, architects, and developers with extensive experience implementing TPM systems. Our team has experience with all the major TPM systems including SAP, CAS, Siebel, Demantra, DemandTec and MEI. Most importantly, we understand how technology can be leveraged to support business needs – and how to make that happen.
5. Transformation Leadership
Trade transformations require senior leadership from the business and an explicit change management plan to drive what is often a step change in behaviors, skills, and performance.
Booz & Company brings a powerful combination of senior advisors with extensive experience managing transformations to help steward change programs (see Partner Bios) and specialized change management professionals who can assist with more tactical change efforts – e.g., skill assessments, training programs, communication planning, etc.