Headquarter Planning | Account Planning | Account Execution | Reconciliation | Analysis
MEI Trade Promotion
Management
“
We selected MEI over other vendors for a variety
of reasons, most importantly their Consumer
Goods knowledge in the TPM Arena.
Michael MacDonald, SVP Sales and Marketing, American Licorice
”
ABOUT MEI
The Company We Keep
Since 1983, MEI has been providing companies with an effective and efficient
Trade Promotion Management (TPM) solution. The MEI TPM Solution helps companies
effectively manage and control trade funds without increasing spend and increases
visibility across all phases of the planning process; thus, improving the efficiency of customers’
trade spending, account management, sales planning, forecasting and reconciliation.
MEI provides proven, reliable and highly reference-able sales solutions for the
Consumer Goods industry and continues to help companies throughout North America.
Because of MEI’s TPM solution, clients have increased profits, strengthened brand assets and
facilitated better supply chain management.
P
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KEY PROCESSES
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Plann rter
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Account
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Headq
PERIOD
INTRODUCTION
MEI Trade Promotion Management (TPM) solution is a complete and proven
solution that enables consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to
successfully plan, execute and analyze all aspects of the trade promotion
management cycle.
The business processes conducted by the MEI TPM solution include:
Key Processes
Headquarter Planning – Ability to create a “top down” operating plan that outlines the volume,
revenue, trade and profit objectives.
Account Planning – Capacity to manage base forecast and create incremental
promotions, and measure against key Headquarter ratios.
Account Execution – Ongoing maintenance of the Account Plan allows updates
to forecasts while tracking the actual results.
Reconciliation – Clearing of deductions, creation of payments and allocation
of spending to individual promotions.
Analysis – Creation and downloading of key volume, sales, trade and profit reports.
With the MEI tool, we have been able to
strives for; the perfect invoice.
Headquarter
Planning
HEADQUARTER PLANNING
Headquarter planning is a “top down” planning process for an organization.
The basic processes are to define the sales and trade objectives and to
create the marketing events.
Headquarter Planning
Sales Objective – Once objectives are outlined for sales volumes, they are entered as
a percentage change over last year or an allocated amount.
Trade Objective – The organization then determines the objectives for total trade
promotion spending. The budget objectives can be a mix of rate per case, percentage
and Lump Sum. The contribution objective is calculated after the budget objective
has been entered, giving the user visibility on the account profitability.
Marketing Event Creation – Marketing Events are loaded into the system and
displayed within the Promotion Calendar. This gives Sales the ability to line up trade
spending with the consumer events.
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Paul Eveland, Director of Trade Marketing,
Ruiz Foods
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achieve what every CPG organization
“
We are truly impressed with the
overall functionality of this solution;
I have never seen anything like this.
Promotion
Creation
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Account
Planning
ACCOUNT PLANNING
Account Planning
The Account Planning process is the “bottom up” phase of the planning cycle.
Forecast Management – Entries of base and incremental volume gives visibility to the
variances between the “top-down” plan and latest sales forecasts. Forecast Accuracy
can also be evaluated using the Locked Forecast capability.
Promotion Creation – Promotions are entered and modified in support of the overall
account planning process. Promotions can be managed based on shipments or scan
data and can be entered on Lump Sum, Rate per Case or Percentage of list price.
Promotion Approval – This is an embedded workflow, which provides controls to ensure
promotions are entered within company guidelines and objectives.
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Terry Schulke, EVP & Chief Customer Officer,
Smart Balance
Prom
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ACCOUNT EXECUTION
The Account Execution is the stage when the Account Managers revise
forecasts and promotions to provide more accurate forecast numbers.
Account Execution
Base Forecast Maintenance – As changes in the account plan are identified, the
Account Manager can modify the base forecast.
Promotion Maintenance – As changes in specific promotions are identified, the
incremental volume and trade spending associated with an existing promotion
can be modified. Promotional dates, execution dates, product additions and
adjustments, as well as suggested retail price can all be managed .
Promotion Performance Tracking – Promotion success based on pre-determined
ratios can be evaluated at this stage. Ranking and copying of promotions based
on performance can also be conducted.
Marketing Event Maintenance – Ability to adjust and edit events throughout the year.
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Account
Execution
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“
Let MEI take you on a
tour with happy feet.
”
Joan Carter, Acosta
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Reconciliation
4
RECONCILIATION
Reconciliation
The Reconciliation process occurs when promotions are being executed,
payments need to be requested and/or deductions reconciled.
Payment Creation – Payments can be created based on amounts due to customers.
Deduction Reconciliation – Deductions are interfaced from the ERP system and
cleared to existing promotions based on internal client processes.
The MEI TPM solution enables the manufacturer to easily identify which promotion a
deduction belongs to, which helps determine if the amount is valid and enables the
manufacturer to easily clear the deduction and reduce open deductions.
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ANALYSIS
A key component of the MEI TPM solution is the embedded analysis that can be
accessed during all of the above processes. It provides the user with the
necessary information to: Create Plans, Track Sales Actuals vs. Sales Forecasts,
Monitor Promotion Performance and Understand Trade Spending and Account
Profitability. Analysis and the understanding of the information within the reports
can allow an organization to be proactive, giving them a competitive advantage.
Standard Reporting – Includes: Sales Summaries, Spending Summaries, Promotion
Performance Analysis, Volume Analysis and Account Profitability.
Analysis
Report Builder – MEI’s exclusive reporting tool which allows creation and downloads
of personalized reports based on specific business needs.
All five of these components work in unison; the MEI TPM solution orchestrates
each section to form a powerful symphony!
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ANALYSIS
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Plan uar
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PERIOD
WHAT MAKES MEI UNIQUE
MEI differentiates itself with three breakthrough features that are new to the industry.
1 Five Views for Planning & Analysis at any level
While other solutions only offer one or two ways to analyze the business, MEI
provides five views. Users can view by National Accounts, Sales Structure,
Geographic Region, Class of Trade and Distribution Centers. Two product views
are also available. More importantly, the views can be “saved” for future use.
This avoids having to rebuild every time- an enormous time saver.
2
Report Builder
Allows users to create or modify reports directly in the system,
then save it for future use. Reports can be saved and shared for
seamless collaboration.
3
The Front Line Planner
Unique Features
Enables users to create scenarios in Excel, then link those plans back into MEI on a real time basis.
“
We selected MEI because we found best-of-breed functionality that
was robust and could scale with us as we grow. We had an aggressive
time line for implementation and MEI has delivered as expected.
For more information
Tim Tsao, Vice President Sales and Marketing, Kahiki Foods
visit
www.easyTPM.com
contact
call
email
Mary Jameson
1(800) INFO-MEI (463-6634)
mjameson@meicpg.com
”