Expo West 2023 Hosted Education Session (Key Moments)

EXPO WEST 2023

Hosted Education Session - Key Moments

Managing Growth Through Economic Turbulence

SPEAKERS:

Fred Schroeder

President & CEO,
Adesso Solutions

Nicolas McCoy

Managing Director & Co-Founder, Whipstich Capital

Clara Paye

Founder,
UNiTE Food

Tara Burkley

Strategic Business Development Director,
New Hope Network

At this Natural Products Expo West 2023 Hosted Education Session, Adesso’s President & CEO, Fred Schroeder joined Nick McCoy of Whipstitch Capital, Clara Paye of UNiTE Food and New Hope Network’s Tara Burkley for a conversation on how to strategically manage your business and understand your trade spend to grow responsibly.

During this session, moderated by Nancy Coulter-Parker, we shared expert advice and predictions for the future of CPG and outlined top tactics for staying ahead of economic challenges, technology shifts and retail opportunities.

We invite you to pick from key moments of greatest interest to you below.

Key Moments

Improving Efficiency is Key to Scaling

Nick suggests companies can become more efficient by pulling a few key levers on the P&L, especially trade spend, freight, and COGs (packaging, tolling & ingredients).

Getting Comfortable with Trade Spending and Working With Distributers in the CPG Industry

Tara reviews the New Hope studies, and how newer companies in the industry are scared to leverage trade spending to grow, which is a common pain point for the industry.

Understand the Level of Expense Trade Spending is for Manufacturers

Fred reviews the main expenses on the P&L, including the surprise to many manufacturers who typically  view their trade spending as 15-20% of their gross revenue on trade spending, but often it turns out to be 40% when they look back.

How is Settlement Process of Deductions Similar to "Doing The Dishes"?

Adesso addresses trade spending in a structured process that includes much more than deduction management. Following this process enables analysis, which enables the manufacturer to improve effectiveness and leverage trade to drive more revenue and volume.

What are the Challenges Small Brands Face When Dealing with Distributors?

Clara discusses Off Invoice deals (OIs), as a necessary part of doing business with distributors. But how do you address over-buying? How do you push back if you see they already have excessive inventory in the DC?

Adesso's Trade Spend Strategies for Maximizing Savings and Investing in Customer Relationships

Clara points out that Adesso addresses trade promotion management from a customer-centric perspective, as she and Nick discuss the importance of looking at the pain points of the customer and buyer to help them be better at their jobs.

Quantify Trade at Each Customer to Evaluate SKU Performance & Avoid Losing Money

Fred reviews an example where a company gave away a free case per store, but the product did not sell as quickly as expected. With additional allowances & deductions, this resulted in no revenue with a cost per case of $197 to give product away.

The Challenges of Coupon Accounting for Small Brands

Nick reviews the challenges a small company needs to watch out for from an accounting perspective, as well as what promotions will be effective spending once you add it all up.

The Impact of Covid-19 on Trade Margins for Companies

Nick discusses how smaller vs. larger companies were able adjust trade and pricing during the pandemic. 

How Can We Help You?

If you would like to have a conversation about how we can help make your trade spending more effective through trade planning and deduction management in the Flamingo TPE Solution.

Expo West 2023 Hosted Education (Full) Session

EXPO WEST 2023

Full 1:22 Hour Hosted Education Session

Managing Growth Through Economic Turbulence

SPEAKERS:

Fred Schroeder

President & CEO,
Adesso Solutions

Nicolas McCoy

Managing Director & Co-Founder, Whipstich Capital

Clara Paye

Founder,
UNiTE Food

Tara Burkley

Strategic Business Development Director,
New Hope Network

At this Natural Products Expo West 2023 Hosted Education Session, Adesso’s President & CEO, Fred Schroeder joined Nick McCoy of Whipstitch Capital, Clara Paye of UNiTE Food and New Hope Network’s Tara Burkley for a conversation on how to strategically manage your business and understand your trade spend to grow responsibly.

During this session, moderated by Nancy Coulter-Parker, we shared expert advice and predictions for the future of CPG and outlined top tactics for staying ahead of economic challenges, technology shifts and retail opportunities.

We invite you to watch the full hour and 22 minute educational session to the right.

Click to Watch Full Session

How Can We Help You?

If you would like to have a conversation about how we can help make your trade spending more effective through trade planning and deduction management in the Flamingo TPE Solution.

Adding a Resource Doesn’t Fix Your DEDUCTION CHALLENGE

Adding a Resource Doesn't Fix Your Deduction Challenge
Adesso - Adding a Resources Doesn't Fix Your Deduction Challenge
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Often, we get a call from an emerging Natural-Specialty-Organic (NSO) manufacturer telling us that they have added a new accounting resource to assist in reducing their deduction balance, and sorting out all of these trade spending issues. When we ask how it’s going with the new person, the reaction is typically underwhelming.

THE REASON IS SIMPLE: trade spending deductions are not the problem – they are a symptom of the problem.

An added resource will not address this.
The problem lies in not having a clear and accurate understanding of:
  • what you were planning to spend,
  • what was committed to by your sales team and the distributor or retailer,
  • and then not knowing what actually happened in the marketplace.
The deduction is simply a form of payment for the distributor or retailer.
When these areas are aligned within small or emerging NSO manufacturers, ‘matching’ the deductions to the spending is a rather simple process – typically addressed by your broker partners. And, yes, there may be a small percentage of these deductions that are not authorized, or someone made an error. But for manufacturers that have accurate plans and agreements documented, these issues typically begin to melt away.

We’d love to discuss this with you in more detail, and share client results.

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The ‘Pink Elephant’ is a Major Expense on Your P&L

The Pink Elephant in your P&L chart.
Adesso-Pink-Elephant-In-Your-P&L
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Trade Spending is the ‘Pink Elephant’ on Your P&L – 

Time to talk about trade spending – a major expense in your P&L. You are a team of professionals, who manage a small business with tenacity and care. You can account for your Cost of Goods, your HR expenses, G&A and others down through the line item level. In some cases, you can even account to fractions of a penny – yes every dollar matters!

Knowing these is critical to managing your business. Furthermore, you also analyze these, make decisions where to invest more, cut back some, or spend the same to get a better bang for the dollar.

In fact, not only does your internal management teams drill into these numbers regularly, but your investors have a keen interest what the returns are as well. We all know the drill at a small or emerging company.

THE BIG QUESTION IS: Can you account the same for your trade promotion spending in your P&L?

Undoubtedly, this area confuses and challenges many Natural-Specialty-Organic manufacturers. They don’t analyze it, and many simply ‘sweep’ all of the distributor deductions into broad categories to clear the short-pays too! Every trade promotion expense has (or should have) a contractual agreement with a distributor or retailer.

Similarly to every other line item on your P&L, your finance team should be able to account for every dollar deducted by a distributor or retailer.  You should have the same level of scrutiny & granularity as any other GL area.

In sum, maybe it’s time to address the ‘pink elephant’ on your P&L, a.k.a. trade spending – and have your team make better and more effective decisions with these significant dollars. Our other client partners do!

We can be assisting within weeks with practices, processes and systems. It will save you time and it’s extremely affordable.

 

Get a Leg Up on the Competition

Get a leg up on the competition with Adesso

Your TRADE SPENDING is probably
well over 25% of your revenue.

Are you managing this using spreadsheets?

Would you like to get a LEG UP on the competition?
If so, here is why you might want to know more about a
TPM solution that’s tailored specifically to you:

1
It’s extremely affordable…
you get a full trade system, and we handle the administration!

2
It’s quick to set up…
in as little as 5 days if you’re on QuickBooks!

3
It’s easy to use…
in fact, it is simpler than spreadsheets;
your team and brokers will love it!

 

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You Can Have Better Visibility Into Your Trade Spending in Just 1 Week!

 

What % of Your Budget is Trade Spending?

To know where your dollars are spent and to make them work harder,
here are 5 reasons to consider Adesso’s Flamingo TPM:

The new fees from Whole Foods will be another area of change – and increased spending.

The upcharge from distributors is not always known to you in advance, so your retail price isn’t what you thought it was set to be.

You’re unable to see exactly where your promotion dollars are being spent.

Deduction/MCB management is an accounting nightmare, and it is a challenge to hire someone who has the expertise.

You and your CFO are constantly wondering what you’ve spent at retailers through distributors, and would like accountability.

If you’re on QuickBooks, you’ll be up, running – and generating results – within a week, and it grows as you do.

And do not worry about complexity – it is simpler than spreadsheets for your team, and brokers love it, too!

To find out how YOU can be LIVE in Flamingo WITHIN A WEEK,
ask us to shop by your booth at Expo West!

Submit the quick form below: 

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Imagine…waking up knowing your trade spending is within 1% of what you think it is!

What % of Your Budget is Trade Spending?

To know where your dollars are spent & make them work harder, here are
5 reasons to consider Adesso’s Flamingo Natural-Specialty TPM:

1

While trade spending may be new to you, we have lived it, collectively, for hundreds of years – it is this experience which has developed our Trade Promotion Management (TPM) system & our supporting services. We have seen it all.

2

Our client-partners range from $1 million in size to several billion. And through our community, we all learn & grow from each other.

3

Your pricing would be very affordable; based on your size, with graduated pricing as you grow.

4

You’ll be up, running & generating results in 4-8 weeks, due to pre-built QuickBooks interfaces & experienced team.

5

The system is simple for sales & broker partners to use, and evolves with your business growth; immediate results, payback & long-term improved effectiveness.

“Our total lives here are to work with you & your team to measure your trade spending
and help these dollars work harder. We’d love for you to talk to our other client-partners,
and relax about this stressful area like they do.”

Fred Schroeder, President & CEO
(fschroeder@adesso-solutions.com  |  Connect on LinkedIn)