Trade spending can account for 25-30% of sales for early stage companies, so how come they're not tracking it properly?
Next up was Bob Burke from Natural Products Consulting, who reminded delegates that the only way to get a better bang for your trade spending buck is to track exactly how much you are spending where, and evaluate what is working and what isn’t.
And given early-stage firms can spend up to a third of their sales on slotting fees, allowances, table top shows, demos and distributor ads, it’s remarkable how few of them have a handle on what their hard-earned money is being spent on and whether it could be better spent elsewhere, he said.
So “start with a simple spreadsheet” and track what’s been agreed, with whom, when, and then check the follow through, he said: “Trade spending is not a cost of doing business, it’s a strategic investment.”