Your Questions Answered

You know a promotion made money when the extra profit from the extra sales is bigger than everything the promotion cost you. That sounds obvious, yet very few growing brands actually check it.

Trade spend is the money you give to retailers and wholesalers to stock, display and promote your product. Discounts, promotions, rebates and fees all count. The part you agree in the annual plan is the visible cost. The hidden cost is everything that leaks out around it during the year.

Not all growth is worth having. Sales can rise while profit falls when the growth is bought with discounts, when it comes from the wrong products or the wrong customers or when your costs have gone up faster than your prices.

Spend no more than you can realistically win back. The software exists to help you get more from the money you give retailers in discounts and promotions. So the right budget is a small fraction of that spending, not a figure plucked from a supplier's price list.

Better decisions are the goal. Better processes are what make good decisions happen every month and not just once. Better technology makes both faster and lets you do them across more products and customers. You need all three in the end, but the order matters and most businesses start at the wrong end.