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
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.

The Company We Keep

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 MEIs TPM solution, clients have increased profits, strengthened brand assets and facilitated better supply chain management.

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Account Execution

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KEY PROCESSES

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: 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.

Key Processes

With the MEI tool, we have been able to achieve what every CPG organization strives for; the perfect invoice.
Paul Eveland, Director of Trade Marketing, Ruiz Foods

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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.

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.

Headquarter Planning

We are truly impressed with the overall functionality of this solution; I have never seen anything like this.
Terry Schulke, EVP & Chief Customer Officer, Smart Balance

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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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Account Execution

ACCOUNT EXECUTION

The Account Execution is the stage when the Account Managers revise forecasts and promotions to provide more accurate forecast numbers.

Base Forecast Maintenance As changes in the account plan are identified, the Account Manager can modify the base forecast.

Account Execution

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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Reconciliation

Let MEI take you on a tour with happy feet.

Joan Carter, Acosta

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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

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. Report Builder MEIs exclusive reporting tool which allows creation and downloads of personalized reports based on specific business needs.

Analysis

All five of these components work in unison; the MEI TPM solution orchestrates each section to form a powerful symphony!

WHAT MAKES MEI UNIQUE

1 Five Views for Planning & Analysis at any level

MEI differentiates itself with three breakthrough features that are new to the industry.

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.

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 Unique Features

The Front Line Planner

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.
Tim Tsao, Vice President Sales and Marketing, Kahiki Foods

For more information

visit

www.easyTPM.com contact Mary Jameson

call email

1(800) INFO-MEI (463-6634) mjameson@meicpg.com