Co-written by : Dominic Blouin et Denis Champagne
Some questions should never be asked or end up just simply being considered unfair or shall we say tendentious..
In my opinion… this is one of them
State of affairs
In 2010, « Category Management Association » held a conference in which a part of the event hosted a panel of seniors in the retail industry to confer on the current situation, its historical map and the actual knowledge base in terms of best practices
One conclusion that was almost unanimously agreed upon by all panel invitees was the obvious “analytical immaturity” from which most COMPANIES and its MANAGEMENT suffered.
Consequences
Poor use and management of information invariably leads to: errors in interpretation and execution, loss of confidence and hence loss of revenues.
Without clear knowledge and analytical information to BACK UP your arguments, a company loses a significant ADVANTAGE in negotiations.
Companies who excel « analytically » end up LEADING the market. Numerous studies have demonstrated the causal relationship between « mastering information » and success in business.
A large amount of time is wasted in accomplishing very little with low value added results because…companies lack the “technical and business know how” to correctly organize and aggregate the vital data and information.
Here are some telltale signs and symptoms:
The team or an executive spends a disproportionate amount of time in coupling information stemming from different reports and various sources/people and organizations for its strategic and action plans.
The company ends up entering in a REACTIVE mode rather than a PROACTIVE one.
The company uses operational reports BUT managers need to resort to Excel to combine information for strategic activities.
The company lacks the knowledge in using pivot tables, data cubes and often has no idea what a Drill Down Strategy is….
Improvement options
1.Acknowledge the fact that strategic best practices exist and seek the most appropriate ones for your company
2.Consider the option of sending your key staff (i.e. Sales Analyst, Category Managers, Sales Directors, …) on short term highly focused training sessions in the use of sales analytics applications
Conclusion
Today, manufacturers and distributors are more highly specialized. Hence, the competitive environment and the plethora of data is even more numerous and fierce. It is therefore imperative to excel and be agile in strategic analysis to leverage information and gain market share.
Specific expertise and modern technologies are available to allow you to significantly increase your key competencies and as such, become more efficient in these growth critical tasks.
So…..
Improve your analytical maturity… and you will increase your total value!