“During my 25 year career in CPG with many large branded companies, I’ve been amazed at the lack of formal training on this topic.  In addition, when courses on Finance are taught to key account managers, the instructors most often have not actually done the job of managing trade spending decisions while managing a customer relationship.  I started my career in Finance upon MBA graduation and then moved into sales later in my career.  Therefore, I bring a unique perspective to this course not only including the rigor from a finance perspective but also the practical application from a sales manager perspective.  Throughout all of my roles in sales, I have always delivered results in the area of trade spend while meeting or exceeding top line targets.  This is a topic that I have a lot of passion for and look forward to sharing my learning and approaches with your teams.

I created the TRADE SPEND EXCELLENCE course for a several reasons.  Next to cost-of-goods, trade spend is the second largest cost line on the P&L for most CPG companies, and the management of such has been entrusted to a majority of account managers who have not had any formal training on this topic.  The majority of trade promotions are simply repeated year after year versus being decided upon based on their financial merit, largely due to the fact that account managers have not been trained on how to conduct this analysis combined with the absence of tools to support this work.  I’ve also seen too many poorly written trade contracts and agreements that expose CPG manufacturers financially.  This often leads to invalid deductions and audits that divert resources unnecessarily and away from selling activities.  It is for these reasons why I am pleased to offer this course, and I am confident that you will see results from this training right away.