pos data collection whitepaper by computer market research

Best Practices For Collecting Sales Data from Channel Partners

© COMPUTER MARKET RESEARCH, 2007

Best Practices For Collecting Sales Data from Channel PartnersFirst in a Series of Channel Information Management White Papers from Computer Market Research.

8 steps to success:

Over the past 20 years, Computer Market Research, Ltd. has perfected its method of obtaining raw POS data from distribution partners. This white paper details the implementation of a fluid collection process that funnels raw channel data from reporting partners into point-of-sale (POS) reports of business intelligence that can be used for future revenue generation. In eight easy steps, this white paper will demonstrate how our Fortune 500 clients obtain, use and depend on the sales data acquired.



Table of Contents

Executive Summary

8 steps program:

Define Management Challenges

Set Management Goals

Implement an Effective Collection Method

Construct Prior Agreement for Collection

Simplify the Collection Process

Import and Clean the Data

Feedback

Share the Value

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06

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07

07

09

12

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Conclusion

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Executive Summary

Business Challenge

The customer is the most vital aspect of any business. The in-depth knowledge of the customer and the point-of-sale activity is an essential aspect of any suc-cessful marketing and sales strategy. This information can only be gathered with a comprehensive collection process from the distribution channel. High-tech companies selling through two and three-tiered distribution channels rely on the point-of-sale (POS) information that arrives from reporting partners. The accuracy of this information is therefore imperative to the success of any strategies based on it.

Once the manufacturer has overcome the cumbersome task of obtaining the sales data from the channel, a new set of challenges arise; cleaning, standard-izing and processing the raw data files into business intelligence used for future revenue generation. When the information is at its most accurate, the challenge becomes how to best present the information intelligently.

Additionally, manufacturers cannot afford to wait for quarterly sales and inventory reports to actively adjust inventory for enhanced selling opportunities to freshly identified customers. They must be able to access the data on a weekly or monthly basis.

Solution Description

Computer Market Research (CMR) has developed and perfected several channel data management applications that alleviate the challenges of collecting, process-ing and interpreting POS data from reporting partners, such as wholesale distribu-tors, retail store chains, online resellers, and other channel partners.

Solution Benefits

Accurate, complete and timely sales records arriving from the channel regard-ing specific aspects of all individual sales provides the manufacturer with crucial weekly and monthly information about who, when, why, where and how the products were purchased. With an optimized practice for collecting data imple-mented correctly, business intelligence is generated for channel enhancement.

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The manufacturer can utilize this information to pay the sales force, create productive marketing strategies, optimize channel efficiency, comply with Sarbanes-Oxley laws, enhance CRM and PRM approaches and speed up the sales cycle – all key aspects in driving greater profit, market share and end-customer satisfaction.

Over eight steps, this guide will detail how to implement the most successful channel partner data collection methods, as proven by many of the most prominent high-tech corporations in the industry.

“I can seamlessly import the data, notice sales trends and better manage the US and Canadian field staff. The ChannelPOS reports sit on my desktop all day long. I live and die by this data.” - Bryan Levine, VAR Sales, Netgear, North America

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Step 18 steps to success:

Define Management Challenges

The first step to implementing any new strategy includes a com-

mitment to a plan. First, schedule an executive meeting where the

department directors can discuss the current internal challenges of

gathering data from the channel. Some questions that should be

addressed are:

Information Technology• How cost-effective is your company in obtaining the information from the channel?• Do you have a method of cleaning and standardizing the data obtained from the channel?• Do you currently have any methods of enhancing the data?• Does your current reporting process give you adequate insight into changing marketing strategies?• Do your current collection solutions integrate fluidly with vendors of CRM, PRM, Sales Compensation and Financial applications?

Finance Department• What is your current company procedure for compensating the sales team?• How do you accurately recognize revenue traveling through the channel?• How do you currently process partner incentives?• Is maintaining price protection a constant challenge?

Sales Department• What is your current company procedure for motivating the sales force?• Do sales data and technology assist in your lead management process?• What are your current strategies for pipeline management?• Do you have an effective way to forecast sales?• What are your current company procedures for special pricing?

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© COMPUTER MARKET RESEARCH, 2007 3

Marketing Department• Does your company currently have a simplified method of adding new resellers to your network and database?• How efficiently does your company issue COOP/MDF funds?• What are your current procedures for calculating marketing program return-on- investment (ROI)?• What are your current procedures for issuing rebates and spiffs?

Set Management Goals

Collaborate to create firm goals of what your company intends to achieve by collecting the POS data. Essential information may include channel customers, successful products and the sales trends they have created.

Identify Your Distributors• Would you like to easily merge multiple distributor POS files for analysis?• Would you prefer to have your sales and marketing personnel receive channel information that allows them to better understand their business, offload administrative tasks and focus on their specific duties?• Would you like to alleviate headaches from partner rebate validations?

Identify Your Resellers• Is making the commission payroll a monthly headache?• Do you need to better police channel returns?• Is full Sarbanes-Oxley compliance seemingly unattainable?• Are you spending too much time and money attempting to optimize your channel?

Identify The End Users• Who are your top customers and what vertical markets are they in?• When do you acquire new customers?• How can you increase your sales to customers demographically?

Identify Your Products• What are your top products that are being sold and why, where and by whom?• How can you make improvements on products that are not at their optimum selling capacity?• Is balancing inventory and price protection a concern?

Implement an Effective Collection Method

Once the goals have been determined, decide upon and implement a method of attaining the goals. Consider factors including the effectiveness of the collection

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time and effort spent internally. Management must analyze if the hardware, soft-ware and human resources necessary for proper data collection are worth the final results.

A company can waste valuable time tracking reporting partners who are continually behind schedule. If the sales records are unattended for lengthy periods of time, the sales departments are losing money and valuable direction. Once the data arrives, Information Technology departments are constantly burdened with the repetitive process of manually clarifying the data that arrives from the channel. Through finan-cial analysis and a comprehensive ROI process with management, decisions can be made about when it is more cost-effective to outsource the collection and data processing to a single company that can easily resolve all of the defined manage-ment challenges.

The CMR Channel POS online application easily imports, cleans and processes the POS data files into useful information for decision-makers. Channel POS also links to a variety of products that enhance communication and effectiveness of the distribution channel. These products combined, alleviate all management challenges defined in step one and achieve all goals decided upon in step two.

Construct Prior Agreement for Collection

It is essential that an agreement be developed and approved by both the manu-facturer and the reporting partners. Based on the goals stated by the department heads, the agreement must state specific needs concerning the exact methods of obtaining the POS records from the reporting partners, avoiding simple agreements to “collect the data in a timely manner.”

The agreement should state specific needs, including the day and date that the file is due, the rate at which the reporting occurs (month/week/day), the type of data that is expected and the format that this data will arrive in, the repercussions of a late file and rewards for on-time reporting (See Section 8 – Share the Value).

Simplify the Collection Process

The manufacturer must provide receiving methods that are reporting partner-friendly and identify critical-to-quality data fields. They are providing data that business activ-ity depends on. The more reporting methods and file formats allowed, the greater the chances of accurate, complete and timely reporting. Some essential methods include:

• An email attachment• FTP Push

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• XML Files• ASCII Text Files• Comma Separated Values (CSV)• EDI Files

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• FTP Fetch• A Website that is linked to a database

CMR accepts all reporting partner formats.

Excel Files

The CMR Compliance

Wizard saves time and

money by allowing the

reporting partners to enter

the POS data directly into the

database.



6Import and Clean the Data

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Once the file has been

received, import and audit

the raw data file, in

preparation for processing.

Tab-delimited Text Files



Management can easily

specify which fields of the file

should be uploaded into the

database, in a process known

as mapping.

To ensure accuracy and data

protection, CMR imports the

file into a temporary generic

template for preliminary

review. In this stage, the file

is standardized before it is

uploaded into the database

for processing. CMR’s

Channel POS application has

many pages, like the one

shown below, that allow the

user to quickly standardize

any aspect of the sales data

files that arrive from

reporting partners that do not

match the information stored

in the database.

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Verify that the file was

processed correctly and

critical-to-quality fields are

present and valid.

Track the file as it is

received, imported, cleaned,

migrated and

processed.



7 Feedback

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Create accurate, clean and

configurable reports based

on the data generated.

Confirm via email with the

reporting partners that the

files were received.



Share the Value

The reporting partner should be made aware of the importance of their contribu-tion. The manufacturer can use the sales reports as a tool to advise the partners of methods of enhancing sales opportunities by providing the partners with sug-gestions of possible leads. Effective reporting partner motivators include rewards like leads, rebates, spiffs and Co-op/MDF money. Greater amounts of selling reward all levels of the channel.

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If the file is late, use an

automated reminder

system that delivers emails

of escalating urgency to the

late reporting partner.

Create a report that

ranks their reporting

performance, to allow them

to improve their methods.

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Conclusion

Without knowledge of the customer, management can only guess how to sell a product. Point-of-sale records obtained from reporting partners contain this crucial and fundamental information. When reporting partners are content with an optimized channel information collection and reporting process, manufacturers gain business intelligence on vital customers that translates into future revenue.

About Computer Market Research

Computer Market Research, Ltd. (CMR) is the industry’s leading solution provider of POS data management applications for the distribution channel. For over 20 years, CMR’s web-based and hosted software applications have accelerated and automated distributor and reseller data collection, processing, analysis and reporting. Clients like Hitachi Data Systems, palmOne, Samsung, Roxio and Sym-bol Technologies, rely on CMR to improve their POS data management process.

Sales Contact:

Rick Bussell, VP of [email protected]

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For more information, visit us at www.ComputerMarketResearch.com.

pos data collection whitepaper by computer market research

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