Challenges
When it comes to your biggest customers, during annual negotiations, price increases, or joint business planning, are your account teams;
- Confident?
- Robust in the way they plan?
- Have planning tools that are fit for purpose?
- Know and fully understand their negotiation parameters?
- Always well prepared?
- Getting the right level of support in a very busy working environment?
If the answer is generally no, then consider this…
The Next Big Challenge
The announcement on the 30th April may have come as a surprise to a few people, but what will not be a surprise to anyone is that the impact upon suppliers following the merger, when it is approved, will be very significant.
Creating the UK’s leading grocery, general merchandise, and clothing retail group, with combined revenues of £51billion, will affect suppliers across a wide variety or product and service categories.
Preparing for this event, and others where there can be a significant impact upon your business, should be a high priority for your commercial teams.
Here is a selection of statements from the official press launch;
- Enable investment in areas that will benefit customers the most (price, quality, range)
- We expect to lower prices by c 10%
- Generate net EBITDA synergies, comprised largely of buying benefits
- Create significant opportunities for suppliers to develop, become more streamlined, and to grow their businesses
So, the obvious challenges of reviewing terms and conditions; range and supplier consolidation; synergies from integrating supply chains; but also, opportunities to be part of the Combined Business and a partner with the wider Walmart group.
A simple line by line check of price lists will not be sufficient for these challenges.
A fundamental review of what you have today, what you would like to have post the merger, and how you get there needs a roadmap with the tools and expertise to help you along the way.
And having a deeper understanding of the way in which this merger will unfold, and the resultant interactions with the team charged with achieving these objectives, requires deep insights into how the new organisation will act.
How our services will help you and your Company
We are B2B Customer Management experts – we transform relationships and the performances of sales teams.
We understand how significant commercial processes work – and how to successfully implement them.
We have the necessary insights across 12 industry sectors to create a merger negotiation plan for you – and coach you and your team successfully through the process.
And more importantly, we provide access to members of our team that have Top 4 Multiple Grocer Commercial Director level experience to provide those important insights into how the Asda / JS merger team will work, what it means from the buyer’s perspective, putting you in a much better position.
Ged Futter, founding partner @ GSCOP, and former Asda colleague, will provide those fundamental insights from “across the table” which will provide significant and unique benefits to your engagement plans.
We provide customer engagement solutions for mergers, price increases, annual negotiations, and joint business planning where successful outcomes are business critical.
What we provide for you
- Subject Matter experts – both supplier and buyers perspective
- Insights from the retailer’s perspective – what is it like from the other side of the table?
- A robust commercial planning roadmap
- Planning tools to create “what do we have now – what would we like to have” scenario’s
- A negotiation framework
- The engagement Presentation or document
- Commercial Coaching from start to final engagement for both sales leaders and account managers
Customer Engagement Solutions – Roadmap
This is the way in which we will support you from start to finish.
At all stages, we provide commercial coaching for both sales leaders and the account management teams – face to face, and by phone or skype.
Outcomes
These are the expected outcomes from our customer engagement solutions;
- Confidence – in your approach and your engagement with the customer
- A robust planning process
- Planning tools that can be deployed in any negotiation or pitch
- Robust negotiation parameters
- Well prepared presentations or proposal documents
- A confident negotiation team
- Continuous improvement and review of a significant commercial process
