How to monitor compliance with trade agreements using geo-management software

Getting the most out of points of sale (POS) is the main goal of trade marketing. That is achieved through availability strategies aimed at a perfect or ideal POS — the point of sale where the shopper can always get to our products. That full availability we aim for is in turn strategically reinforced by commercial agreements with each POS, in which a certain visibility is negotiated, a specific place on the shelf, specific prices the POS must respect, and promotions run exactly as agreed. But once those agreements are negotiated, how do we make sure they are honored — something that on our side may carry additional costs, whose commercial performance we have to evaluate, and that will necessarily be tied to our sales at that POS and to the results we expect?

Recording what happens at the POS is one of the challenges trade marketers face, and the ideal tool for it is geo-management. Geo-management not only systematizes the recording process, which becomes 100% digital, it also makes that information far more usable for supervisors, sales and strategy staff, and brand managers.

Equipped with any connected device and tied together by field operations management software like GoDoWorks, it becomes far simpler for the marketer to record activity in the field, with photos and video, on prices or on any aspect of the commercial agreements negotiated. That produces visual records of our own visibility or of the visibility of competitors' products. Geo-management software creates a direct, constant connection between marketers in the field and the people supervising their work, giving the former simple but powerful recording tools and the latter the information and oversight they need.

At management and strategy level, we get up-to-date, consolidated information on every operation, which lets us weigh the effectiveness of each agreement and how far it is being honored. That information equips us to negotiate better deals in future or to identify specific errors or shortfalls that back us up in those negotiations.
Geo-management tools are the future of field operations: they raise the efficiency of the teams we deploy and of the processes for recording, coordinating and monitoring their work. That rise in productivity and efficiency reaches 30%. GDW Trade is GoDoWorks's specialized trade marketing tool, built to identify and correct the reasons a point of sale is not yet in ideal shape — that is, with prices exactly as negotiated, every agreement and promotion honored, and our products fully available.