How Kellogg’s Created a Competitive Field Sales Advantage With Self-Service Operator Data

This Tibersoft case study outlines how Field Sales has leveraged Ship-To level data to improve customer experiences and outcomes, ultimately uncovering incremental sources of revenue for Kellogg’s.

BACKGROUND

Data flows thick through the veins of Kellogg’s. As an analytics pioneer, you’d be hard-pressed to find a Sales team at Kellogg’s that doesn’t have someone pushing the envelope. Dan Johnson — a Kellogg’s Account Executive, and Tibersoft lead, is leading the way with compelling, data-driven stories created in preparation for Operator engagements, with Tibersoft Explore insights as the main ingredient.

CHALLENGES

Differentiation in foodservice Sales is an ever-present challenge. For the most part, every Field Sales professional does some form of the following with their Operators: Discuss product features and benefits, review their track record, work to overcome objections, and source products through distributors. In a sea of sameness, Dan needed a way to stand out from his competitors.

To accomplish this, Dan’s challenge was providing his team with a true view on the marketplace to uncover real business driving insights. Typically, data at the ship-to level is extracted manually from trade claims in a hopeful attempt to find meaningful insights. While the intention is in rooted in optimism and determination, results are frequently bloated by claims made on the same case of product (duplicates) and are subject to human error, further confounding the task.

With so many Field Sales meetings, each with their own Operator-specific analytical needs, an outsourced, error-prone manual process wasn’t an option. The reward of data is clear, but the process is too complex and burdensome for Kellogg’s – or any manufacturer – to take on themselves. Dan and his team recognized the necessity of automated claims processing and self-service reporting.

SOLUTIONS

Enter Tibersoft Explore, and the Operator Review module, supporting Dan’s desire to lead a winning sales strategy. Kellogg’s trade claims are de-duplicated and processed at the ship-to level automatically, showing precisely who bought what and when. OPTRADE’s Shipto/Sell-To relationships help Sales quickly confirm which products are in-stock at the distributor and which trade programs the Operator is eligible to receive.

Access to Tibersoft’s OPTRADE community grants Dan the ability to analyze the Operator, their product mix, and their competitors in considerable detail. With ship-to level data and drill-down functionality, Dan can quickly navigate up and down the rabbit hole, going from the specific Operators and products of interest to performance in their respective segments and geographies. Using Scenarios, he can save results for later viewing and share them with his team.

Explore’s interface allows Dan and his team to understand a customer’s world in otherwise unimaginable depth — and self-service data they need at the speed of thought. In short, Dan is now fully equipped to drive his business, and can showcase his value and impact.

In most Sales, you would present features, attributes, and benefits; overcome objectives. But with Tibersoft, it gives you another dimension, where you can really talk about it. You can provide harder numbers and statistics on why your customer should take action. Not only is it just good for us, but explain why it’s good for them, and it’s how we win together.

 

DAN JOHNSON, ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE, KELLOGG’S

RESULTS

Kellogg’s has swiftly enabled their Sales Force to deliver a unique competitive advantage at every customer engagement. Few can stand should-to-shoulder with Dan and his team. What makes his stories so compelling? It’s the data, according to Dan. Information accessed through Tibersoft added a whole new dimension to his conversations and uncovered new, powerful ways to connect with customers.

Backed by Tibersoft’s OPTRADE community to gain a clear view of the market, Dan builds unique, compelling, data-driven stories. He and his team are laser focused, know their numbers and push towards mutually beneficial outcomes in preparation for their customer visits, adding power to the pitch.