Early Birds Catch the Growth: Account Planning Starts Now

You know the drill: every year, management sets big growth targets, and account leads scramble to make sense of it all. It's like a high-stakes game of Tetris, where the pieces are revenue goals, and they just don't seem to fit.

The problem? We're asking our relationship-building, strategy-savvy key account leads to moonlight as financial wizards. The result? A whole lot of stress and hastily plugged in forecasts to finish the dreadful chore before the deadline. 

But it doesn’t have to be like this. With the right process and tools, account level sales planning can be a fun, cooperative journey that leads to incremental sales and profit. 

Omnium turns the game on its head by treating account planning as a continuous cycle, with constant learning, measuring and adapting. Think of it as a dance where every step counts—starting with the basics (like retail availability and shelf placement) and then throwing in some spicy moves (hello, promotional pricing and frequency!). This culminates in a collaborative account planning process where key account leads are supported by a year’s worth of learnings and insights, instead of having to figure it out alone in a vacuum.

Analyzing each brand/product line and retailer at the pack/price level is like playing detective, uncovering the mysteries of sales volume and building a forecast that actually makes sense based on sales controllables. The end result? A more accurate bottom-up forecast the entire company feels confident in, which in turn makes demand planning more efficient. 

Now, if you're on a calendar fiscal year, thinking about 2025 in early February might seem as far-fetched as planning your New Year's Eve party in the summer. But hey, the early bird catches the worm, or in this case, the biggest growth levers!

Omnium has been the mastermind behind this novel approach year after year, transforming overwhelming tasks into a rewarding process for brands. It’s like finding a secret shortcut in a maze—clients who have embarked on this journey often wonder why they didn't start sooner.

So, if you're intrigued by the idea of turning account planning into an exciting adventure, let's chat. We'll be hanging out at Expo West in Anaheim next month, ready to swap stories and ideas.