Question

YTD (Jan-June 2016 vs. Jan-June 2015)
	YTD Days		129	125
	Global Breakout	Revenue	2016 Revenue/Day	PY2015 Revenue/Day	% Total		PM		V$	V%	Sales - Avg/Day	GP- Avg/Day
		$    13,644,073	$         105,768	$            96,976	100%		59%				9.1%	8.3%
	Domestic	$    12,085,137	$            93,683	$            85,181	89%		60%		$   8,501.78	10.0%	10.0%	8.9%
	INTL	$       1,558,936	$            12,085	$            11,795	11%		50%		$       290.10	2.5%	2.5%	3.1%
	Customer Rank	Revenue	2016 Revenue/Day	PY2015 Revenue/Day	% Total		PM		V$	V%	Sales - Avg/Day	GP- Avg/Day
	Acquire	$       1,312,868	$            10,177	$              6,427	10%		58%		$   3,750.74	58.4%	58.4%	50.1%
	Expand	$       7,634,424	$            59,182	$            57,566	56%		58%		$   1,615.50	2.8%	2.8%	2.0%
	Retain	$       3,026,592	$            23,462	$            21,759	22%		58%		$   1,703.45	7.8%	7.8%	7.5%
	Serve	$       1,666,355	$            12,917	$            11,225	12%		61%		$   1,692.46	15.1%	15.1%	16.3%
	Non-Coded	$               3,834	$                    30	$                    (0)	0%				$         29.73	-371611.6%
	Customer Class	Revenue	2016 Revenue/Day	PY2015 Revenue/Day	% Total		PM		V$	V%	Sales - Avg/Day	GP- Avg/Day
	Commercial	$       7,195,592	$            55,780	$            50,772	53%		61%		$   5,008.13	9.9%	9.9%	9.2%
	INTL	$       1,535,905	$            11,906	$            11,700	11%		50%		$       206.30	1.8%	1.8%	2.3%
	Municipal	$       1,634,643	$            12,672	$            12,034	12%		62%		$       638.02	5.3%	5.3%	3.9%
	Reseller - Other	$       1,386,876	$            10,751	$              9,785	10%		62%		$       965.93	9.9%	9.9%	5.8%
	Industrial Labs	$          900,409	$              6,980	$              6,373	7%		59%		$       607.13	9.5%	9.5%	9.2%
	Government	$          425,018	$              3,295	$              2,669	3%		60%		$       625.70	23.4%	23.4%	23.1%
	Resell - Industrial Hygiene	$          336,569	$              2,609	$              2,419	2%		32%		$       190.52	7.9%	7.9%	6.9%
	Education	$          154,662	$              1,199	$              1,031	1%		59%		$       167.51	16.2%	16.2%	5.1%
	Other	$             74,399	$                  577	$                  194	1%				$       382.63	197.1%	197.1%
	Top Customers	Revenue	2016 Revenue/Day	PY2015 Revenue/Day	% Total		PM		V$	V%	Sales - Avg/Day	GP- Avg/Day
	ABC Corp	$          601,368	$              4,662	$              4,208	4%		64%		$       453.49	10.8%	10.8%	11.1%
	Fish Limited	$          480,717	$              3,726	$              2,889	4%		66%		$       837.05	29.0%	29.0%	25.2%
	Delta Appliance	$          424,678	$              3,292	$              3,478	3%		53%		$     (185.91)	-5.3%	-5.3%	1.8%
	ALPS Company	$          398,347	$              3,088	$              2,877	3%		61%		$       210.65	7.3%	7.3%	12.4%
	Here4U	$          269,038	$              2,086	$              1,568	2%		59%		$       517.81	33.0%	33.0%	37.6%
	XYZ Inc	$          208,819	$              1,619	$              1,362	2%		29%		$       256.85	18.9%	18.9%	5.6%
	Expert Engineers	$          207,066	$              1,605	$              1,561	2%		52%		$         44.19	2.8%	2.8%	-3.6%
	Check Gmbh	$          201,704	$              1,564	$              1,023	1%		49%		$       540.96	52.9%	52.9%	32.8%
	Francios and Sons	$          186,532	$              1,446	$                  960	1%		49%		$       485.84	50.6%	50.6%	72.1%
	Euro Ltd	$          177,660	$              1,377	$              1,215	1%		54%		$       162.40	13.4%	13.4%	3.0%
	Marketing Accounts	$       2,759,521	$            21,392	$            20,029	20%		63%		$   1,362.33	6.8%	6.8%	6.0%

QTD (Apr, May, Jun 2016 vs Apr, May, Jun 2015) Global Breakout Revenue % Total PM Sales GP $        7,024,096 100% 58% 8.3% 6.5% Domestic $        6,145,978 87% 60% 8.0% 6.6% INTL $           878,119 13% 48% 11.1% 5.7% Customer Rank Revenue % Total PM Sales GP Acquire $           654,170 9% 58% 50.8% 42.7% Expand $        4,017,070 57% 58% 3.0% 0.6% Retain $        1,505,103 21% 59% 10.4% 10.3% Serve $           843,966 12% 60% 7.4% 8.0% Non-Coded $                3,787 0% Customer Class Revenue % Total PM Sales GP Commercial $        3,719,525 53% 61% 8.5% 6.8% INTL $           868,634 12% 48% 10.9% 5.2% Municipal $           814,624 12% 63% 1.7% 1.7% Reseller $           721,253 10% 61% 10.9% 6.8% Industrial Labs $           464,827 7% 58% 14.2% 12.8% Government $           183,030 3% 58% 14.2% 12.8% Resell - Industrial Hygiene $           140,804 2% 32% -8.4% -14.2% Education $              84,981 1% 61% 2.1% -3.8% Other $              26,418 0% Top Customers Revenue % Total PM Sales GP ABC Corp $           332,350 5% 63% 7.2% 4.2% Fish Limited $           239,460 3% 67% 18.1% 16.3% Delta Appliance $           230,032 3% 53% -21.0% 14.7% ALPS Company $           226,766 3% 61% 8.8% 12.3% Here4U $           119,433 2% 59% 31.9% 28.0% XYZ Inc $           117,490 2% 11% 213.1% 16.8% Expert Engineers $           104,936 1% 52% 22.1% 8.6% Check Gmbh $           100,171 1% 48% 2835.2% 3186.6% Francios and Sons $              96,755 1% 50% -7.0% -16.9% Euro Ltd $              75,156 1% 55% 19.1% 19.1% Marketing Accounts $        1,381,927 20% 63% 8.9% 6.3% MTD (June 2016 vs. June 2015) Global Breakout Revenue % Total PM Sales GP $        2,257,102 100% 56% 11.2% 6.1% Domestic $        1,930,466 86% 58% 4.2% 2.3% INTL $           326,636 14% 42% 83.4% 52.4% Customer Rank Net Sales % Total PM Sales GP Acquire $           219,791 10% 56% 54.3% 40.2% Expand $        1,282,340 57% 55% 8.1% 0.5% Retain $           477,879 21% 57% 18.0% 17.3% Serve $           273,533 12% 57% 18.0% 17.3% Non-Coded $                3,559 0% Customer Class Net Sales % Total PM Sales GP Commercial $        1,130,973 50% 60% 1.0% -1.0% INTL $           323,990 14% 51% 83.2% 50.8% Municipal $           263,030 12% 60% 12.3% 3.4% Reseller - Other $           266,066 12% 57% 26.4% 14.9% Industrial Labs $           135,694 6% 59% -7.4% 2.6% Government $              50,261 2% 61% 30.9% 33.8% Resell - Industrial Hygiene $              43,642 2% 29% -39.7% -50.1% Education $              35,846 2% 60% 25.6% 14.4% Other $                7,600 0% Top Customers Net Sales % Total PM Sales GP ABC Corp $              87,955 4% 62% -2.6% -10.9% Fish Limited $              76,813 3% 66% 6.4% 1.3% Delta Appliance $              75,000 3% -1% 5258.2% -164.1% ALPS Company $              60,179 3% 59% -10.7% -10.4% Here4U $              56,444 3% 52% 100.0% XYZ Inc $              51,610 2% 56% -23.0% -0.5% Expert Engineers $              35,156 2% 57% -8.2% -11.3% Check Gmbh $              31,740 1% 45% -7.1% -27.9% Francios and Sons $              29,154 1% 54% 3.7% 5.0% Euro Ltd $              28,452 1% 58% 126.6% 119.5% Marketing Accounts $           447,025 20% 56% 6.4% 6.8%

Analyze the Business Growth Overview dataset. (ABOVE) This is a marketing report generated by an analyst for the Senior Vice President (SVP) of Marketing at a large corporation. The analyst is new and has provided summary data but no insights or commentary for the SVP. Construct a minimum 525-word memorandum (maximum 750 word) for the SVP providing insights and commentary. The memorandum should include your analysis of the following: Major areas of increase and decrease in revenue or type and/or category of business Trends that are evident in terms of revenue or type and/or category of business Insights that would help formulate marketing strategies to either continue growth or reverse decline Additional analysis you (if you were SVP) would like to build a marketing goal and strategy or strategies (and why) Be sure to include section headers for each of the above

Answer 1

A first look at YTD (Jan-June 2016 vs. Jan-June 2015) yields the following observations:

1. The international sales constitute a mere 11% of the total global sales breakout, which implies it is important to ramp up efforts towards international marketing. The Sales average/day figures also validate this conclusion. However, it is important to notice that the Gross Profits GP average /day from INTL side of the business constitutes a paltry 3.1% as against the domestic business figures of 8.9%.

2. A close look at the "Customer Class" will indicate that Government and Industrial Labs are the top two segments, which constitute merely 10% of the overall business, but provide the highest Gross Profit growth figures of 23.1% and 9.2% respectively. This indicates that there is room for higher Value Addition in these segments and hence the marketing efforts have to be enhanced to increase participation in these segments. The "Commercial" class constitutes the "Bread and Butter" segment with a healthy Gross Profit figure of 9.2% GP average /day. A good strategy to consider would be to divert resources focused on the INTL segment to focus on growing the sales pipeline in "Industrial Labs" and expand participation across "Government" accounts.

3. If you look at the "Customer Rank table, the new Customers (Acquire) constitute 10% of the overall business, however constitute the highest statistic with respect to GP average /day of 50.1%(Gross Profits). This implies that the new clients are "High Value" clients. On the contrary, the "Expand" portion of the customer base constitutes 58% of the total revenue, but yields a paltry 2% GP average /day; implying that there is very little incremental value coming from the existing client base through cross-selling or up-selling opportunities. A close look at the "Retain" part, which constitutes 22% of the revenue, yields an average Gross profit of 7.5% GP average /day. This is the customer base, which constitutes the Bread and Butter part of the business. The services "Serve" part of the business has yielded healthy profit figures of 16.3% GP average /day. It is important to evaluate if the services part of the business can be coupled or cross-sold to the new customers to leverage attractive profit margins from these two segments.

4. If you pay close attention to the top customer list, the highest Gross Profit growth figures result from François and Sons (72.1%), Check Gmbh (32.8%), Here4U(37.6%) and Fish Limited (25.2%). However, they constitute less than 10% of the overall business revenues. As a SVP, my first priority would be to evaluate cross-selling and up-selling opportunities to expand participation with these accounts. Identify the need gaps and pain-points of these customers on priority. Align larger number of resources from the existing pool to connect with these accounts at various levels to design newer value propositions. Try and understand if there is a gap in their current service levels and identify areas where VALUE can be added through services.

One other strategy the SVP should consider adopting is to classify the above top 4-5 accounts into market segments by application or end use. Now, he should deep dive into each of these market segments to understand the following:

1. Value Chain Analysis 2. Pain Points / Need Gaps 3. Other customers in the category or segment 4. Design value proposition with reference to these pain points to target higher value from these accounts 5. Also create a customer acquisition plan for these High Value market segments to expand penetration into these segments.