Catch a tiger by the tail..

Getting the most from your customers “tail-end” spending

The year end is a great time for sales where the final 20 per cent of spending, or the “tail-end” typically gets consolidated and aggregated in the sales cycle. But it remains a largely untapped opportunity for most companies.

A larger number of suppliers, smaller spend volumes and a perceived lack of economies of scale mean that procurement or purchasing agents are harder and harder to get in front of.
Knowing exactly where to focus your business attention to maximize sales is a daunting task.

Therefore, it’s worth exploring ways to manage this challenge as the year end looms and purchasing agents have to effectively use their budgets to maximize resources.


There are a number of reasons for the increase in sales at year end. By properly analyzing your customer spend data and looking at current inventory levels, you can leverage that spend and catch that tiger by the tail.

1. Spend analytics. Perform in-depth analysis to identify "missing" spend – check your transactions against existing agreements, if you are lucky enough to have a contract in place with performance goals encourage customers to fully utilize those contracts and be in compliance allowing them to take advantage of any incentives.  The MDS-Nx missing sales report will show you items purchased in prior periods which are no longer being purchased.

2. Tactical buying. The MDS-Nx system provides Contract management and Rebate Performance reports to allow you to see both Vendors where your company can take advantage of additional savings and Customer Contract Reporting to determine compliance and utilization levels for contracted item. 

3. Comparative Sales Reporting and Analysis.  By looking at sales this year vs last year  you can easily see the total numbers and present purchasing agents with a simple as well as prompt them for the specific order. To identify customers with the largest potential simply run a comparative sales analysis and send your top salesman to those with the largest discrepancy. 

Targeting customers with the largest potential will likely bring you closing to getting those large year end orders. 

Overall tail-end spend management is of increasing importance. This doesn't mean that common sales  practices should be put on the back-burner to instead focus on the tail, but it does mean it can yield significant sales and deserves significant consideration. 

With the best practices outlined here for ways to address the challenges commonly associated with tail-end spend and sales management, The MDS-Nx system allows you to reap the rewards of managing tail-end spend. 

For more information on TSH or MDS call The Systems House, Inc. at 1-800- MDS-5556. Or send a message to sales@tshinc.com

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