Quick Introductions — Who's on This Play?

• Please share your name, title, brand(s) involved, and the best email/phone to reach you.
• What is the primary business objective you need promotions to deliver this year? Options: Grow incremental sales, Protect distribution/shelves, Improve trade ROI, Acquire new shoppers, Resolve retailer performance issues, Other
• Which internal teams should we expect to work with on planning and approvals? Options: Trade Marketing, Shopper Marketing, Sales/Account Management, Finance, Analytics/BI, Supply Chain/Operations, Legal/Compliance, Creative/Brand, Other
• Who will be the single executive or committee with final sign-off responsibility for a pilot? Options: Trade Marketing Director, VP Sales, Brand Manager, Cross-functional Committee, Retailer-led, Unsure
• List the retailer contacts we should engage for initial approvals (name, role, retailer, preferred contact method).

Who's Really Calling the Shots?

• If you had to bet on one person or group who will ultimately approve spend and placement, who is it—and what makes them decisive?
• What criteria do approvers use most when they say 'yes' or 'no' to a promotion? Options: Expected incremental sales, Margin/profitability, Retailer compliance risk, ACV/availability impact, Brand/creative fit, Measurement clarity, Other
• How long does your approval cycle typically take from proposal to PO for a new promotional mechanic? Options: <1 week, 1–2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 1–2 months, >2 months
• When approvals have shifted last minute, what factor changed (e.g., retailer request, finance hold, supply issue)? Tell us one concrete example.
• Which decision-makers are most skeptical of measurement claims and what would convince them?

Retailer Relationships: Allies, Blockers, and Unknowns

• Which retailers consistently help you drive outcomes, and which accounts quietly block your best promotion ideas — can you name them and why?
• Please identify your top priority retail accounts by trade spend or strategic importance.
• How do retailer contacts differ across accounts—who owns approvals, who owns in-store ops, and who owns data? Options: Category/Merchandising, Promotions/Marketing, Analytics/Insight, Store Ops/Field, E‑commerce Category Lead, Other
• What contractual obligations or planogram/display rules do retailers enforce that typically constrain promotion design?
• How often do retailers update display specs or compliance expectations (and how often do we miss those updates)? Options: Quarterly, Semi-annually, Annually, Irregularly, Unknown
• Have any retailers recently required stronger governance or measurement before allocating shelf/display space? Please provide examples and consequences.

Data: Can We See the Truth?

• If we asked for the exact data to prove promotion lift, what would you be confident we could obtain — and what would likely be missing?
• Which of the following data sources can you currently access for promotions? Options: Retailer POS, Loyalty/CRM, Coupon redemption, Shipment/invoice data, Panel (Nielsen/IRI), eComm sales & search data, Field audit/compliance photos, None/limited
• Who (name/role) owns access to those datasets internally and at each retailer, and which systems do they live in (e.g., Nielsen, IRI, retailer portal)?
• What common delays, fees, or legal restrictions have blocked timely access to retailer data in the past? Options: NDAs required, Retailer data fees, Data in unusable format, >4 week latency, No direct access allowed, Other
• How confident are you in the data's ability to measure incremental lift (signal vs. noise)? Options: Very confident, Somewhat confident, Neutral, Low confidence, No confidence
• If direct data is limited, what proxies or hybrid approaches have you successfully used before (e.g., test/control regions, scan-based controls)?

What Does 'Good' Look Like — For Brand and Retail

• Imagine the post-promo review that makes your leadership say 'Finally' — what single outcome would trigger that reaction?
• Select the top 3 metrics that would define success for this pilot from your perspective. Options: Incremental sales lift %, Incremental units sold, Lift-to-spend (ROI), Net sales / revenue, Market share gain, Display compliance %, New buyer acquisition, Repeat purchase rate, Gross margin impact
• Which outcomes do you expect the retailer to prioritize and why? Options: Faster sell-through, Higher margin, Increased basket size, Foot traffic, Compliance and planogram adherence, Better shopper insights, Other
• What are the minimum, acceptable thresholds for pilot acceptance (be specific: %, ratios, or absolute numbers)?
• Who will formally validate the results and sign off on pilot acceptance from both brand and retailer sides? Options: Trade Director, VP Sales, Analytics Lead, Retailer Category Manager, Cross-functional Committee, Other
• How should learnings be packaged and shared to influence future budgets and retailer negotiations? Options: Executive one-pager, Detailed analytics report, Retail-ready joint deck, Field playbook, Weekly scorecard during pilot, Other

What's Really Stopping Better Results?

• What’s the one systemic problem you keep fixing tactically that shows up every promo cycle?
• How long has this issue persisted and what is the accumulated cost or missed opportunity (if you can estimate)?
• Which internal processes or teams most often delay or derail promotions? Options: Finance/budgeting, Legal/contracts, Supply chain/availability, Creative turnaround, Retailer signoff, Field execution, Analytics/measurement
• How do you currently monitor display compliance and who is responsible for remediation when displays are missing or incorrect?
• Describe a recent promotion that missed expectations—what failure point mattered most (planning, retailer execution, measurement, or something else)?
• Emotionally: how do repeated misses make you feel about the next budget cycle or your ability to defend spend? Options: Frustrated/defensive, Cautious/under pressure, Motivated to change, Indifferent, Other

Commitments, Timeline, and First Steps

• If everything lined up today, what is the earliest realistic start date for a one-retailer pilot and who must approve that start? Options: Immediately (within 2 weeks), 2–4 weeks, 1–2 months, 2–3 months, 3+ months
• What budgetary or contractual hoops must be cleared before we can commit to launch? Options: Finance signoff/PO, Retailer co-op approval, Legal/brand usage, Production budget, Sample or sampling approvals, Other
• What non-negotiable protections or guardrails must be in place to protect ROI and retailer obligations?
• Who will be the day-to-day owner on your side for the pilot (name, role, responsibilities, and availability for weekly governance calls)?
• Would you agree to a 4–6 week pilot with weekly governance, data checkpoints, and predefined acceptance criteria? Options: Yes, Maybe — need to discuss, No
• What else should we know now so our pilot proposal is aligned with your realities and political constraints?

Quick Snapshot: Where Things Stand

• Which retailers and specific accounts should we include in this promotion diagnosis right now? Options: Walmart, Kroger, Target, Amazon/Marketplace, Ahold/Stop & Shop, Walgreens/CVS, Dollar General/Family Dollar, Regional chains (specify), Other (please list)
• How recent and complete is the trade spend and POS data you can share for those accounts? Options: Last 3 months - complete, Last 3 months - partial, 3–6 months - complete, 3–6 months - partial, 6–12 months, Longer / sporadic, We don’t have consolidated data yet
• Roughly, what is the average monthly promotional spend across the accounts you selected (total $ across accounts)? Options: Under $50k, $50k–$250k, $250k–$1M, $1M–$3M, Over $3M, Prefer not to disclose
• Who on your team currently owns detection of incremental lift and post-promo analytics (role/title)? Options: Trade Marketing Director, Shopper Marketing Manager, Category Manager, Analytics/Insights Team, External agency, No single owner yet
• Tell us about one recent promotion you felt performed well — what specifically made you say ‘that worked’?
• And one recent promotion you were disappointed by—what happened and how did that outcome make you feel about your program?

Are Promotions Doing Real Work or Just Making Noise?

• If promotions stopped today, how much of your current volume would you expect to keep — are you growing true demand or just renting it? Options: Most volume would remain (sustained demand), About half would remain, Most volume would drop (promotional-dependent), Unsure / haven’t measured
• How do you currently calculate incremental lift for a promotion—what method do you trust and why? Options: Test & control panels, Baseline regression (time-series) models, Heuristic comparisons to non-promoted weeks, Retailer-provided uplift figures, We don’t have a consistent method
• What percentage of promotions in the last 6 months met your internal threshold for true incremental sales (please estimate)? Options: >75%, 50–75%, 25–50%, <25%, Unknown
• When a promotion underperforms, what are the top three explanations you hear from internal or retail partners? Options: Poor placement/display, Wrong price depth, Timing conflict with competitor or seasonality, Out-of-stocks or supply issues, Creative/packaging mismatch, Measurement errors, Other (please explain)
• How long has the trend of declining trade spend efficiency been going on for your business—weeks, quarters, or years? Options: Just started (1 quarter), 2 quarters, 3–4 quarters, 2+ years, Varies by account
• How does this pattern affect how you feel about budget conversations with finance and leadership? Options: Confident — we can defend spend, Concerned — pressure to cut, Frustrated — lack of visibility, Avoidant — delayed conversations, Other (please explain)

What’s the Real Cost of ‘Compliance’?

• If display compliance is at 80%, do you feel that number reflects your in-store reality — or does it hide bigger problems? Options: Accurate — we trust it, Partially accurate — misses some regions, Overstated — audits inflate compliance, We don’t have reliable compliance tracking
• How do you measure compliance today (what tools, cadence, and ownership)? Options: Retailer-supplied reports, Third-party compliance tech (images/GPS), Field reps/manual audits, Weekly automated feeds, Ad-hoc spot checks, No formal process
• Which accounts or regions reliably under-deliver on display placement and why do you think that is?
• When compliance fails, what are the downstream costs you most worry about (rank or describe)? Options: Lost incremental sales, Damaged retailer relationship, Wasted creative/production spend, Failed KPI and bonus risk, Re-work/expedited production costs, Other (specify)
• What escalation or commercial levers have you used when a retailer misses placement or timing, and how effective were they? Options: Chargebacks/allowances, Joint ops meetings, Replacement displays, Contractual penalties, We rarely escalate, Other (describe)
• How would you feel about a rapid compliance pilot (3–6 weeks of photographic audits + incentives) if it could reliably prove lift improvement? Options: Very interested, Possibly interested — need cost estimate, Skeptical, Not interested

Who’s Buying What—and Why That Keeps You Up at Night

• How confident are you that your promotions drive net category growth versus simply moving sales between your SKUs? Options: Very confident, Somewhat confident, Not confident, We haven’t measured
• How do you detect cannibalization today (data sources, models, or rules)? Options: SKU-level POS time-series, Basket/transaction-level analysis, Retailer cross-elasticity reports, No formal method, Other (describe)
• Give an example of a promotion that increased unit sales but hurt another SKU or channel—what happened and what surprised you?
• What cannibalization rate would you consider acceptable before changing a promotional mechanic? Options: 0–5%, 5–10%, 10–20%, >20%, Depends on strategic priority
• Have promotions shifted demand across channels (e.g., e‑comm vs. brick-and-mortar) in ways that distort your performance view? Options: Yes — we see channel shifting, Somewhat — occasional shifts, No — channels behave consistently, We don’t track channel shift well
• How emotionally costly are these SKU conflicts—do they trigger SKU delists, pricing rework, or leadership pushback? Options: High — immediate business actions, Moderate — periodic adjustments, Low — tolerated, Not sure

Promotions That Look Great on Paper: Which Ones Actually Move the Needle?

• Are you relying on a handful of promo mechanics out of habit rather than because they’ve proven incremental results? Options: Yes — many repeats, Sometimes — depends on account, No — we vary mechanics based on evidence, Not sure
• Which promotional types have delivered the highest incremental ROI for you in the past year? Options: Feature/display + price, Price-only (temporary markdown), Buy-one-get-one / multipack, In-aisle sampling, Digital coupons/paid media, Bundling / cross-promos, We don’t have clear winners
• What discount depths (percent off or $ off) have proven most efficient at driving net new households versus simply accelerating purchases? Options: Small (5–10%), Moderate (10–25%), Large (>25%), Dollar off ($0.50–$2), Varies by retailer/SKU
• How influential is creative and display design versus price in your experience—do you have examples where creative alone shifted outcomes? Options: Creative was decisive, Price remained dominant, Both mattered equally, We haven’t isolated the effect
• How often do you run post-promo creative/display retrospective reviews and what typically comes out of them? Options: Always — structured reviews, Often — informal reviews, Rarely, Never
• If you could eliminate one promotional format from your toolkit tomorrow, which would it be and why?

Account Priorities: Winners, Losers, and the Middle

• Are we prioritizing accounts because they’re historically big or because they show the best opportunity for incremental ROI? Options: Prioritized by historical size, Prioritized by ROI opportunity, A mix of both, No clear prioritization framework
• Please list the top five accounts you’d defend spending for and why (top reasons: margin, distribution, growth potential, strategic partnership).
• Which accounts consistently under-deliver on ROI and yet still receive budget—what keeps that relationship alive?
• What criteria would you accept for downgrading or exiting an account (e.g., compliance < X%, ROI < Y, repeated execution failures)? Options: Compliance threshold, ROI threshold, Share decline, Retailer unwillingness to collaborate, Other (specify)
• How open would you be to reallocating 20% of trade spend from low-performing accounts into a data-driven pilot across prioritized stores? Options: Very open, Open with approvals, Reluctant, Not open
• What internal or retailer politics typically make account-level reallocation difficult?

What Would Success Actually Feel Like?

• If we solved your biggest promotion problems, what would be the top three measurable changes leadership would notice in 6 months?
• Which KPIs matter most for you and your stakeholders when judging whether a promotion was successful? Options: Incremental units sold, Incremental revenue, ROI / promo ROI, New households acquired, Net category growth, Compliance rate, Shelf/display adherence
• What is the minimum incremental ROI or lift you need to justify continuing a promo approach? Options: Break-even, 10%+ lift, 20%+ lift, Specific $ per promo threshold, Depends on strategic value
• How quickly do you need to see proof of improvement for leadership to continue funding a pilot (timeframe)? Options: 4–6 weeks, 6–12 weeks, One promotional cycle (3 months), Quarterly, Longer than a quarter
• Beyond metrics, what would make you feel emotionally confident that promotions are working better (examples: clearer governance, retailer accountability, simpler reporting)?
• Who besides you needs to be on board for a change (roles/titles), and what objections are they likely to raise?

Ready to Fix It? Next Steps, Pilots & Risk Controls

• If we proposed a 1–2 account pilot to prove incremental lift, what’s the minimum scope you’d accept (duration, sample size, data access)? Options: Single banner, 6–8 stores, 6–8 weeks, Single banner, 20+ stores, 8–12 weeks, Multi-banner pilot, 3 months, We need bespoke scope
• What POS, shipment, or basket-level data can you commit to sharing for a pilot, and who owns that data? Options: Daily POS scans, Weekly aggregated sales, Transaction-level baskets, Retailer-provided uplift only, Limited/share upon NDA, None currently available
• What vendor or internal integrations are blockers right now (e.g., retailer EDI, image audit tech, shopper data) and how long to resolve them?
• What commercial protections would you require before running a pilot (e.g., pilot acceptance criteria, chargebacks for non-compliance, shared-goal rebates)? Options: Pilot acceptance criteria, Retailer compliance SLAs, Chargebacks, Shared savings/rebates, No special protections, Other (specify)
• How soon could you mobilize budget and stakeholder approvals for a targeted diagnostic and pilot? Options: Immediately, Within 2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, Next quarter, Longer
• What would make you say yes to a root-cause diagnosis now (top motivations or deal-breakers)?

Quick Check-In: Where Are We Right Now?

• Which retail accounts and channels are in scope for this pilot or first deployment? Options: National grocery chains, Regional grocery chains, Mass merchandisers (e.g., Walmart, Target), Drug / pharmacy chains, Convenience stores, eCommerce/marketplaces, Club stores, Other
• Who will be the primary day‑to‑day contact on your side for deployment coordination (name, role, contact)?
• What is your target go‑live window for the pilot (select the best fit)? Options: Within 2 weeks, 2–4 weeks, 1–2 months, 2–3 months, Not yet decided
• Which internal documents or artifacts can you share immediately to accelerate readiness (retailer contracts, data schemas, creative master files, logistics calendars)?
• Are there any known legal, commercial, or retailer approval conditions already blocking launch? Options: No blockers, Minor approvals pending, Commercial terms pending, Data agreements pending, Significant blockers
• What single thing would you call the biggest risk to meeting your target launch date?

Are We Ready to Connect Data — Or Will We Be Blind at Launch?

• If POS, coupon, and eCommerce feeds aren’t delivering on day one, can we realistically measure lift or will we be operating in the dark? Options: We can’t measure reliably, Partial measurement possible, We can measure core metrics, We have alternate data sources
• Which of these data sources will be available for the pilot (choose all that apply)? Options: Retailer POS (transactional), Retailer promotion flags, Store-level inventory, Loyalty / basket / shopper data, eCommerce sales and promo logs, Coupon redemption data, Third‑party syndicated data
• What is the current status of data access for each retailer (already connected, access requested, not started)? Please list by retailer if possible.
• Does the POS feed include the granularity we need (UPC/SKU, store identifier, date/week, promotion flag, display code)? Options: Full granularity confirmed, Mostly there, missing one element, Aggregated only (no store/UPC), Unknown — we need to validate with retailer
• Who at the retailer owns the integration and the SLAs (name/role), and what SLA terms have they committed to?
• How long has it typically taken you to onboard a new retailer feed in past pilots? Options: <1 week, 1–2 weeks, 3–4 weeks, 1–2 months, 2+ months

Who’s Actually Allowed to Say Yes?

• If a display or promotion goes live without explicit retailer sign‑off, who bears the financial and operational responsibility? Options: Brand (we absorb cost), Retailer (they absorb cost), Shared / per commercial terms, Undecided / depends on retailer
• Describe the retailer approval workflow for creative, placement, and pricing (who approves, typical turnaround, and required artifacts).
• Which retail roles must approve creative and placement before production (select all that apply)? Options: Category manager, Retail operations, Regional store managers, Merchandising planner, Legal/compliance, Ecommerce category lead, Other
• What is the usual lead time from final approval to production ship and store receipt for displays? Options: <1 week, 1–2 weeks, 3–4 weeks, 4–6 weeks, 6+ weeks
• Have you had approvals delayed or rejected previously? Briefly describe a situation and its impact.
• Are there any pre‑approved creative templates, display masters, or compliance checklists we can leverage to shorten approval cycles? Options: Yes — full set available, Yes — partial set, No, everything is retailer‑specific, Not sure

When Production Goes Wrong, What Breaks First?

• Which production failure mode has historically caused the biggest launch damage for you (choose one)? Options: Artwork errors, Supplier lead‑time failure, Quality issues on receipt, Retailer rejection at store level, Logistics/shipping delays, Other
• Who are your preferred display and POSM suppliers, and what are their average lead times for typical builds?
• Do you use a formal sample approval process (physical prototype, digital mock, photo signoff) and who signs that off? Options: Physical prototype + signoff, Digital mock + signoff, Photo signoff in field, No formal sample process
• If a production error is discovered at store level, what is the escalation path and expected time to remediation?
• What contingency options do you allow when a display cannot be delivered on time (alternate fixture, signage only, delayed launch) ? Options: Alternate fixture, Signage only, Delay launch, Proceed without display, Other
• How quickly can we mobilize replacement units or reprints if a batch fails QA? Options: <48 hours, 3–7 days, 1–2 weeks, Longer than 2 weeks, Unsure

If the Data Says Different, Whose Numbers Win?

• Are we prepared to accept a single source of truth for lift measurement, or expect reconciliation between brand, retailer, and third‑party analytics? Options: Single source of truth (agreed), Reconciliation required, Prefer joint analytics approach, Undecided
• Which analytics platform will serve as the official reporting environment for the pilot? Options: Brand BI/warehouse, Retailer BI/portal, Third‑party measurement platform, Joint portal/Shared workspace, TBD
• Do you need raw transactional data access, or will aggregated reports suffice for pilot acceptance? Options: Raw transactional data required, Aggregated reports sufficient, Both required, Undecided
• List the acceptance criteria and KPIs that will determine pilot success (e.g., incremental sales %, compliance %, ROI threshold).
• Who will formally sign off on validated results (name, role) and what evidence will they require?
• How frequently do you want performance reconciliations and who should attend those sessions? Options: Daily first 3 days, then weekly, Weekly, Bi-weekly, Monthly, Ad-hoc as needed

Who’s Owning the Risk When Things Go Off Script?

• If a promotion drives negative ROI or unplanned cannibalization, who is contractually responsible for remediation or clawbacks? Options: Brand absorbs, Retailer absorbs, Shared risk model, Depends on cause (measurement/acceptance)
• Do your commercial terms include holdbacks, clawback clauses, or performance‑based payments tied to measured lift? Options: Yes — clearly defined, Yes — informal, No, Currently negotiating
• What monitoring, alerting, or guardrails do you want in place during the first 30 days (select all that apply)? Options: Daily sales/velocity alerts, Compliance drop alerts, Inventory out-of-stock alerts, Excess cannibalization flags, Margin/ROI deviation alerts, Other
• Who will be on the incident response chain (names/roles) for operational issues, data anomalies, or retailer disputes?
• What decision rights and escalation levels should we document to enable fast corrective action?
• Are there regulatory, safety, or retailer compliance risks unique to any account that we must mitigate before production? Options: Yes — list exists, Yes — needs identification, No known special risks, Unsure

Let’s Visualize Day One and Day 30

• Imagine launch day: what concrete signals would make you say we nailed it, and what signals would make you call it a failure?
• List three immediate success checks you want within the first 48 hours (e.g., POS feed received, 90% store display compliance, positive sell‑through in test stores).
• Which of these metrics should trigger a mid‑course correction (select all that apply)? Options: No POS feed, Display compliance < target, Incremental lift < threshold, Unexpected cannibalization, Stockouts in promoted SKUs, Negative margin impact
• What reporting cadences and dashboard views do you want from us (daily executive snapshot, store-level drill, retailer portal, raw extracts)? Options: Daily executive snapshot, Daily store-level extracts, Weekly analytics deep dive, Retailer portal access, Ad-hoc raw data exports
• How would you like field compliance captured and validated (photographic audit, third‑party merchandising proof, POS reconciliation, retailer confirmation)? Options: Photographic audit, Third‑party field audit, Retailer confirmation, POS reconciliation only, Combination of above
• Are you prepared to run a formal post‑launch retrospective at 30 days to capture learnings, change requests, and a prioritized fixes backlog? Options: Yes — mandatory, Yes — recommended, Maybe, No

Start Here: Tell Us About Your Role and Goals

• What is your title and primary responsibility for trade, promotions, or shopper marketing?
• Which retail channels do you run promotions in most frequently? (select all that apply) Options: Grocery/Supermarket, Mass merchants (Walmart/Target), Drug/Pharmacy, Convenience, Club (Costco, Sam's), eCommerce/Marketplace, Other
• Who are your top three retail partners by spend or strategic importance? (list names and primary contacts if possible)
• Approximately how many active promotional accounts do you manage, and what is your annual trade budget range? Options: < $1M, $1M–$5M, $5M–$20M, $20M–$100M, > $100M
• Which internal teams own approvals vs execution for promotions? (select all that apply) Options: Brand/Marketing, Trade Marketing, Sales/Account Management, Finance, Legal, Operations, Agency/External
• What is the single most important business outcome you need from promotions right now? Options: Incremental sales, Sustained market share growth, Retailer funding/slotting protection, Improved display compliance, Clear ROI for finance, Shopper conversion/penetration, Other

What If Half Your Trade Spend Was Working — But You Couldn't Prove It?

• When you look at recent quarters, which of these symptoms best describe your situation? (select all that apply) Options: Declining incremental lift, Drop in compliance, Rising cannibalization, Hidden spend/overruns, Retailer demands for more sophistication, Budget reallocation away from trade, Data gaps that prevent measurement
• How many consecutive quarters have you seen a meaningful decline in trade spend efficiency? Options: None, 1 quarter, 2 quarters, 3+ quarters, Unsure
• Tell us about a recent promotion that underperformed: what did you expect, what actually happened, and how did that land with your team?
• Which of the following do you believe contributed most to that outcome? (select all that apply) Options: Targeting/timing errors, Wrong promotional mechanics (e.g., price vs display), Poor in-store execution, Retailer compliance failures, Creative/visibility issues, Data or measurement errors, Other
• How is that underperformance affecting internal decisions — budgets, headcount, or executive confidence?

Who Really Controls What Appears on Shelf?

• If the retailer and your team disagreed about whether a promotion should run, who typically has the final say—and why?
• Which stakeholders at your company and at the retailer influence promotional strategy most? (select all that apply) Options: Brand Manager, Trade Marketing Director, Retailer Category Manager, Retailer Merchandiser/Field Team, Sales/Business Development, Finance, Category Captain/Agency
• How clear are responsibilities for planning, funding, execution, and compliance on a 1–5 scale (1 = blurry, 5 = crystal clear)? Options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
• Give a concrete example of a point of friction between brand objectives and retailer priorities and how you resolved (or didn’t resolve) it.
• How often do you get retailer commitments for placement, display, or timing in writing (POs, signed SOWs) versus verbally? Options: Always written, Mostly written, Even mix, Mostly verbal, Rarely written

When Displays Fail, What Gets Blamed?

• Imagine a promotion with perfect creative and pricing but zero display presence—who in your organization feels the consequences most, and why?
• How do you currently track display and in-store execution compliance? (select all that apply) Options: Retailer audits, Third-party audit services, Field/merchandiser checklists, Photo-capture apps, POS exceptions matching, No formal tracking, Other
• On average, what percent of displays met agreed standards in your last three promotions? Options: 90%+, 75%–89%, 50%–74%, <50%, Unsure
• Describe the operational steps taken after a compliance failure—who is notified, what remediation happens, and how long it typically takes?
• What compliance rate would you consider minimally acceptable to protect promotional ROI? Options: 95%+, 90%+, 80%+, 70%+, No formal target

Are We Measuring Real Lift — Or Just Counting Shifts?

• If your reports show big short-term spikes but no sustained growth, what would that say about your current measurement approach?
• Which data sources can you reliably access to analyze promotion lift? (select all that apply) Options: Retail POS/sales, Loyalty or panel data, Shipment/distributor data, Market scanner data (IRI/Nielsen), Digital/ad exposure data, Store-level inventory, Limited or no access
• How quickly after a promotion ends can you access clean POS or sell-through data for analysis? Options: Real-time, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Longer/Unsure
• Do you currently quantify cannibalization, halo, and baseline shifts? If so, how (tools or models)?
• What is your minimum acceptable incremental lift or ROI threshold to call a promotion successful? Options: >= 10% incremental sales, 5%–9% incremental sales, 1%–4% incremental sales, Break-even on promo spend, No formal threshold
• Who signs off on analytics conclusions and promotion acceptance inside your organization? Options: Brand/Marketing Director, Trade Director, Head of Sales, Finance, Cross-functional steering committee, Other

Pilot with Purpose — What Would Make a Trial Convincing?

• If a pilot met your internal KPIs but the retailer refused to scale it, would you still consider it a success? Why or why not?
• Which pilot scope would prove credibility for your team? (select all that apply) Options: Single strategic account, Top 3 accounts, Regional cluster (multiple stores), Channel-specific pilot, National sample, Other
• What minimum sample size or duration do you need to consider pilot results reliable? Options: 1 promotional cycle, 2 cycles, 3 cycles, 90 days post-promo, Unsure
• Which KPIs must the pilot move to justify scaling? (select all that apply) Options: Incremental sales, Promo ROI, Display compliance, Net revenue (after trade), Basket penetration/new shoppers, Retailer adoption/willingness to scale, Other
• What commercial protections or acceptance criteria would you require in a pilot agreement (example: payout thresholds, retailer obligations, holdbacks)?
• What single outcome would make you immediately greenlight scale from a pilot?

Deciding to Change — What Would Make You Say Yes?

• If everything needed to succeed hung on convincing one person or process, who would that be in your organization and why?
• What is your target timeline to decide on a pilot or partner? Options: Immediate (within 2 weeks), This month, 1–3 months, 3–6 months, 6+ months
• Who are the key influencers (Finance, Legal, Sales, Retailer BD) and what is their primary concern about changing your promotional approach?
• Which single risk would you want us to mitigate first in a partnership? Options: Shortfall in incremental ROI, Retailer non-compliance, Insufficient data access, Unexpected budget overrun, Operational disruption, Brand safety/reputational risk, Other
• If we provided a tangible first deliverable today (e.g., diagnostic of one account, sample promo plan, or pilot blueprint), which would be most helpful and why? Options: Account diagnostic and root-cause, Sample promotional plan for one account, Pilot blueprint with KPIs and costs, Proof-of-concept measurement plan, Other
• How would you prefer we keep you updated during discovery and pilot phases? (select all that apply) Options: Weekly calls, Shared collaboration workspace, Monthly steering committee, Ad-hoc store visits, Email summaries, Live dashboard access, Other
• Is there anything else we should know about your constraints, past attempts, or political dynamics before we design a tailored pilot?