🎙 EPISODE 314 — Where Your Trade Spend Is Quietly Bleeding Cash
It’s Not a Spend Problem. It’s a Visibility Problem.
Most brands don’t have a trade spend problem.
👉 They have a visibility problem.
Let me explain.
If you’re like most CPG founders, trade spend feels expensive.
You’re looking at:
your promotions
your deductions
your invoices
your margins
And it feels like:
👉 “We’re spending too much.”
So what do you do?
You try to:
cut costs
reduce promotions
negotiate harder
pull back spend
But here’s the uncomfortable truth:
👉 Most brands are not overspending
👉 They are leaking money
And they don’t even know where it’s happening.
Because the leaks don’t show up clearly in your reports.
They show up in:
missed opportunity
poor execution
bad timing
and invisible decisions happening around you
So today, I’m going to show you:
👉 the 3 most common places brands leak money in trade spend
👉 why your data doesn’t show it
👉 and a simple 15-minute audit you can run immediately

🎯 Let me FRAME this for you — Why This Matters Right Now
Margins are tighter than ever.
Retailers are asking for more.
Costs are rising.
Cashflow matters more than ever.
And here’s the reality:
👉 Trade spend is one of your largest expenses
But it’s also one of your least understood.
Most founders don’t have a trade strategy.
They have:
habits
expectations
and reactions
So money leaks quietly.
Not because you’re careless.
👉 Because you can’t see it.
And, this happens to brands of every size but smaller brands have less runway to easily absorb it.

🧠 Here are — The 3 Places You’re Leaking Money
Let’s break this down into something you can actually use.

⭐ LEAK #1: Ineffective Promotions
This is the biggest one.
Most brands run promotions and measure success like this:
Did sales go up?
Did we hit our volume targets?
Did we get display support?
And on paper…
👉 it looks like it worked
But here’s the problem:
👉 Many of those sales would have happened anyway
You’re not creating demand.
👉 You’re subsidizing it
You’re discounting:
your loyal customers
your repeat buyers
the people who were already going to purchase
And calling it “growth.”

What This Looks Like in Real Life
You run a promotion.
Sales spike.
Everyone feels good.
Then the promotion ends…
👉 and sales drop right back down
Let me repeat this, sales drop to the same level as soon as the event ends.
No retention.
No behavior change.
No long-term impact.
That’s not growth.
👉 That’s leakage.
👉 that’s trade dollars wasted
👉 that’s less runway to grow and scale

What to Do Instead
Start asking a different question:
👉 “Did this promotion create new behavior?”
Did we attract new shoppers?
Did we increase basket size?
Did we improve repeat purchase?
If not…
👉 you’re leaking money

⭐ LEAK #2: Poor Timing vs Competitors
This one is almost invisible.
Because your data will never show it.
And Your trade marketing software will overlook it.
You run a promotion.
You see your lift.
You evaluate your results.
But what you don’t see is:
👉 what everyone else was doing at the same time

What This Looks Like
You run a promotion at the same time as:
a major competitor
a category reset
a retailer-wide event
A competitor retailer
or a pricing shift
Your results look “average.”
So you assume:
👉 “The promotion didn’t work as well as expected”
But the truth is:
👉 you were competing in the wrong moment
Or worse…
👉 you were drowned out

Why This Matters
Trade marketing is not just about what you do.
👉 It’s about when you do it
👉 and what’s happening around you
Without that visibility…
👉 you’re making decisions in isolation
👉 and your competitors are taking your sales
Let that sink in a moment

What to Do Instead
Before your next promotion, ask:
👉 “What else is happening in this category right now?”
Who else is promoting?
What pricing changes are happening?
Is this a high-noise or low-noise window?
Timing alone can dramatically improve ROI.

⭐ LEAK #3: Weak Placement (The Silent Killer)
This is the one that quietly destroys brands.
And most founders completely underestimate it.
👉 Shoppers can’t buy what they can’t find

Real-World Example
I’ve shared this before, but it’s worth repeating.
A brand launched into a major retailer.
They did everything right:
great product
strong promotion
solid demand
A customer went in to buy it.
They looked where they expected it to be.
👉 It wasn’t there
They checked nearby sections.
Still nothing.
They asked a store associate.
They couldn’t find it either.
Eventually…
👉 they found it in the wrong category
Wrong shelf.
Wrong placement.
Wrong context.
That brand spent:
thousands of dollars driving traffic
time building awareness
resources supporting the launch
Including paying to have the retailer promote it
And it all failed.
Not because of demand.
👉 Because of placement

What This Means
poor schematics
inconsistent merchandising
out-of-stocks
missing shelf tags
All lead to:
👉 lost sales you never see
Because your data only shows:
👉 what sold
Not what didn’t sell.

What to Do Instead
Ask:
👉 “Can a first-time shopper find this product in 5 seconds?”
If the answer is no…
👉 you’re leaking money

💡 here an important INSIGHT — Why Your Data Doesn’t Show This
Now let’s connect this.
Because this is the part most founders miss.
👉 Your data tells you what happened
👉 It does NOT tell you why it happened
Your reports show:
sales
lift
spend
performance
But they don’t show:
missed purchases
lost visibility
competitive pressure
shopper confusion
And without that…
👉 you’re making decisions with incomplete information

🔄 SHIFT — The Visibility Gap
This is what I call the visibility gap.
The space between:
👉 what you can see
👉 and what’s actually happening
Most brands operate here.
They optimize what they can measure.
But the real opportunity…
👉 is in what they cannot see

🧭 introducing a new FRAMEWORK — The Retail Clarity Framework™
This is exactly why I built the Retail Clarity Framework™.
Because what’s missing isn’t more data.
👉 It’s context
Here’s the simple version:
Internal — What happened
Your data, your reports
Shopper — Why it happened
Behavior, decision drivers
Competitive — What influenced it
Timing, pricing, category activity
Predictive — What to do next
Strategy and action
Most brands stop at step one.
👉 That’s why they leak money

⚙️ here’s the CTA — The 15-Minute Trade Spend Leak Finder™
Let’s make this practical.
I want you to do this today.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and run this simple audit:

🔍 Audit Question #1: Promotions
👉 Did our last promotion create new behavior—or just discount existing demand?

🔍 Audit Question #2: Timing
👉 What else was happening in the category during our promotion?

🔍 Audit Question #3: Placement
👉 Could a new shopper find our product instantly in every store?

🔍 Audit Question #4: Visibility
👉 What are we NOT seeing that could be impacting performance?

If you can’t answer these quickly, confidently and clearly…
👉 that’s where your leak is
The complete The 15-Minute Trade Spend Leak Finder™ is this weeks free download at the end of the episode.
Download load it instantly to plug other gaps that are shorting your runway.

🔁 RECAP — Where You’re Losing Money
Most brands think:
👉 “We’re spending too much”
But the truth is:
👉 you’re leaking money in three places:
Ineffective promotions
Poor timing vs competitors
Weak placement
And your data won’t show it.

You don’t need to spend less.
👉 You need to see more clearly
Because the brands that win…
👉 don’t just measure performance
👉 they understand what’s actually happening
If this episode made you think differently,
Share this with a founder looking for more runway
Visit RetailSolved.com for more brand building advice and strategies
Download the The 15-Minute Trade Spend Leak Finder™along with the show notes at the end of this episode
Connect with me on linkedIn
And subscribe so that you never an episode
I’m Dan Lohman
And this is the Bulletproof Your CPG Brand podcast
If you’re like most founders…
Trade spend feels expensive.
Margins are tight.
Cashflow matters.
And it feels like you’re spending too much.

But here’s the truth:
👉 Most brands are not overspending
👉 They are leaking money
And they don’t know where.

The problem isn’t what you’re spending.
👉 It’s what you can’t see

Set a timer for 15 minutes.
Answer each question honestly.
If you hesitate…
👉 That’s where the leak is

Most brands lose money in:
Promotions
Timing
Placement
Deductions
Execution
Visibility
Decision-making

You don’t need to spend less.
👉 You need to see more clearly

Download the free The 15-Minute Trade Spend Leak Finder™ in the show notes. Use it.
Then:
👉 Join the free webinar:
Where Your Trade Spend Is Quietly Bleeding Cash
I’ll walk you through:
how to fix these leaks
how to improve ROI
how to build a system for growth

Thanks again for joining us today. Please reach out and share your most pressing questions and I’ll do my best to get you the answers you need on future episodes inducing expert advice from CEO’s and industry thought leaders. Comment, leave your questions and get this weeks free downloadable guide and the show notes at RetailSolved.com/session314

🎙 HOMEPAGE VIDEO SCRIPT
Most CPG brands don’t have a sales problem…
They have a visibility problem.

They’re making decisions based on reports…
But those reports don’t show what’s actually happening in-store.
That’s where money gets lost.

Let me explain.
You’re investing in trade…
- Running promotions…
- Working to grow distribution…

But you’re not always seeing the return you expect.
Not because you’re doing it wrong—
But because you can’t fully see what’s actually happening in-store.

Here’s the INSIGHT
Your data tells you what happened.
But it doesn’t tell you:
- why shoppers made those decisions
- what’s driving performance
- or where you’re losing money
And that gap?
That’s where your biggest opportunities are.

STEP 1 — AUDIT
That’s why I created the 15-Minute Trade Spend Leak Finder™.
It’s a simple way to quickly identify:
- gaps in execution
- missed opportunities
- and where you can improve performance right away
Start there.

STEP 2 — WEBINAR
Then, if you want to take it further…
Join the free webinar.
I’ll show you how to turn those insights into a system that improves your results and extends your runway—
So you can fix what’s not working and start driving real growth.