Overview

When implementing a demand management process, the sales and marketing organizations often resist providing input to the demand plan. Why the resistance? They do not see the value in their participation, and it takes time away from their primary activities.

This resistance has a certain degree of irony. When the sales and marketing organizations do not contribute to the demand plan, they make it harder to achieve their performance objectives. Demand plans are almost always more accurate when they are based on inputs from the sales, marketing, and product or brand management organizations. After all, they work most closely with customers, the marketplace, and new products. As a result, they should have the most accurate information on customers' buying intentions and the forces in play that influence customers to buy.

When demand plans are inaccurate, product is not available to fulfill customer orders because the product was not requested. The wrong product is also on the shelf. Why? Because someone, with less knowledge about customers' buying intentions and the efforts to create sales, made the decision on the demand plan and what to build, buy, and put into inventory. This creates a triple whammy for the sales and marketing organizations lower sales revenues, disappointed customers, and reduced profits.

The sales and marketing organizations have a point, however. Providing input into the demand plan should not consume a significant amount of time. It also should provide value to their efforts to create and manage demand. These best practices are...