The Company

SureWerx is a manufacturer specializing in a wide range of equipment for the safety and industrial sectors. Their products include tools and equipment, material handling solutions, safety tiles for sidewalks, arc flash clothing, and various other items. These products are distributed through industrial safety and construction distributors and automotive aftermarket distributors.

Vigan Shabani serves as the Director of Commercial Excellence at SureWerx, a newly established role aimed at integrating various functions to support the sales organization. This position focuses on standardizing processes and delivering value to both customers and sales teams.

Using Rebates to Drive Growth

Each manufacturer employs various rebate strategies in pursuit of growth. However, without a well-structured rebate strategy, rebates can become a substantial cost of doing business.  Businesses seek strategic opportunities within rebate management to mitigate this impact.  

Shabani says, “For instance, we have implemented various approaches in the past, such as quarterly rebate promotions tied to growth metrics rather than discounts. Another effective strategy involves offering rebates on new product lines or incentivizing deal registrations targeting brand new end users. By deploying rebates strategically, companies can not only manage costs effectively but also drive growth and market penetration in targeted areas.”

The Challenges

Extracting Data from Excel

According to Shabani, Excel spreadsheets can be both miraculous and crippling, depending on how they're used. When relying heavily on Excel for tasks like data extraction and analysis, trust in the data becomes paramount. Consistency in data extraction methods — whether it's monthly, daily, or weekly — ensures reliability. However, this consistency can be challenging to maintain without dedicating adequate time and resources.  

Shabani tells us, “Often, significant effort goes into extracting data, leaving less time for in-depth analysis. The key challenge lies in balancing the time spent on extracting data versus analyzing it. It's crucial to streamline processes to ensure data integrity while maximizing the value derived from rebate analysis. This balance is essential for leveraging Excel's capabilities effectively without being overwhelmed by its complexities.”

Validating Rebate Numbers

Shabani says, “Having worked in both large and small companies, I've noticed a stark contrast when it comes to rebate management. At larger companies, there's often a robust system in place that ensures accurate rebate calculations. This reliability is taken for granted until you transition to a smaller company, where questions about the accuracy of rebate calculations become more frequent. Sales teams and customers alike start questioning the validity of the numbers, which can create uncertainty and undermine trust.”

Efficiency and Transparency

Shabani explains, “The challenge for SureWerx boils down to efficiency and transparency. Spending extensive time in Excel spreadsheets to validate whether a rebate is 2% or 3%, especially across numerous customers, creates significant backend management complexities. This often burdens the finance team, diverting their focus from core responsibilities like accruals and payouts. This situation can lead to friction between finance and sales teams when trying to standardize processes. Rebates then become a necessary but cumbersome aspect of business operations.”

The Software

Support and Expertise

Shabani says, “Enable has proven to be tremendously valuable. One aspect that has particularly impressed me is the depth of knowledge demonstrated by the experts involved in evaluating the special pricing agreement module. As we navigated this evaluation process and sought recommendations, they provided comprehensive insights and effectively distilled complex information into actionable recommendations.”

He continues, “This expertise was evident not only in their presentations but also in their ability to direct us to relevant published documents, Enable knowledge articles, and white papers. This has been crucial in clarifying terminology and ensuring alignment across diverse backgrounds and perspectives within our team. The breadth and depth of expertise shown by the individuals involved in this process has been exceptionally valuable and has greatly facilitated our understanding and decision-making.”

Negotiations and Decision-making

Shabani says, “By leveraging Enable, we can streamline upfront setup and calculations, reducing reliance on spreadsheets. This efficiency frees up time to focus on strategic questions, such as aligning business goals with negotiation outcomes. The flexibility of rebate management software can accommodate various drivers that sales teams negotiate, facilitating more agile and informed decision-making processes.”  

Adaptability and Flexibility

Shabani tells us, “In my experience so far, Enable appears to have been the right choice due to the software’s adaptability. Now, the key lies in aligning this flexibility with our strategic objectives and ensuring we can measure the outcomes effectively. Ultimately, marrying Enable's capabilities with our rebate strategy will be crucial for maintaining accuracy, building trust, and achieving our business goals.”  

Single Source of Truth

Shabani says, “Ultimately, our goal is to have a single source of truth within Enable, where all relevant data resides and can be leveraged for decision-making. This centralized approach will enable us to streamline processes, from analyzing metrics to taking action through claims and credits in our ERP system. By consolidating these functionalities, we anticipate greater efficiency and alignment across our operations, enhancing our ability to drive strategic outcomes effectively.”

Information More Accessible

Shabani explains, “We have teams in finance, pricing, and sales with the ability to log into Enable and access real-time information, moving away from data being confined to spreadsheets on individual desks. This transition will allow anyone to quickly see what was paid out, why it was paid, and which products are involved. This enhancement aims to make information accessible much faster and with less effort. Consequently, our people can focus on their true strengths — making informed decisions that consider both emotional and practical factors — rather than relying solely on spreadsheets for guidance.”

Special Pricing Agreements

Special pricing agreements (SPAs), whether upfront or on a deviation, are a standard practice in the safety and industrial marketplace. However, depending on your strategy and the extent of your deviations, significant channel conflict can arise from their use.  

Shabani says, “We aim to incentivize businesses, but within the SPA framework, these incentives don't always reach the frontline workers we intend to motivate. This presents a challenge for the industry: finding a way to ensure that incentives flow through to the right individuals, a problem that is partly technological and one Enable is trying to solve.”

Challenges with SPAs

SureWerx faces several business processes challenges, encompassing pricing practices and other essential operations.  

Shabani says, “On the backend, a significant amount of time is spent determining whether we or our distributors are being cheated. While discrepancies might seem minor — like a cent here or there — they become significant when they amount to $10, $100, or even $1,000. Beyond the financial impact, the key issue is how satisfied the person feels at the end of the transaction and whether you can substantiate that feeling of fairness and transparency.”

Gaining Valuable insights

At SureWerx, their vision is to leverage SPAs more extensively with a wider range of customers. As a company, they want to engage directly with those who are using and consuming the products.  

Shabani says, “By utilizing SPAs, we believe we can achieve greater scalability. While our current solutions allow for scaling with increased investment, we seek to leverage a SPAs solution to gain valuable insights. These insights include understanding product usage, collecting accurate data, tracking product distribution, and ensuring products reach their intended destinations.”

He continues, “This isn't about putting anyone on the spot or accusing them of dishonesty; rather, it's about identifying opportunities for improvement and replication. Through this process, we can better understand the relevance of our strategies and why certain pricing, or sales approaches may not be suitable for specific markets or customers. Ultimately, as we reach a more mature phase, we hope to use these insights to refine our strategies and enhance our overall effectiveness.”

Future Plans

Shabani concludes, “The discussions with Enable initially focused on implementing a rebate solution, which is now expanding to include a SPAs solution. Our vision is for Enable to serve as a centralized platform where we can access and analyze our metrics comprehensively. Looking ahead, as Enable continues to enhance its capabilities, we aim to integrate additional functionalities such as claims management seamlessly into this platform.”