ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the importance of identifying the mix effects that are most critical to a particular business, along with the importance of developing analytical frameworks to measure these mix effects on the bottom line. Dev Tandon suggests using mix analysis to decompose annual variations in gross margins realized by the individual sales representative. This analysis helps to understand the effect that changes in price, raw material costs, product portfolio composition, and cost reductions. Pricing and sales mix analytics are difficult and complicated to perform, and produce imperfect results. These challenges lead to confusion about the impact of mix, the root causes of gross margin variances, and often indirectly encourage sales professionals to conduct their own analysis instead of focusing on selling productively. The chapter also discusses the importance of having quick access to mix metrics across the key sales and marketing dimensions in the business, to enable more profitable decision-making among the sales force.
