• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, May 12, 2009

Every day, it seems, the relationship between retailers and consumer-product companies becomes more complicated. And at the moment, it doesn't look like either group is all that happy. A new survey from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) reports that retailers want consumer-products executives to have more ideas, and that only 9% of consumer product execs describe themselves as "highly effective" in managing their sales forces. The consulting firm A.T. Kearney and the Network of Executive Women (NEW) were partners in the research and report.

Retailers have consolidated, and have become increasingly sophisticated in the way they use marketing and segmentation data, explains Brian Lynch, director of sales and sales promotion for the GMA, "so today, salespeople for consumer packaged goods companies aren't just sales reps.

"They're also required to act as marketers, merchandisers, strategists, branding experts, general managers, and creative thinkers. Increasingly, retailers are hiring CMOs and merchandising executives from the world of consumer-product companies, and they're expecting more, in terms of shopper insights. For consumer product companies, that represents a huge opportunity for us to sharpen our game."

Specifically, the survey found that retailers expect sales reps to be schooled in analytics, category management, consumer insights, shopper insights, and cross-functional collaboration. As a result, worries about how to align the right salespeople with the right retailer keep consumer-product executives up at night, with 65% assigning it the highest priority.

"Just as consumers increasingly expect grocery retailers to provide meal solutions rather than [just] meal ingredients, retailers are turning to CPG sales forces to deliver comprehensive product, brand and category strategies," the report says. Companies that aren't focusing on this "talent triage," it says, "risk losing market share, brand strength, sales force productivity, top talent -- and importantly, having their products 'rationalized' right off of retail shelves." The study included surveys and in-depth interviews with sales reps and executives at 34 consumer-product companies and eight retailers.

A special area of concern is diversity. At a time when stores are focused on learning how to best segment their own marketing efforts, they are finding that the sales forces at consumer product companies are "well behind the curve" in terms of gender, race and age diversity, with 28% more male employees, 57% more middle-aged employees (45 to 54 years old), and 13% more Caucasian employees than the 2008 U.S. working population.