Annual Planning: Pie-Eating Contest or Growth Strategy?
Lessons for Manufacturers and Distributors Entering Planning
Do you ever get the feeling annual planning is like a pie-eating contest?
Only the rules keep changing.
One year it’s find efficiencies.
Next year it’s prove ROI.
This year? Do more with AI.
The Fiscal Year Budget Fight
Every function has a claim on the pie:
- Marketing wants more media dollars and support to keep up
- Sales wants more field support, program incentives, and better leads
- CEO/CFO want SG&A down and productivity up
- IT asks for cloud, data, and security investments
- CX pushes for more agents and better tooling
Meanwhile, most tech stacks are less than 40% utilized. That unused capacity is a symptom of overspending in some areas and under-leveraging tools already in place—often due to gaps in resources, capabilities, and focus.
A Client Example
One CMO told me: “I don’t need more budget. I need to prove the dollars I already have are working.”
Together, we reallocated spend, leaned into AI-driven attribution, and doubled their pipeline contribution in a single quarter. Same total dollars. Different allocation. Clearer proof.
Reallocation vs. Reshaping
So what’s the real game for next fiscal year—fighting for a bigger slice or changing the pie?
Reallocation is maintenance—reshaping is momentum.
- Reallocating shifts dollars across existing programs and channels
- Reshaping redefines the mix: activation over overhead, proof over opinion, AI for efficiency and effectiveness, and alignment across sales, marketing, and operations
Three Moves That Reshape the Pie
- Activate Where Buyers Decide – Focus on moments that capture demand before sales is called: search migrating to GEO, digital marketplaces, review ecosystems, and programmatic activation
- Prove What Works – Use AI-assisted attribution and mixed-media modeling to validate where leads and revenue originate, then cut what doesn’t perform
- Align Commercial Execution – Ensure inventory health, pricing discipline, and sales follow-up are ready before you scale media; otherwise activation spend leaks
Quick Diagnostic for Your Next Fiscal Year
- Are top programs tied to measurable pipeline and bookings?
- What percent of the stack is truly used (users trained, data flowing, outcomes measured)?
- Where do hand-offs fail (marketing → sales → channel → service)?
- Which initiatives would you stop if you had to free 10% immediately?
- What would you double if the board demanded evidence-backed growth by Q2?
Where Dorn Helps
At Dorn, we help manufacturers and distributors step out of the pie fight and see the bigger picture:
- Where to cut without losing growth
- Where to double down with activation and launches
- Where AI actually delivers efficiency and attribution that hold up to scrutiny
- How to align sales, marketing, and operations so spend converts to bookings
Takeaway
As you plan next fiscal year, the question isn’t just what slice are you fighting for? It’s whether you’re reshaping the pie in ways that deliver real growth.
If your stack is underused, if proof is thin, or if activation isn’t matched by commercial execution, you don’t need more pie—you need a new recipe.