How much does your business spend on trade promotions to drive product sales? According to a recent Forrester report, the average for a CPG company is 20 percent of revenues, but the investment vs. return doesn't always add up. You already know that some of that money doesn't generate any return, but it gets worse: Forrester estimates that one-third of that spend – about seven percent of a typical company's revenues – actually generates negative returns, cannibalizing high-margin lines and encouraging "pantry loading."