FAQs: What Does a Coop Specialist Do?

Throughout a typical day, a Coop Specialist hears questions like, “What do you do at your desk all day?”, “Do you actually go through those massive piles of papers on your desk?”, “How much available coop funds does my client have?”, “My client is interested in doing this, will this be coop eligible?” etc. Let me answer these questions by taking you on a quick rundown of what coop is, what I do at my desk all day, and why having your own Coop Specialist is beneficial. Coop is a program that many automobile/implement franchises put into place to offer “free” money to dealerships for advertising. It’s not that simple though. There are many, many rules that have to be adhered to in order to be eligible for coop reimbursement. Don’t worry! Mudd Advertising has a team of experts that will make sure those rules will be followed on any advertising the client wants to submit for coop reimbursement. We read and study all the guidelines to make sure the client’s advertising is created according to the rules so they can take advantage of their available coop funds. Once the advertising runs, the Coop Specialist comes into play. Hundreds of invoices from radio and TV stations, newspapers, billboards, Google, Bing, etc. flood in. To answer the question about whether or not I go through those massive piles of papers on my desk, the answer is yes; one by one. I gather all necessary materials needed for submission, submit the coop claims, and then make sure that all of the claims are processed correctly. From this point, I inform the account team of the client’s remaining available coop funds. If coop funds expire, it’s like losing “free” money and no one wants that to happen. It’s my job to keep a close eye on this. If it looks like the client’s funds are close to expiring, I will communicate this with the account team so we can find a way to utilize the client’s coop funds in an effective manner. So why is a Coop Specialist beneficial? I take the burden of submitting coop off of the client’s shoulders, which frees them up to do more important things, like selling their product. Since I work in the same building as their account team, I can easily keep everyone in the loop on all things related to the client’s coop funds. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. The client has coop funds to spend and we can help them spend it; even take the burden away and submit the coop for the client!