“Shaun, I am a middle sales manager at a biotech company. My sales team consists of 2 men and 4 women, all who aren’t cutting back on their expenses and more specifically customer, prospect, and suspect dinners. We all get memos from finance, I tell them, but their expense reports are still too high. My boss is riding me. How do I get them to cut back?” Bernanke
Bernanke, I am not surprised by finance’s memo but I am also not too surprised by your teams expense reports, even in this economy. My qualify questions: Does your team have monthly expense budgets? Have you not approved an expense? Has AP not paid an expense? Is your culture taking clients and prospects out to dinner? Are other sales managers successfully getting their teams to reduce meal expenses? How long have you been a manager? What is the average of age of your team?
The reason I am not surprised, as sales people we like to help people; it can feel good to pick up the check; certain prospects, expect you to pick up the tab; and even in worse cases some take advantage of the free meal by over indulging.
My recommendations are twofold. First, coach your team on not setting themselves up to pick up an expensive meal. The easiest way is to cut down on inviting clients or prospects out to dinner. Another option is to choose a less expensive or local restaurant that has culture. If they have a client, for example that likes to order expense wines either don’t take them out to do dinner, take them out to nice BBQ restaurant, or tell the client before dinner, “In this economy, we closely are monitoring expenses and I am not able to order a highend bottle of wine this evening.” In this economy, I find that clients are more understanding than in a bull market.
Recently, I was at an evening event sponsored by one of our top accounts. After the presentation, I offered to take three of my contacts out to dinner. The restaurant was right next to the where the event was held, and more and more employees (who we never deal with and who don’t use our solutions), kept showing up and we ended up with a table of about 20 people. I told my contact (a VP), that I would be happy to pick up half the tab but in this economy, I couldn’t pick up the whole amount. The VP told me he understood and he said he picked up the other half of the tab.
Second, set an example of someone. Don’t approve an expensive meal and that will get everyone’s attention. My advice is to pick an expense in the $100 to $400 range versus a $2,000 meal. If I submitted a legitimate $2,000 meal and my company didn’t approve, I would personally follow up with my boss, finance, HR, etc. until I got paid.
Also, you say that finance is sending memos but until they don’t pay an expense, the culture is still to take clients out to expensive dinners. There are so many expense stories. I worked at one company where we used to brag about the size of the checks when taking out prospects.
Bernanke, 'Good Expensing’. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Bernanke' additional recommendations and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ
Bernanke, I am not surprised by finance’s memo but I am also not too surprised by your teams expense reports, even in this economy. My qualify questions: Does your team have monthly expense budgets? Have you not approved an expense? Has AP not paid an expense? Is your culture taking clients and prospects out to dinner? Are other sales managers successfully getting their teams to reduce meal expenses? How long have you been a manager? What is the average of age of your team?
The reason I am not surprised, as sales people we like to help people; it can feel good to pick up the check; certain prospects, expect you to pick up the tab; and even in worse cases some take advantage of the free meal by over indulging.
My recommendations are twofold. First, coach your team on not setting themselves up to pick up an expensive meal. The easiest way is to cut down on inviting clients or prospects out to dinner. Another option is to choose a less expensive or local restaurant that has culture. If they have a client, for example that likes to order expense wines either don’t take them out to do dinner, take them out to nice BBQ restaurant, or tell the client before dinner, “In this economy, we closely are monitoring expenses and I am not able to order a highend bottle of wine this evening.” In this economy, I find that clients are more understanding than in a bull market.
Recently, I was at an evening event sponsored by one of our top accounts. After the presentation, I offered to take three of my contacts out to dinner. The restaurant was right next to the where the event was held, and more and more employees (who we never deal with and who don’t use our solutions), kept showing up and we ended up with a table of about 20 people. I told my contact (a VP), that I would be happy to pick up half the tab but in this economy, I couldn’t pick up the whole amount. The VP told me he understood and he said he picked up the other half of the tab.
Second, set an example of someone. Don’t approve an expensive meal and that will get everyone’s attention. My advice is to pick an expense in the $100 to $400 range versus a $2,000 meal. If I submitted a legitimate $2,000 meal and my company didn’t approve, I would personally follow up with my boss, finance, HR, etc. until I got paid.
Also, you say that finance is sending memos but until they don’t pay an expense, the culture is still to take clients out to expensive dinners. There are so many expense stories. I worked at one company where we used to brag about the size of the checks when taking out prospects.
Bernanke, 'Good Expensing’. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Bernanke' additional recommendations and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ
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