sketchysales

Sales Manager

What do you get reimbursed for?

Asking just because I am curious.

Was speaking to an ex-customer the other day, they left their previous role because the company he worked for would not cover any expenses at all, not even milage or gas and he reckoned he was spending close to $4k a month on business expenses, i dont really see how that works.

I get everything covered, food, gas, car rental/milage, travel, accommodation etc. and that has been the case in each of the companies I have worked for. I am expected to be on the road a lot though.

What level of reimbursement do you all get, is it standard to have some stuff not covered or do you all have everything paid for?

✈️ Travel

30 comments

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Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

I've seen it done a couple different ways. At a past role, I had it where we had spending limits & were reimbursed up to that point. For example, we had a certain amount we can spend on breakfast, lunch, and dinner (all different amounts of course). In my current role, everything is reimbursed. And then I have a friend who just gets a set amount of money per month for travel & that's what they have to use, whether they use it all or not

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Interesting and good to know. I have similar with my food reimbursements, I get given a flat amount per day and I can choose to spend it how I see fit. Then there's unwritten expectations in terms of what is acceptable for hotels and car rentals but its very flexible because a hotel and rental in Denver is considerably more expensive than in Minneapolis.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

We use Concur, which points at our preferred hotel/flight vendors, although I can also book externally if/when I get a better rate on my own. If I see something that looks high, I'll flag it to my manager and ask if the trip will cause any heartburn. We also have a daily approved amount for meals. I also get mileage, parking, tolls and transit covered.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Are you able to collect elite benefits (points and status) with airlines and hotels when using Concur?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Usually. All my numbers are in the system and get applied. Airlines have no issue - it's programs like Bonvoy that can go sideways if the negotiated rate falls outside their standards or something. They really don't like third party vendor booking, but that usually means Hotels.com or the like and not so much a corporate interface. I do prefer to book hotels outside Concur to avoid any issue, but I do check rates within the system so I can defend my decision to book separately.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Interesting, thats good to know. I was curious because theres been talk swirling in regards to using Concur or similar. I hold top level status with a couple airlines and hotel chains and I dont want to lose my benefits. I also appreciate i have my own control over booking and dont have to submit for cost approval prior to booking.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's just a booking tool, honestly. The benefit at my previous company was that it put all my charges inline so I could associate them with an expense report. I use my own card now, so it's a bit different, but does still enable me to build and submit an expense report; I just have to attach receipts this time. You can manage your own profile with your preferences and rewards numbers, which are automatically applied. Marriott just makes it a bit of a knife fight to get the appropriate points applied, so if that's the best hotel for what I'm doing, I tend to book on my own.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Good to know. I am hyatt fan so lets see what happens.

Eitherway, i prefer not to have the oversight and i enjoy the trust extended to do the right thing with my expenditure

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yeah, I liked the fact that my corporate card charges would show up and it made it easy to align them to my expense reports. Now that I don't have a corporate card, it's not as slick. The other tools that are fun are mileage tools and easy add of toll for roll up.

RandyLahey

Politicker

Account Executive

Ouf poor ex-customer of yours. That sounds like the dumbest shit. I would walk on my first day if I found out about that.

I also have full coverage.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Yeh i didnt dig into it more but sure sounded dumb because they require their sales team to do a fair bit of travel.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Business travel expenses.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Check this out - if we want to be reimbursed for fuel then we have to rent a car. Like, really?

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

I've seen that, it's often cheaper to rent than pay the mileage rate. Where it gets messy is where you have a car allowance but its technically not a company vehicle.

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

I'm in the same boat as you. I've got a Liquid card that I use for food & on the road expenses and I get comped for mileage at the federal rate. I use Navan (TripActions) for all hotel bookings, flights, and car rentals if needed. I do pay for my own gas, though. I suppose that's part of what the mileage comp is supposed to cover.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

I feel like that is a question in your interview? How expenses get reimbursed? No way I’m waking in not know how this works Because some have company credit cards, cars, etc while others make you cover initially on your own accounts then submit for reimbursement.

But I have never seen a company say no to any of this and make you cover it. I guess at least you could submit this as business expenses on your taxes, but that still blows.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Yeh i think it should be. If you are covering it out your own card, makes sense to get yourself a dedicated business expense card I have found, makes it a lot easier to track and claim.

As for expenses not being covered at all, same i had never heard of it and was shocked which is why i brought the question here as i wasnt sure if it was common. Clearly isnt which is a good thing.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

ive had it where the company tells you what flights you can book, what hotels to stay at, and how much to spend on food. and you have to use a company credit card.

this is simple. but i didnt like it.

When i get to pick eveyhting my self and use my card, i feel like im actually benefiting.

the company i work for now, use the "spend it like its yours" mentality. which i think is a way to scare ppl into not spending alot haha.

but, it works for me!

when i travel i expense:
- parking
- flights, baggage, wifi
-uber
-all food and drinks
- hotel.

when i go for conferences if i need to load up on snack or drinks for during the event, im expensing that too.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Spend it like its yours is a good way to approach it I think and it extends trust to the team to make the right decisions. Its the same in my company and it works well.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

Everything except alcohol.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Used to be the same for me, new company has the approach of, heres a set amount for food/drink, spend it all on beers or all on chicken nuggets it doesnt matter, anything over is on you.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

Sales Director

Anything business related?

Red flag if a company doesn't reimburse when asking you to travel, have meetings, etc.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

huge red flag i agree, fortunately not my situation.

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

Really any sort of business travel expense gets approved for me

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Everything is covered just has caps

GTMLeader

Good Citizen

GTM Leader

Over the many decades, I have had everything of expenses being micro-managed (tips were capped at 15% and if you rounded up 3 pennies on the tip to make it an even, say $8, that was deducted from the reimbursement) to here's a company credit card with a $25K limit, just spend, we trust you and no need for receipts, or turning any type of expense report. The company just paid the bill each month.

Back in the early 10s, I was CSO for a division of a Fortune 300 company. I often times worked with sales and sales leaders for a sister division. Their sales team were employees but received zero base salary and zero expenses reimbursed. IIRC, they had about 300 reps across the US. They were selling supplies, and each month, they received a handsome commission for the monthly supply orders. Minimal turnover in their sales ranks. The sales reps I met all drove high-end cars and had well-tailored clothes and nice shoes. The concept is that each rep runs their own business. They all had revenue targets, and it was up to the rep to determine what was needed to hit that target. Every year during their annual sales meeting, they would have a session on what is deductible from their income tax.

So it really is a matter of perspective and the situation.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Thats very insightful and interesting. There is merit to treating a sales team and sales individuals as their own P&L or company. In a previous role I had a similar set up (expenses were covered) but we were treated as our own P&L's aside of that. Generally hated by people who havent worked that way and generally respected and appreciated by those who have.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Many companies already provide most of what you're getting currently including mine.

Having a concern that they may go so cheap on, simply ask for your allowances prior to signing the contract and consider them as essential additional parts of your Payout and see how bad it's gonna be impacted by missing one or more of those items.

Only after that, you can finally decide if it's gonna be a Go or a No Go with that company!

chomaianh

Executive

BDR

I also had everything covered, food (limit per meal tho), gas, car rental, plane tickets and accommodation. I used to fly in about once a month and stayed at a hotel for 5 days. Everything was reimbursed back via direct deposit and other than flights + hotel (paid for on a corporate card through TripActions).

ZVRK

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

If it’s work related - it’s covered, I don’t see any other way really. Used to travel a lot for my previous job. Accommodation (4star), rental, flights, lunch and dinner allowance etc.

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sketchysales

What do you get reimbursed for?

30 comments

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