When a company has been established for some time, it tends to operate on very much the same basis year on year. The sales teams do their visits by car and taking prospective and existing customers/clients out for the expenses paid lunch. I have been amazed at the sheer numbers of sasles guys who still do this. One of the major changes in any organisation would be to move away from the incentive led sales drive. Let’s face it, if your product is so good, it should sell itself and not rely on almost buying that order. There are many ways of engaging with the same buyers and illustrating the benfits of your particular product over those of another company. An online sales presentation can give exacting detail and promote any new features; it can show the product within a range of items of a similar nature and have it’s overall benefits well showcased. If the point of the exercise is to save the company money by cutting travel and motor fleet running costs, then an additional section on a presentation should be given over to showing how responsible your company is towards the wider world by not travelling so often.
Managing the company resources is key to saving money. Cutting out many of the little treats that creep into the expense accounts can also make a difference. Company accounts departments these days do now run tighter departments than only a few short years ago. I remember when young bullish sales guys would demand extra expense allowances for the boys’ night out and make excuses to stay over in hotels for the purpose, running up massive meal and drink bar bills! This sort of activity was curtailed sharply at once appointment when the management started a share scheme which was mostly funded by savings made throughout the year with economies in the housekeeping!