Preparing for a new #Salesforce Consultant role
𝗧𝗶𝗽 𝟵 𝗼𝗳 𝟭𝟮 – 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀
I reckon that expenses won’t be as big a chore in the post pandemic world for a consultant, simply because travel will be less common.
However, a couple of things to note:
1. Expenses Policy
Almost all consulting partners will have one, because it will be what’s used in the Statement of Work and contract with the customer.
Some examples
– cost of hotels may be dependent on location of client.
– meal receipts for small sums may not be necessary (this was true when I worked in Malaysia, many food stalls did not provide receipts)
– rules on when taxi use is acceptable
Note that some contracts with clients may incude how the expenses are calculated.
One client dictated that the expenses would not cost more than X% of the cost of projects, but we had to forecast expenses in advance and we could not exceed the amount forecasted.
I had to find out who would be going by train or car to client site, the cost of the travel, organise car pooling (I got someone to take a train to mine, before doing the 4 hour drive), balancing the cost of hotels with the meals that we’d have… it a bit of an overhead for me as a PM, but part of the job 🤷🏻♀️
There are some partners where the policy hasn’t been defined properly, in which case, get approval from your PM before you expense anything.
2. Do it weekly.
Your PM will be approving them based on policy or SOW, and will be invoicing them to the client montlhy as well. If you delay too long, your expenses may not be reimbursed.
I knew someone who would pile up her expenses, sometimes a few months in arrears, and lo and behold, the expected happened. She could not get them approved because too many payment cycles had passed, and the client wasn’t too impressed with the unprofessional conduct. 😑
I’m talking about project expense, not normal company expense such as training, books, or home office equipment (due to wfh situation).
Project expenses are re-billed to the client, and we need to make sure that we are professional and sensible about how we do it.
Seasoned consultants with large partners on projects with big budgets expect a 5* treatment in hotels and meals, but a lot of us operate on a slightly lower end of the scale – so the expenditure will need to be in line with that.
For example in the UK, getting a room in a B&B outside of main cities are unlikely to have pools… and I remember one consultant who had been used to a higher expense budget having a grumble about that. 🙄
So, #BeSensible.
As for expensing 🍩?
I got away with that with a few client’s approval, but on other projects, I just paid for them myself. 😊
A happy crew is a always productive one!
Tomorrow
𝗧𝗶𝗽 𝟭𝟬 𝗼𝗳 𝟭𝟮 – 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀
Something that’s important outside of consulting as well!
Details on how to win spaces on my next Consulting Masterclass and previous tips in the comment 👇🏻
