Hi Aparna,
Wow, your RM's seem to be really smart..... They are trying to have their cake & eat it too.....
Asking for ‘HR approval’ for allowing ‘customer paid liquor’ during business meeting is a nice move... :-)
So, tell us what your policy would achieve:
1. If someone does not consume alcohol, then won't this policy discriminate with him saying he is not able to follow 'guidelines' to build rapport with customers?
2. If someone gets arrested for drunk driving, would they state HR policy & say the company asks them to do so?
3. If the RM misbehave at customer premises / public place under the influence of alcohol, then could they state HR policy & say the company asks them to do so?
There are already many ways, that employees in such sales position twist the rules with (claiming false receipts for liquor under restaurant food bills, etc). Why do you want to give them a "free hit" to do it officially.
Tomorrow, they will say "There was only one committee member opposing our deal; so to get the business, I had to bribe / kill him". Make a policy for that.....
If RM's want to go extra mile with the customer, then they should do it at their cost & at their time. Business hours & budgets should be strict to business. Officially, you would surely want to earn business with your products, & not with booze.
My suggestion is, Do not get lured into the false premise build by RM's, that Alcohol is mandatory for cracking the deals....
Regards,
Amod.
Wow, your RM's seem to be really smart..... They are trying to have their cake & eat it too.....
Asking for ‘HR approval’ for allowing ‘customer paid liquor’ during business meeting is a nice move... :-)
So, tell us what your policy would achieve:
1. If someone does not consume alcohol, then won't this policy discriminate with him saying he is not able to follow 'guidelines' to build rapport with customers?
2. If someone gets arrested for drunk driving, would they state HR policy & say the company asks them to do so?
3. If the RM misbehave at customer premises / public place under the influence of alcohol, then could they state HR policy & say the company asks them to do so?
There are already many ways, that employees in such sales position twist the rules with (claiming false receipts for liquor under restaurant food bills, etc). Why do you want to give them a "free hit" to do it officially.
Tomorrow, they will say "There was only one committee member opposing our deal; so to get the business, I had to bribe / kill him". Make a policy for that.....
If RM's want to go extra mile with the customer, then they should do it at their cost & at their time. Business hours & budgets should be strict to business. Officially, you would surely want to earn business with your products, & not with booze.
My suggestion is, Do not get lured into the false premise build by RM's, that Alcohol is mandatory for cracking the deals....
Regards,
Amod.