“[My sales team] is more productive and they’re less miserable about doing expense reports. So it works!”

Since 1953, Merit Distribution Group has been dedicated to keeping shelves stocked in your local hardware and home improvement stores. Today, they are a half a billion dollar company servicing more than 10,500 independent, national and regional paint stores, hardware stores, and home centers across the country.

Dave Ascani is both the CFO and CIO of Merit Distribution Group and when he started almost two years ago, they were a $280 million dollar company. “This year alone we’re going to be $520 million, which is about a 60% growth in two years.”

“We service anywhere from Minnesota to Miami, and people expect their products to be delivered there the next day or two.” Merit Distribution was using a well known business credit card to charge everything it cost to keep business moving and their 10,000 plus customers happy. “We were charging $9 million on these credit cards for the cost of goods, freight, and all other administrative expenses.” But with the amount of spending they were doing, their rewards didn’t show for it. Dave said they were getting less than 1% cash back on travel expenses, losing almost 60% value on their statements each month.

On top of that, Merit Distribution was losing time (and money) out on the road with another well known expense reporting system. “We are a company of 650 employees, half of which are salespeople who travel. So their productivity has everything to do with being out on the road.” Dave said their team had many issues with the system and would constantly complain about how often it brought them off the road to do their expense reports. “Non-productive time equals less revenue for us.” They were also spending over $35,000 a year just to use their expense reporting software. “How am I going to afford all of these different solutions?”

“We are a company of 650 employees, half of which are salespeople who travel. So their productivity has everything to do with being out on the road.”

As both the CFO and CIO, Dave is always on the lookout for solutions that will not only save the company money, but also help streamline their processes. That’s when Dave joined a CPE course that exposed him to BILL Spend & Expense. “I immediately was drawn to the structured budget process, the workflow processing of expenses, and of course the cash rebate that exceeded our old credit card.”

“I immediately was drawn to the structured budget process, the workflow processing of expenses, and of course the cash rebate that exceeded our old credit card.”

Moving their entire sales team over to BILL Spend & Expense, Dave says his sales team has never been happier. “We have over 250 sales people that were spending a minimum of four to eight hours a month on their expense reports before BILL Spend & Expense].” Now, they can quickly capture a picture of their receipts while on the road, upload it to the BILL Spend & Expense mobile app, and submit the expense in real time. “They’re more productive and they’re less miserable about doing expense reports. So it works!”

“We have over 250 sales people that were spending a minimum of four to eight hours a month on their expense reports before BILL Spend & Expense].”

Today, about 400 Merit Distribution Group employees use their BILL Spend & Expense cards for expenses while out on the road. Less than 20 employees still utilize their old expense reporting software, but Dave is determined to get that down to zero by the end of 2022.

Ultimately, the amount of return and money saved with BILL Spend & Expense has been a major game changer for Merit Distribution Group, and has made Dave sort of a hero. “What started out as a CPE course turned out to be definitely a triple winner for us.” In the two and half years since implementing BILL Spend & Expense, Merit Distribution outpaced their previous spend of $9 million and ran nearly $64 million through BILL Spend & Expense. “Showing what we earned in cash back has increased our company enterprise value.”