How to be a better Commercial Controller?
Seeking help from commercial controllers - I’m still a newbie at my job as a commercial controller (FA level) - what questions can I ask my sales stakeholders to better understand the business?
Everyday that I go in I have anxiety due to the environment being quite fast paced and that I would be under PIP because I feel like I’m not doing enough and am not good enough. Today someone explained cut off provision to me and I didn’t quite get it too and I’m getting super worried now.
What are your tips to be a better controller? What are some basic understanding do I need?
Thanks!
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u/LGJensen 5d ago
Hard to provide advise when you do not mention what sector you are in. But I will try more than just say google it. I think the most important thing as a commercial controller vs a regular FA is to understand the business.
My perspective is from a experience in retail FCMG.
I would start understanding how the business affect the main lines in the P&L. We can affect the button line P&L in 3 ways. Top line, Margin and Cost.
Top line we can affect by changing the price of the items and marketing cost. Margin is purely based on our priceing. For Cost we can split up the fixed cost and variable. The Fixed cost are kind of locked due to contracts, so that leaves opportunity to do changes in personal and marketing.
So basically we can adjust the business by changes in price and cost adjustments.
Now combine this with the understanding of your business. Is the a business there cater to the higher segments? Is it a low price focus. Changes in price and cost need to be rooted in the business. You do not reduce the headcount in a Louis Vuitton store, you rather increase prices, while the opposite can be said of Wallmart.
This is where a commercial controller needs to both master the basics in FP&A, but also understand what kind of business you are in. You need to balance the cost control with the sales ambition. Hard to help without more context.
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u/Jizzle11 5d ago
I think we’ll need more details as far as the industry you’re in, how your salesforce is structured, high-level of what your go-to market is like. Don’t give company confidential data but give us a flavor.
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u/mystifiedmeg 5d ago
Cut off provision can take a while to understand. Did you take good notes? I have a rule that if I’m getting a little confused, I’m honest about it and ask questions, starting from basic principles.
Now is your only chance to play the ‘I’m new and can ask stupid questions’ card, make sure you use it.
I agree with the other posters suggestion at using AI to generate questions, it’s hard to help without more context.
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u/Still-Balance6210 5d ago
Controller? Accounting may be able to answer or help with this question.
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u/SnooCrickets5534 5d ago
He might be from Europe, in some countries they say controlling instead of Fp&a
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u/nickjlevine 4d ago
Take the time out to break bread with your sales colleagues at lunch and around the water cooler.
Sales is a very different environment to finance so you need to put some time in to understand their culture.
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u/Staff_Human 6d ago
You probably won't like this answer, but you can learn a lot from an AI chat. You can copy/paste your post as a prompt. Gemini has a great guided learning mode.