Understanding Rebates: Strategies and Impacts

Nick Rose, CFO of Enable, joins CJ to discuss one of the most overlooked yet powerful levers for growth, trust, and alignment in B2B commerce: rebates. They talk about how rebates are often dismissed as accounting clean-up or mistaken for discounts, but they are actually critical pricing incentives that foster long-term relationships. Nick describes how he first came to Enable as a customer and how it helped him uncover more than $7 million in missed rebates. He breaks down how rebates differ from discounts, how they can exceed net profit, and why manual rebate systems are so complex and inaccurate. Nick also explains how Enable is building a new SaaS category, and the importance of becoming a business’s top three priority as a SaaS platform.

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Preview and Intro

(02:18) Sponsor – Subscript | Rippling Spend | Vanta | Tropic

(07:22) From Geography Major to CFO

(10:44) How Nick Became an Enable Customer

(13:45) $7–8 Million in Missed Rebates

(17:01) Sponsor – MUFG | NetSuite | Planful

(20:27) Complexity in Manual Rebate Systems

(21:45) What Is a Rebate?

(26:07) Rebates Exceeding Net Profit

(27:30) Why Rebates Build Long-Term Relationships

(28:43) Trust and Rebates

(34:42) Channel Stuffing and Rebate Fraud

(39:59) Bringing Rebates and Pricing Together

(42:32) Rebates Versus Discounts

(43:23) The Challenges of Creating a New Category

(45:42) Becoming a Top Three Priority

(48:53) Investor Thesis and Network Effects

(51:08) Long-Ass Lightning Round: Bad Hiring Decisions

(54:25) Advice to Younger Self

(55:36) Finance Software Stack

(56:45) Craziest Expense Story