Thanks to the collective power of the war room, I was able to watch the recording of the Pclub.io webinar from this past week. (Thank you again @Bobbybuttbuddy) I updated my other post but I figured more people might read this if I made it separate as well.
Please call me out if I should take this down if you feel it's dumb to have this posted twice.
Chris interviewed 3 CFO's: Tim from Gong, Jim from Drift, and Michael from Invoca.
The recording expires in 2 days so figured I'd give my notes and thoughts.
These are not my opinions but it's takeaways from the webinar. I do not claim to have come up with any of this myself.
TL;DR at the bottom
NOTES
The lay of the land: What’s going on in the CFO’s world (and mind) right now?
- CFO Value Drivers: What are CFO’s willing to spend money on today?
- Working With Champions: The internal Workings of champions ‘selling’ when I am not there.
- Building a CFO-worthy business case : How we build a business case that gets CFO’s to say YES!
- Ensuring “value realization”: How to ‘ease the fear’ of poor adoption, shelf ware, and not realizing value from sp
- Closing and Negotiating: Closing to make it easy to do business (at the prices you want)
- Key Mistakes to avoid: Top mistakes most sales people selling to CFO’s make
What leading economic indicators do you personally follow that help you understand when to pump the brakes or hit the gas?
What is rep productivity and quota attainment? going down?
Is it taking longer to convert pipeline?
How is customer churn? If going up this is a sign to spend less.
How long is it taking us to close deals?
Is it TRULY timely or us or is it nice to have?
There are four value categories that get CFO’s attention:
- Cost Reduction without sacrificing too much
- Maximize productivity - get more from the same spend
- Grow Revenue Efficiently - without it being a ‘fuzzy stretch’
- Mitigate Risk - Compliance and Regulatory
For the most part, CFO’s don’t want to talk to salespeople. I have to empower my champion to sell on my behalf.
Accountability around projects is huge! Is there a longterm vision to this. I need to be willing to be held accountable as a seller, and have a specific implementation plan. I should also have a specific Mutual Action plan that shows a CFO: here’s what you will be spending, and here’s your ROI, but overall here is how we’re going to extract the value and ensure this will not become shelf ware to you.
BUSINESS CASE
Business cases should include how much it costs us and what’s the Return?
Is there revenue lift? BC’s in risk management or regulatory are a bit harder to quantify. Cost savings or revenue maximization are pretty straight forward, subject to 2 caveats.
Sometimes those ROI’s are a LONG way off. If it takes 2-3 years to get there, it’s more risk for them.
Are there measures we can show over time that they can track it is still moving in the ROI.
Keep it simple, make sure it’s realistic (maybe put a range on the ROI and don’t just have a round number).
Again, we need to coach our champions.
Business case tests:
- CFO might ask your champion: you’re pitching me this ROI, are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?
- Did the champion write the business case? Or did the seller? It’s much better if the champion does.
Parting advice to sellers:
Tim: Are you willing to commit to your ROI? Reduce costs, more revenue, or risk mitigation memorialized in the plan.
Michael: In general, if I get the sense that they’re treating the company money like it’s there money, it shows the champion has put thought into this. CFO’s often don’t give a shit about rapport. They care about the numbers.
Jim: I think what I see, is that the failure of salespeople to understand the entire process is the pitfall. And they’re afraid to ask the hard questions. The worst you will get is a no. Work to understand the process.
TL;DR - CFO's want to see a business case that is well thought out and ensures that what they're buying isn't just short term gains.
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