You're probably not going to get a meeting with Finance

But you can still win them over with strong alignment

One thing we ask all Founders, leaders, and sellers to consider before starting or sending any proposal is: “what happens if this lands on the CFO’s desk?” The trope and mistake that most teams make is the creation of a “fluffy” ROI analysis – I wrote about how most teams don’t approach this correctly and how to think about it differently to win deals. TLDR; 

• Start with an overview of the Business Case – How does this tool help us meet a company’s objectives for the year?

• What is the current problem you’re solving? – Problem and solution must be clear and understandable by the person presenting to Finance 

• Why now, why anything? 

• Defining the value driver you solve for – Increase revenue, reduce costs, reduce risk 

CFOs are incredibly busy and so are the other counterparts on Finance teams. This means you probably won’t get the meeting with an incredibly important person, so your business case must be well understood and agreed upon by your Champion in advance. We recommend you deeply understand the stakeholders involved: Budget Owner, Economic Buyer, Signer. 

CFOs don’t want to talk to the salespeople. They want to hear a thoughtful analysis straight from the internal buyer. CFOs are not the experts in the tools or department needs. - OnlyCFO

To increase your chances of winning over Finance, whether you can meet with them directly or not, work on answering as many of the questions below as you can. It feels pedantic and yes, you may be able to close without this, but this will increase your likelihood of hitting your number this quarter. Avoid slipped deals at all costs! 

Qualification 

• How experienced of a buyer (or evaluator of software) is the person I’m working with? The more they can answer below themselves, the more experienced they likely are. This matters because you are trying to reduce the risk of Finance rejecting or scrutinizing what is put in front of them

• Why does the prospect need us now? What has changed for them (challenges, limitations, etc.)?

• Is there approved spend? If not, do we have access to someone who has the authority to find the funds? (More on this here) You want to make sure Finance isn’t concerned about overspending or misuse of funds 

• Is leadership comfortable buying from a startup? Have you confirmed this? 

Business Case

• Which of the three are you helping with?

  • Increasing revenue

  • Reducing costs (includes efficiency) Note: “making developers 2x more efficient” is not enough :) 

  • Reducing risk (often for security) Note: most companies need a specific solution in security, so you need to highlight the “cost of doing nothing” 

• What does this help the company achieve that is tied to a major initiative for the year?

• Are you replacing an existing solution? If so, how and why should they change now? Do you know when the renewal is? 

Instilling Confidence in the Approval Process

• Have you shown the prospect your roadmap? What are they most excited about? Any contingencies before purchase? 

• Have you shown them what an onboarding plan will look like? (More here)

  • This means, do they need to add more team members to your product? 

  • Are there any additional integrations or migration work post purchase? 

  • Are there timeline slides you’ve created to show this? 

  • Are there any additional costs they need to consider? 

• Is Pricing clear? 

  • Have you shared the details on your model? 

    • Regardless of usage vs. seats, this needs to be super clear – planned usage, what happens at scale, what happens in Year 2+ if successful.

      • Note: you probably don’t need multi-year and you don’t want to piss people off who are clear they don’t need it

      • Note 2: Most don’t need the highest pricing option – we strongly recommend a Partnership Onboarding Plan to avoid heavy discounts or a disappointing outcome on the size of the deal

By doing the above—plus the work to secure the Technical Win, build a compelling business case, and develop strong alignment with the Signer—you position yourself more strategically to close the deal. This will give you and your Champion the confidence to win over Finance regardless of the chance to meet with them.