Straight From the CFO: What It Takes to Win My Stamp of Approval

With the current macroeconomic climate, you’re not alone if you’ve had a deal progressing nicely when, suddenly, WHAM! It hits a brick wall. 

It’s very possible that brick wall is your buyer’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Every purchase undergoes intense scrutiny when the economy slows. The finance team’s job is to ensure that every dollar of finite capital goes to the wisest investment. For technology purchases (and renewals), it comes down to value, usage of the current tech stack, and the potential to save money by consolidating redundant technology.

Where does that leave you as a seller? We talked to Salesloft’s financial leaders to get some answers. 

CFOs Need Proof of Tangible Value

Salesloft CFO Chad Gold and Chief Accounting Officer Chad Wonderling say purchase requests need to be backed up by a solid business case with outcome-driven results. They also expect the leader accountable for those business results to be the strongest advocate for the purchase. 

To ensure the right voice is speaking up for you, you need to prepare your champion to get their C-level execs engaged and excited. 

See what else Gold and Wonderling have to say about how to get their stamp of approval on tech purchases – even in a downturn – in this video:

Tips to Help You Close the CFO

Now that you’ve seen what CFOs are looking for, here are some ways to take action.

Demonstrate the Increased Productivity and Efficiency the Technology Offers

Technology that helps teams do the right things, do more of them, and do them better will always be attractive to a CFO. Lead with this type of value instead of features. 

Share the Expected Tangible Results

To get a CFO’s approval, talking about efficiency alone won’t cut it. A CFO wants to see actual numbers and improvements the company can expect, like increased sales metrics or fewer hires.

Identifying value in a software purchase is so critical that Salesloft has an entire team of value engineers. This team of experienced consultants identifies the value Salesloft can bring to a customer and helps buyers articulate the value to their leadership.

Get the C-suite On Board

In good economic times, a signature from the appropriate C-level executive may be all the CFO needs to approve a purchase. But when spending tightens, you need to turn that C-level exec into an advocate. That means multi-threading the account, developing a relationship with the leader (or arming your champion to get them excited), and positioning the value of your product early in the sales process.

Identify Existing Tech and User Adoption 

Everyone is buckling down on tech spend and looking at utilization and optimization. As a seller, you need to know if your buyer already owns technology with similar functionality or if they’re paying for tech they are not currently using. These are big red flags that can cause a CFO to squash a deal. In a contract renewal, be prepared with adoption metrics and a plan to increase adoption. 

An Easy Win

If you’re looking for a sales solution that checks all the boxes for your CFO, try Salesloft.

According to The Total Economic Impact™ of Salesloft*, enterprise customers have seen:

• 30% improvement in closed-won deals, resulting in $4.6M more in incremental profits
• 50% increase in annual prospecting activities, resulting in $3.3M more in incremental profits 
• 10% increase in productivity, resulting in $1.4M of time savings
• $744K in savings by retiring multiple point solutions and consolidating with one platform 
• 25% reduction in time spent onboarding new reps, resulting in $333k in time savings

A director of sales enablement at a software company says, “By using Salesloft, we were able to retire our dialer, our call recording system, and various point email automation [used by sales reps].

Find out how Salesloft can help you consolidate your technology.

*The Total Economic Impact of Salesloft is a 2022 commissioned study by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Salesloft. All savings are experienced over three years.