Selling to a CFO

A CFO doesn't buy services. A CFO buys outcomes with a number attached and a date to hit it by.

That's the whole frame. If your firm can't talk about what the work does to cost, cash or risk, you'll never get past the CFO's assistant. If you can, you'll find a buyer who decides fast and sticks to the decision.

What a CFO owns

The CFO owns the money. Budgets, forecasts, cash, financial reporting, and the relationship with investors or the board. In many companies, they own procurement, finance operations and sometimes IT.

They're measured on hitting the plan. Revenue, margin, cash flow, cost targets. They're measured on clean reporting with no surprises. And they're measured on the promises leadership made to the market. If the CEO announced a cost program, the CFO is the one who has to deliver it.

In a services deal, the CFO is often the economic buyer even when someone else is the champion. They sign off on the spend, and they can kill a deal the business side loves.

What they ignore

CFOs ignore anything that sounds like spending for its own sake. "Digital transformation" with no return attached. "Innovation" without a cost case. Technology for the sake of technology.

They ignore vague claims about savings. "Our clients see big efficiency gains" means nothing. They'll ask how big, measured how, and over what time. If you can't answer, don't make the claim.

And they ignore pitches that don't understand finance. If you write to a CFO about a problem that clearly belongs to IT, they'll forward it to IT or delete it.

The signals that matter most

Business pressure is the CFO's world. Margin pressure called out in an earnings release. A cost program announced with a target. Restructuring charges in a 10-Q. These are all public promises the CFO now owns, and many of them need outside help to deliver.

A new CFO is a strong signal on its own. In the first 90 days, they're learning where the money goes, and they often find problems the last CFO lived with. They have license to act, and they want early wins. This piece on new CFOs covers the window in detail.

Finance hiring tells a story too. If a company is posting for FP&A leads, controllers or finance systems roles for months, the finance team is stretched. That's often when a CFO will look at outside help for close, reporting or systems work.

And funding or deals matter. After an acquisition, a CFO has to integrate two sets of books, two ERPs and two finance teams. That's a big piece of work with a deadline.

An example opener

Say a mid-size manufacturer just brought in a new CFO, and the last 10-K mentioned that finance runs on two separate ERPs after an acquisition.

The 10-K noted finance is still running on two ERPs since the acquisition, and you've just taken the CFO seat. My guess is the monthly close takes far longer than it should, and the reconciliation work is eating the team you need for planning. Is that close, or is the bigger headache somewhere else?

It's specific. It ties to a real filing. It names a problem every new CFO in that seat would feel. And it's easy to correct.

How to work the CFO in a committee

CFOs don't want to be your champion. They want a champion to bring them a decision that's already been tested. So find the person who'll run the work, a controller, a VP of finance operations or a CIO, and build the case with them.

Then bring the CFO in with the business case. Not the technical plan. The cost, the timeline, the risk if nothing changes, and how you'll measure the outcome. Keep it short. CFOs read numbers faster than prose.

What wins with CFOs

Honesty about cost. Give a real range early. CFOs hate surprises, and a vendor who hides price until the end looks like a risk.

Clear measures. Agree on what success means before the work starts, and report against it.

And respect for their time. A CFO who sees one sharp page will read it. A CFO who sees twenty slides will send it to someone else. Write for the reader who decides.