How to better connect with CFOs

Benefits advisors and other partners know it’s the CFO who often makes the final decision within a company. You’ve called and left message after message, offering to go over your proposal, and they just won’t call back. You scratch your head and wonder what you can do differently to connect better with the CFO.

This can be a frustrating but crucial part of your job. If you can’t get them to talk to you, to see you as an individual, and make that critical connection, you probably won’t end up working with them, and that affects your job performance and income. Understandably, that can make a person feel a bit desperate, especially if this cycle repeats itself with one potential prospect after another.

Do your research

How can you change that? I have worn the CFO hat, along with several others, for more than 20 years and one simple piece of advice is that advisors, vendors and others who are interested in working with my company need to do their research and see people like me as an individual, too.  It’s really not as hard as you would think.

Use me as an example. You can look me up on LinkedIn (Steve Watson, CPA). There’s a lot of stuff that you can find out about me just by going out on my profile. For example, I not only have a finance background, but I also wear a human resources hat, too. You can look beyond the current roles, as well. I have a consulting business and a podcast. All of this is very public information.

There are probably at least seven different things you can ask me about to connect with me, such as, “I see you worked in Brazil. What was that like?” Or, “You have a podcast. I listened to one, and I have a question for you.” Most sales reps don’t even take that step. They just call and say “I’d like to pick your brain on something.” And I usually say no. At least look at my stuff and find something that is relevant.

Related: How to talk to a CFO about the budget

I also suggest researching to find out things that aren’t as public. For example, I’m a family guy. I’ve been married for 19 years. I have seven kids ranging from 3 to 17. I have six boys and a little girl. I lived in Brazil. I’m fluent in Portuguese. I was in Boy Scouts. I grew up on a sheep farm. I love riding ATVs. I use that as an example, because I would talk about any of those things for an hour with you. Getting to know the personal side of me will resonate and get me to like and trust you more than any cold pitch you would make.

Lose the stereotypes

No one likes to be viewed as a typical stereotype. CFOs are no different. For example, what do you know about CFOs in general? I think that too often, there’s a stereotype of CFOs out there that we’re all about the quarterly earnings or we’re not people and just this bobblehead that says no; that it’s all about the money. The vast majority of CFOs aren’t working for a publicly-traded company. They’re working with companies with a hundred employees, and the more you understand about how to become a CFO and the background of a CFO, the better you’re able to connect with them on a personal level and understand who they are.

Align priorities

The best way to connect with CFOs is to align with their priorities.  One really good way to learn more about CFOs is to look up job postings. I recently looked up a job posting in Arizona for the Arizona Science Center, which has about 200 employees, and $17 million in revenue. If you were the Arizona Science Center, what would you look for in a CFO? They had six different categories they’re looking fo: strategy/vision, cashflow, managing contracts, risk management, managing the accounting department, and being part of the C-Suite leadership team.

The more that you can align your message with the CFO priorities, the more likely they will engage with you in a conversation.

Myths—busted!

There a myth out there about CFOs and HR that can get you into trouble if you believe it. It’s the idea that CFOs always outrank HR. Many think that if they can just get past the HR department to the CFO, then all of a sudden they can get their product or service approved.

The reality is that it’s not true. In some companies, HR may report to the CFO, but the current trend is to have HR report directly to the CEO, which makes HR and finance peers. Skipping over HR and going to finance is not going to help you out.

Another myth is that it’s all about the money. I call this the Geico principle. We all know the jingle: 15 minutes can save you 15 percent or more on car insurance. But have you called them?  I haven’t.  Why?  To be honest, I won’t call companies like that because I wonder what’s in the contract I don’t know about and will have problems with later.  Same goes for when you call a CFO and say you can save them 10% to 15% and they don’t call you back.  You are left wondering why.  Just remember the lizard.

Also: Beyond the balance sheet: CFOs embracing leadership

There is also a misperception that a CFO always knows what a vendor is talking about. No one wants to ask what certain words mean in a meeting, so even if the CFO doesn’t know what you’re saying, they won’t tell you. They’ll just nod and let you go on. I’ve been in meetings where I’m sitting next to the CFO, and when the vendor leaves, they look at me and say, “I have no idea what that person just said.” So, you really need to go back to basics, and I would recommend talking about case studies. If you call me and say, I can save you $300,000, I’m not going to believe you. If you have a case study, I’m more interested; especially if it’s a video of another CFO talking about it.

Extra resources

If you want to go the extra mile and see what life is like for CFOS, I highly recommend checking out my podcast called “My CFO Journey”.    In the podcast, I interview CFOs and ask them three questions.  Why did they originally choose finance as a profession?  What have been some of their highlights over their career?  And what are they currently passionate about within the field and why?  It’s a great way to get an inside view on CFOs and how they tick.  And who knows,  maybe one of your future prospects has been on the show.  My recommendation is to connect with them and say “I heard you on the podcast and loved your story.  I have a questions about…..”  After that, you’re on your own.  Good luck!

Steve Watson, CPA, is Chief Financial Officer at Child & Family Support Services, where he has been able to demonstrate how creative financial decision-making can help support children and families to successfully reach their dreams. Steve lives in Queen Creek, AZ with his wife and children.