CSMs Should Not Learn to Talk to CFOs

Make your champion the hero of the story when dealing with their finance partners.

Here are 3 ways you can do that:

1) Help prepare them around how to defend the ROI of your product - remember to think about inputs and variables to the model. Think like a lawyer - you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

2) Beyond ROI, help them understand the downside of not using your tool. Think in terms of cost (particularly labor) and lost efficiency - the story/narrative is important here.

3) Make sure to highlight beyond your product, the other benefits that they would be missing - access to community/peers, industry expertise, integration/data that flows to other systems. Make it about the ecosystem, not your product.

Numbers. Story. Ecosystem.

You have to be solid on all three fronts. My guess is you have 1/3 today - if you can nail 3/3 it helps you going into your renewals this year.

What else can you do to prepare your champion for the CFO conversation?

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