One may say that sales and accounting go together like oil and water. However, a CFO can help in all facets of an organization.

Below are a few examples of how a CFO can help with sales.

1. Making sure commission plans are in alignment with company goals.

Commission plans are usually designed to incentivize a certain behavior. Sales people will work in a manner that will maximize their commissions. But are the commission plans in line with the goals of the company? For example, if the goal of the company is new revenue growth, then the commission plan should have a greater weight on new business. If the goal of the company is to increase customer retention, then the commission plan should be weighted towards managing existing business. While these may seem like simple examples, we come across these misaligned goals quite often. A CFO is in the best position to understand the company goals and forecast. Therefore, the CFO can play a critical role in defining commission plans that align with these goals. 

2. Developing and measuring metrics.

Your CFO helps you look forward and is involved in creating the company financial forecast. A big component of this is the revenue forecast. Therefore, the CFO will know what assumptions are baked into the sales forecast and will have a great understanding of what metrics need to be tracked to see how they are performing against the forecast. This could be average sales price, volume sold, phone calls made or capacity calculations. 

3. Investments in new sales channels.

Thinking about developing a new sales channel? Your CFO can help you put together the business case, set goals and help identify the investment needed. A CFO can also help track the progress of the sales channel to understand early on how things are going and what tweaks need to be made. 

While many people view the CFO’s role to be mainly accounting related, a Fractional CFO with the right industry experience can bring these tools to the table to create value in a company’s sales department.  

If you would like further information about Crown CFO & fractional CFO services, reach out to Mike DeMaio – mike@crowncfo.com