How do you get finance to allocate budget to programs that we haven’t proven out yet, but are experimental?
We recently brought on a CFO and they are asking us to add timelines for ROI to many of the programs that have not yet begun (like influence marketing).
1 Answer
Ignacio Castroverde
Cisco Senior Director, Global Virtual Sales Strategy and Operations • October 18
How I go about getting budget for these experimental programs really comes down to the CFOs style. If they are risk averse and very data-oriented, I will:
- View From Other Side: Imagining their most frequent worry. Do they want numbers set in stone, or are they OK with a potential payoff and some risk?
- Pilot: I recommend starting with a pilot. A smaller investment is easier to justify, and we want to get some proof of concept data.
– Keep Flexible: In my offer, I state that we are prepared to make changes or temporarily halt the program considering results and proving our understanding of a company's money.
When I cater to their style, and try not to get too fancy with the conversation it is usually easier for me to propose my innovations.
298 Views
Related Ask Me Anything Sessions
Databricks Director - Sales Strategy & Operations, Ken Liu on Finance / Revenue Ops Alignment
February 27 @ 10:00AM PST
Cisco Senior Director, Global Virtual Sales Strategy and Operations, Ignacio Castroverde on Finance / Revenue Ops Alignment
Tegus Global Head of Revenue Strategy & Operations, Kayvan Dastgheib on Sales/Revenue Ops Alignment
Top Revenue Operations Mentors
Tyler Will
Intercom VP, Sales Operations
Sowmya Srinivasan
HubSpot Vice President of Revenue Operations
Josh Chang
HubSpot Director, GTM Strategy & Revenue Operations
Kayvan Dastgheib
Tegus Global Head of Revenue Strategy & Operations
Mollie Bodensteiner
Sound Agriculture Revenue Operations Leader
Dhwani Dalal
DocuSign Director, Sales Strategy & Operations
Ken Liu
Databricks Director - Sales Strategy & Operations
Eduardo Moreira
LinkedIn Director of Sales Strategy and Operations (EMEA & LATAM)
Ignacio Castroverde
Cisco Senior Director, Global Virtual Sales Strategy and Operations
Akira Mamizuka
LinkedIn Vice President of Global Sales Operations, SaaS
Related Questions
Marketing and sales don’t understand the reasons that drive lost renewals and they just seem to blame CS. How can revops help align with all departments so that we can all work together to understand the challenges facing renewals?What are the top 3 things that will provide value to C-Suites as a revenue operations manager? Where is the best place to start improving the accuracy of pipeline and forecasting reports (currently off by at least 20% each quarter)?What processes have you implemented to improve communication between Sales and Revenue Ops teams?How do you ensure alignment when you have two senior executive stakeholders who disagree with each other on the proposed strategy and you are stuck in the middle?How can I persuade a “cost-focused” finance team to approve my requested SaaS solutions and changes to the tech stack that I believe will improve revenue and forecasting?