My Proven Process For CFO Sales Calls

A lot of people tell themselves that right now isn't the right time to hire a fractional CFO because their books aren't in order. They think that they need to fix the books and then hire the fractional cfo. I'm so excited that you're trying to do this. I know that you've done this and this, and that's great. So you're going to hit on the ambitions, the attempts, the pain, and the future costs in that order. Then immediately hit them with the money back guarantee. All in, one go through. Even if we had half a dozen or 10 clients that took advantage of it, I would still be orders of magnitude ahead of the game because of the money back guarantee. It locks them in. It's also going to keep you hungry. So let's dive into some of these seven things that are going to help you close more and overcome more objections. Number one, know this. Overcoming objections really starts at the beginning of the sales call. What do I mean by that? As you go through more and more sales calls, as you get more reps, as I like to say, I want you to start looking for common objections that come up along the way. Literally want you to keep a list of them. My, my team at kfp, we got a Google Doc, all the objections that we get. Okay, I want you to keep a list of them. Like literally write them down, type them out, put them in your remarkable Google sheet, whatever your flavor is. And what I want you to do is I want you to start working to proactively identify these objections on your sales calls and overcome them before they bring them up. There's so much more power in when you identify what they're going to say before they say it, because it helps. It gives them the sense that you understand them. Let me give you an example. A lot of people tell themselves that right now isn't the right time to hire a fractional CFO because their books aren't in order. They think that they need to fix the books and then hire the fractional cfo. This is actually a bad strategy because you don't know what good books look like. That's why your books are in the position they are today. Or that's why that last bookkeeper left you where they were, because you just don't know what good books look like and what it takes to have bad books. But here's what's what the good news is. I can help you get that ironed out before you hire the next person to come in and do your book cleanup. It's going to save you so much time, it's going to save you so much money, it's going to save you so much frustration. So if you sell to an industry that just notoriously, they get horrible books, creatives, like, if you, if you serve creatives, there's a really good chance that their books are a dumpster fire. If you serve businesses that are earlier stage, really good chance that their books are a dumpster fire. And so having this objection is going to come up a lot. I think I need to hire a bookkeeper before I hire you because my books haven't been done in 15 months and I'm three years behind on my taxes. So have that, you know, that objection's coming. Have it on your list and have a response to that objection before they give it to you. One that you all have probably heard me reference is a year ago or a little over a year ago now, I went and spoke at a moving industry conference in gosh, it was like late September, early October. They're all getting ready to go into slow season. And the big objection they kept coming back with was I, you know, money's tight this time of year. I think I should wait until next, you know, May when, when we pick back up to busy season. I was too slow to recognize that objection. And so I wasn't proactively overcoming it. And then I was having to, to deal with it too much after the fact. Now it's on the list. And so find those objections. Now, here's the good news, ladies and gentlemen. You're going to find, especially for those of you that are willing to niche, you're going to find that there's really only half a dozen or so objections that come up, you know, pretty frequently. Number two, this is one that's been really front of mind for me lately. And it's this idea about collaborating instead of prescribing what it is you sell in. What I'm talking about here is when you're collaborating versus prescribing, you and your lead or your buyer or whatever you want to call it, you're walking kind of together through your sales process to figure out what they need. It's almost like you're building it together instead of you just forcing your thing down their throat. Now, what I don't mean is that you've got this custom solution for everybody but you as the fractional cfo, you're kind of leading the conversation. You're asking questions and, and getting soliciting input from them so that they're selling you what it is they need, and you're like, oh, wow, super smart. Oh, I totally understand that. You're right. So you're really getting input from them rather than just telling them, this is what I sell and this is what you're going to get, and it's going to be great. Scaling a fractional CFO firm is hard work, especially when you think about all the different tech platforms that are out there that claim to make your life easier. Most of them end up not working as promised, and you spend more time on them than they're worth. After running my own fractional CFO firm for the past eight years, I have found one platform that has been consistently delivering for us for years and years, and that is Giacon. Gcon is one of those platforms that works quietly in the background, day in and day out. In fact, Giacon saves my firm well over 40 hours a month, every single month. But how does it do that? Well, G Accon is a data connector that links accounting platforms like QuickBooks Online, Sage, FreshBooks and Xero to Google Sheets. This data connector allows you to fully automate your custom reporting, consolidate reports, and even get live currency exchange rates. Best of all, it eliminates the manual work, like repetitively copying and pasting data. You know, the kind of work that nobody really wants to do, but super prone to errors. Yes. G Accon does all of that for you automatically, anytime you need it. If you want to scale your firm without adding a ton of additional technology or labor expenses, you need to check out G Accon. Get 30% off G Accon for the first three months by clicking the link in the description below and start taving top and money with Ghan today. You know, how many times have you been on a call or like a sales call with somebody and they just, like, they don't really take the time to get to know anything about you or your challenges. They're just like, oh, yeah, we'll do your social media, and this is what you're going to get. We're going to do this and this and this for you. And, you know, it's $2,000 a month. You ready to sign up? And you're like, you don't know shit about me. You don't know what I've done before or what my challenges are. You don't know. You just kind of told me. And I got this idea from a lady named Carolyn Maloney, and she's got this really awesome book that I've read. I did the Audible and then I read it, and now I'm getting ready. I read on Kindle and actually just ordered the paperback copy because I want to put sticky notes in it. But this, this book called Buyer first. And I gosh, whether you're new at sales or you're a veteran, I highly recommend you check out Buyer First. She's got some podcasts. In fact, I'm trying to get her to come on the CFO Report podcast because her messaging is just so much in alignment with the heart of service that I know you and I on this call really like to show up with in this collaborative approach to sales really is kind of fundamental to service. Asking them about their needs and what they've tried before, what worked, what didn't work. What do you think it is that you need in order to, from a reporting perspective, be successful? Right. In fact, let me just give you a couple of questions that I think are really kind of fundamental to this collaborative approach. So write these down. What have you tried in the past that didn't work? You know, when you're thinking about making more informed strategic decisions with your finances, my guess is you tried some stuff before and it didn't work. What was that? Also ask them, what things have you tried in the past that did work? Here's another good one. What do you think that you need from a financial insights perspective so that you can be more successful? What are the, what are the top reports that you'd like to see so that you can make more informed decisions? Right. So think of those kinds of questions. You know, the things that they're going to say. They all need the same things. But now they're helping you kind of build the solution, build the program. And then when you go into presenting your offer, you know, for those of you that have watched my free sales training, you know, I go through this whole part at the beginning, then I share the CFO report with them and now you can kind of talk them through it. Like, hey, look, remember you said before you needed this. We've got that. I think that's a great idea. We're going to make sure we focus on that on our monthly CFO calls. So it's been this more collaborative kind of approach. I'll do a quick tangent here. One of the things that we're trying out right now that we've got a sales call Thursday. I'm actually trying a two sales call approach before. I've been really big on one call. Close them down. Like I said at the top of this call, a lot of times it's not working. My close rate Went down. And so working with some other successful firm owners, I'm like, what are you guys doing? Like, oh, we're doing this two call approach. First call is the discovery part where you're finding out about their goals, their dreams, their aspirations, their fears, their uncertainties. You're talking about, what things have you tried? What do you think you need? What would it take for you to be successful? We're getting that on the first call. Then we're scheduling a second call to present the offer afterwards. And so you're uncovering these things that I just listed off on the first call. Then when you have the second call, you kind of like, hey, look, you said this on our last call. I think it's great. We got it right here. And so they feel heard, they feel seen, they feel like they're part of the process in gosh. I just was it two weeks ago. I use this for the first time. It worked great. This is. We signed a $32 million oil and gas company. I did the two call approach. It worked great. We're going to be trying it again in the future. Like I said, I think Thursday is our next one. Just to see how it works again. What worked before isn't working now. You've got to be flexible. All right? So take a collaborative approach to selling versus a prescriptive approach to selling. Number three. Gosh, guys, I can't. I can't stress this enough is you transition from the information gathering and the talking and you're getting into where you're actually laying out your offer. You got to keep the energy up. You have to keep the energy up right as you move into the close again where you're asking them to buy. Don't. Don't go into the turtle shell. Don't go into your accountant safe space and shrink down and minimize yourself because you feel vulnerable. Don't minimize yourself because you feel vulnerable. For those of you that do that, I'm not here to judge you for it. I just want to encourage you to get out of it. Because when you kind of turtle up, your energy drops, your tone goes down, your pitch slows down, and it feels like your confidence is dropping and you're going to tank. Your buyers need to feel that confidence from you so that they can have confidence in you. You have to keep the energy up. Number one thing you can do to keep your energy up, if not elevated, stand up on your sales calls. I know most of you aren't doing. I watch an audit sales call from people like in our accelerator program and in my mastermind and stuff. And you're sitting down. I'm like, you stand up. Your energy, just because of the fact that you're standing up, is going to be higher. Another thing that you can do. And this is going to feel cheeky. But I always like to say, would you rather feel awkward or would you rather feel broke? This is going to feel weird. Put a sticky on your monitor that says smile when you close it. Really? During the whole sales part, you just be smiling because just human psychology. When people see you smiling, it's easier for them to trust you. When people smile, their energy and their tone, everything goes up. Like, just the whole vibe changes. But put the sticky on your monitor. This is smile. When you close, act like you want to be here. And the cool thing is, for those of us on this call is somebody that's coached hundreds of firm owners. Now, I can tell you, so few people do this with the energy and smile and stuff. You will immediately stand out from anybody else that they happen to get on call with. You're like, oh, wow, look, Skyler actually wants to be here. Skyler has a smile. I want to work with somebody that enjoys this stuff. I don't want to. I don't want to work with the turtle. Keep your energy up. Next one, I want you to touch on what I call their big four in order. So touch on their big four in order. What are their big four? Ambitions, attempts, pain, and future costs, in that order. And this is going to be one of the last things that you do before you go in for actual clothes where you're like, hitting on the package and the pricing and everything. Let me explain what that means. Ambitions. Hit again on what you'll hear me sometimes refer to as, like, their goals, dreams, and aspirations. Remind them about what it is they're trying to do. Remind them about the impact they're trying to have. Remind them of what they're trying to do for their kids and honor that ambition. I'm so excited that you're trying to do this. As I get done explaining this, I'll kind of thread it all together so you can see in, like, a sentence what I'm talking about here. But really hit on their ambitions. Then I want you to hit on their attempts, the things that they've tried in the past. And again, I want you to honor that struggle. Like, I know that you've tried this in the past. I know you've done this and this and that's great. But then hit the pain, despite the fact you've done This, I can also understand that you've been through a lot with it. It hasn't worked out. There's the. And this is where I get back to the fears and uncertainties that I talk about a lot of times. Goals, dreams, aspirations, fears and uncertainties. Hit on that pain, honor that pain. Again, we wanted to see, feel seen and heard, and then hit them with the future costs. Talk about, if you don't do this, this is what you're leaving on the table. This is what it's going to cost you. So you're going to hit on the ambitions, the attempts, the pain, and the future costs, in that order. It's so important that you uncover these things at the beginning of the sales process. Right in my sales training, like the first 30 minutes is just uncovering goals, dreams, aspirations, fears, and uncertainties. You know, for the most part, what have they tried before? What are they trying to build? What's work, what doesn't doesn't work. You've got to stay curious throughout this sales call so that you can hit on these things. The psychology here, ladies and gentlemen, is so important. As you go into the actual close, if you don't remind them of these big four before you go into the close, it feels transactional. And we're in a very relational game. When you're hitting on the ambitions, you're honoring the attempts they've made, you're recognizing the pain that they've been through and reminding them of the future cost, that's again where they feel seen. They feel like this was much more of a collaborative approach. They feel like you hear them, you're not just trying to sell them. You know, a lot of it's like when we think of our. Our apprehension about sales, it's like, shit, I don't want to be the slimy sales guy or the shady sales gal. And I'm like, in the process, if you've truly been present and you know what their ambitions are, you know what they've done, you're honoring kind of the journey they've been through. You're talking about the pain and you're talking about the future costs. You've heard them. That's not slimy sales. That's how you build relationships. And so we just want to kind of say out loud one more time before we hit with the sale what we're trying to do that you feel. The last thing that I want you to think about before you go in for the sale, I want to kind of touch on this in the last one. Pull it out, though. I want you to celebrate two things. One is I want you to celebrate their willingness to learn and the struggle that they've had. And so what that might look like is, look, I just want to take a moment honestly to just say that I'm really impressed that you, as a successful business owner are still willing to show up with the humility and the open mindedness and the growth mindset to hire a fractional cfo. Because the truth is most business owners don't get there. Most business owners are like, oh, I've never had one before, so I don't need one now. Or I don't know if that really works. I don't know if I really need that. Or they're just not willing to ask for the help. But you are. And I want to just say, like, I see you and I want to celebrate you for it. People love to be celebrated and honored for those things. It just makes them feel good and again, celebrate the struggle they've had. Like, I know this hasn't been easy. I'm a business owner too. I know this finance stuff isn't easy. I struggled with it too. Or I've had hundreds of clients and the truth is most of them struggle with this. And so I see you, I hear you. Then I want you to hit them with a reminder of the support. We're not at the sale yet. We're getting close. I want you to remind them of the support that you're going to offer them each month in between the CFO calls, the Slack support, the voxer support, the text message support, the check in calls. I don't know what your scope is, but I'm certain you will do something to support them other than just one call a month. Remind them about that support that you're going to give them in between monthly calls or quarterly calls, whatever your package is. And I want you to give example. You know, you might say like one of the things that our clients love about us that we do sometimes more than the CFO calls that they, I mean, they love those too. But one of the things that we just hear time and time again they love is how accessible we are in between those calls on Slack. You know, just the other day, and then hit them with an example of a testimonial kind of thing. Just the other day one of my clients texted me and was like, oh my gosh, Mike, it means the world to me that when, you know, we reached out is when you were trying to do X, Y and Z and you were able to get us that Answer so fast. I wish all of our vendors were as responsive as you like. Give that example. Now let me be really careful here, really clear here. I'm not suggesting that you give your clients carte blanche access and that you have real time support for them or that you allow them to text that that's out of bounds for you. That's for you to figure out and to have those boundaries, but really just kind of prop up the things that are in balance for you and just reminded the key thing here is you want them to know that you're going to be able to support them and willing to support them in between those calls. Because that's like one of the big mindset blocks people get is like, shit, I get one call a month. What if I have questions? What if need help? What if, you know, something pops up and I need to reach you? How does that even work? Are you going to be there for it? If you don't address it proactively, they're going to tell themselves a story that you're not. And I want you to just literally call it out. The support you're going to get between the calls, call it out. Can't be too overt about this. You got to put it like front and center with them. Our clients love it. Here's an example. Now you hit them with the offer. Now you go into close. After all of that, this is where I want you to tell them exactly what your package is. I want you to tell them what the pricing is, you know, those big picture terms and conditions, kinds of things that they need to know. And I want you to hit them with your money back guarantee right here, all in one big push through. I'm. I'm here to tell you ladies and gentlemen, there's a lot of people that are scared to offer a money back guarantee for their services. I've been doing it for five or six years now. And one, I've never had a CFO client take advantage of it or even ask for it. And I can tell you that the amount of deals that I've closed because of the money back guarantee, like where they overtly will tell me after the fact, the reason we hired you is because you were willing to put your money where your mouth is. Even if we had half a dozen or 10 clients that took advantage of it, I would still be orders of magnitude ahead of the game because of the money back guarantee. I can't stress enough how important it is to have the money back guarantee on your services. And so what does that look like for us, we're month to month with our clients. We don't do contracts. They pay on the 1st of the month. Normally CFO calls are on the 3rd or 4th week of the month. And I tell them, look, at the end of the month, if you don't feel like you got the value, the ROI out of the service, you just let me know, we'll give your money back. It locks them in. It's also going to keep you hungry to show up and not phone it in and to deliver that value. So when you get into the sale, I want you to go through like this is our CFO core package and you know, the CFO report we just went through, you're going to get that every month and you're also going to get the slack support and the bi weekly check in calls. And you're also going to get, you know, whatever else it is that you include in your thing, the tax strategies, the bookkeeping, whatever you think is like boom, boom, boom to do, to do. I want you to dial, like list it all out, hit them with the price, then immediately hit them with the money back guarantee. All in one go through. If you don't have a money back guarantee and you're not closing the number of clients you want to have, I would encourage you try it for the next two or three and just see what happens.