After a year disrupted by pandemic and amid signs of an exceptionally strong economic rebound, the CFOs of emerging and middle market enterprises say growth is their number-one priority (Source: AchieveNEXT 2021 Sentiment Study). They are ready to examine all the avenues of growth: Innovation, new markets, share of wallet, new customer segments, and acquisitions. Ultimately however, when it comes to growth all roads pass through the sales department. To achieve the next level of performance, finance and sales leaders will need to partner more closely than ever to reach a shared understanding of what growth strategy to pursue, which sales capabilities matter most, and which activities to fund. To help CFOs and sales leaders align, AchieveNEXT and the National Association of Sales Professionals partnered to study how leaders from two functions see their partnership and priorities. A survey of more than 80 CFOs and sales leaders conducted in April 2021 looked at the interaction between the CFO and the CSO, their status in their enterprises, their relationship, and their priorities. Here are the key findings 1. The CFO and sales lead are usually organizational peers. Chief Financial Officers report to the CEO more than 90% of the time; a handful report to a Chief Operating Officer. Among sales leaders, 82% report directly to the top. In very few cases—2% in our sample—the head of sales reports to the CFO. The fact that they are organizational peers does not, of course, ensure that they have equal say in decisions affecting company priorities. In some middle market and emerging enterprises, our experience shows, the CFO is the chief executive’s right hand, while in others the finance leader plays a less strategic role, and sales and operations executives have more sway. 2. Substantial majorities of CFOs and sales leaders describe their relationship as collaborative and constructive. Nearly two-thirds of CFOs (64%) say they routinely go to their sales leader for collaboration and decision-making. A slightly smaller number of sales leaders—58%--say the same. In general, CFOs have a rosier view of their relationship with the head of sales than vice versa. A significant minority of the latter, 21%, say they do not have a strong relationship with the CFO, while just 9% of CFOs say their relationship with their sales counterpart is not strong.
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