🏛️ THE FINANCE RELATIONSHIP PLAYBOOK
Your CFO is your most important ally — here’s how to win them over
FROM “CLICK HERE” BY ALEX SCHULTZ
The Four Principles
1Deliver Results That Matter
- The work must be consequential — would anyone care if it succeeded?
- Results must be big enough to matter at a business level
“If you need a data scientist and a microscope to determine if you had impact, then you didn’t.”
2Measure What Can Be Measured Well
- And make sure finance believes it
- Book proactive measurement reviews with the CFO (every 1–2 years minimum)
- Be open about limitations — it builds more trust than pretending
“The goal: within a decade, the CFO sees marketing as a core driver of the business — not just a cost centre.”
3Logically Explain the Rest
- Earn trust on measurable things → then explain judgment calls on unmeasurable things
- Example: pulling out of a major conference could hurt brand in ways that can’t be measured
- Strong measurement credibility buys you space for judgment calls
4Treat Procurement as an Asset and Ally
- Include procurement early, share results, celebrate their work
- They are your ally in negotiation (the “bad cop” in good cop/bad cop)
“Every time I hear of folks having huge issues with procurement, it usually breaks down to not including them early enough.”
The Growth Accounting Frame
+ Acquisitions (15M users/month)
− Churn (30M users/month)
+ Resurrections (16M users/month)
= Net Growth (1M users/month)
− Churn (30M users/month)
+ Resurrections (16M users/month)
= Net Growth (1M users/month)
✗ The Wrong Way
“We drive 10% of acquisitions and 10% of resurrections.”
Sounds optional.
✓ The Right Way
“If you turned off paid marketing, the business would shrink by 2M users/month instead of growing by 1M.”
Sounds existential.
Frame as net contribution, not gross percentage.
The Layoffs Lesson (Case Study)
Consumer Marketing (had done the work)
- Already proactively optimized budget with finance
- Proved value to business partners
- Partners willing to cut their OWN budgets to protect marketing
Result: ~20% cuts (company average)
Business Marketing (hadn’t done the work)
- Large programs with few success metrics
- Business partners questioning value
- No one stood up for the team
Result: ~50% cuts
“Do the hard work in good times so that when tough times come, as they always do, your partners believe in your value and stand up for you. That support is necessary because you will never win if you are standing alone.”
Quick Action Checklist
- Schedule a proactive measurement review with finance
- Prepare growth accounting frame for your business
- Include procurement in your next agency selection
- Identify your top 3 measurable results and present them clearly
- List what you CAN’T measure and prepare logical explanations
- Ask finance for suggestions on improving measurement
From Click Here by Alex Schultz | clickheretogrow.com