Understanding and Impacting Customer Behaviors as the CFO

CFOs are increasingly being challenged to lead across the enterprise. How does a CFO collaborate with Marketing and Sales leaders to help develop a better Understanding Customers and Influence the Behaviors of Customers and Potential Customers? According to several hundred Finance Leaders in 8 cities across the country from Washington DC to Newport Beach, California who recently attended CFO Roundtables powered by the CFO Alliance and Oracle:

• What do customers and potential customers actually value
  1. Understand company perception vs. customer reality
     1. Surveys and user groups are invaluable in this regard.
     2. Establish the ability to dynamically monitor what customers actually value.
  2. Focus on understanding what customers will value in the future, and why.
  3. Understand the specific value that your company actually offers to specific customers
     1. Ask customers what you do well, what you can do better, and how you can do it better.

• Develop the criteria and process for firing customers.
• Collaborate with marketing and sales so the company focuses on the RIGHT Customers
  1. High margin and high value customers
     1. Acquisition cost, margins on sales, cost of relationship maintenance and development, and the potential lifecycle of relationship.
     2. Can a customer become a strategic partner?
     3. Can a relationship with a company make your company better?

• Segment sales and marketing strategies by key customer demographics
  1. Consistent high level messaging with specific details that support the message for each key demographic.
• Finance should develop relationships with customers that last throughout the customer lifecycle
  1. Limited customer access creates a reputation of Finance as the bad cop or “Mr. No”.
  2. Interactions between Finance and customers can’t be limited to involvement in addressing a crisis.
  3. Facilitate Finance to Finance collaboration with customers.
  4. Establish multiple dimensions to a relationship- not just a one to one sales professional to purchasing agent relationship.
  5. Unlock the strategic value of being a partner, learning, and collaborating with your customers.
• Social Media can be a great way to create collaboration with customers
  1. LinkedIn user groups and potentially a Facebook group can be valuable depending on the industry.