How to get meetings with heads of finance without a warm intro

To get meetings with heads of finance, pick a narrow group (for example, heads of finance at Series B SaaS companies), find the person who owns the finance process your product touches, and ask for 15 minutes about one specific decision they made. Offer to pay for their time. A small number of specific, paid invitations beats a long list of generic ones.

Finance leaders are some of the hardest people to get on a call. They own the budget, so every vendor wants them, and they have learned to ignore requests that look like a sales pitch with a coffee emoji.

1. Find the finance person who owns your problem

"Head of finance" covers several jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics separates controllers, who direct financial reporting and often oversee accounting, audit and budgets, from treasurers and finance officers, who direct budgets toward financial goals and oversee investments and fundraising. At a startup, one person may do all of it. At a larger company, the person who owns your problem may sit two levels below the CFO.

Match your product to the work:

At a Series B company, the title might be Head of Finance, VP Finance, Controller or CFO, and the job behind it varies. Read the person's background before you invite them.

2. Use the directory to find specific people

These directory pages list finance leaders you can browse and invite:

• Heads of finance
• CFOs in enterprise SaaS
• Finance professionals in enterprise SaaS
• Corporate controllership experts

To narrow by company stage, describe the group on Instant Expert's search, for example "heads of finance at Series B SaaS companies in the US". Then pick the people you want to invite.

3. Ask about a decision, not for a demo

Ask for a conversation about something they did, not a look at something you built. Good opening questions:

• "Walk me through your last month-end close. Where did it slow down?"
• "What finance tool did you add in the last year, and what made you buy it?"
• "What did you try before that and drop?"

If you are selling, say so. Instant Expert supports paid first sales meetings as well as research calls, and the note should make the purpose clear. A finance leader who agrees to "research" and gets a pitch won't take your next call. See paying for a first sales meeting.

4. Time your invitation around the close

Many finance teams spend the first days of each month closing the previous month's books. An invitation that lands then competes with the busiest week of their month. Send it mid-month instead.

(Quarter ends are worse. The week after a quarter closes is not the time to ask about their software.)

5. Choose the channel that pays for their time

Use a warm introduction when you have one. When you don't, a paid invitation gives the finance leader a reason to say yes. On Instant Expert, you set what each person receives for a 15, 30, 45 or 60 minute call, our fee is added on top for you, and you pay only if they book. Declines and no replies cost nothing (how it works).

6. Write a note they can accept in one read

Here is a made-up example. Sam is building software that automates revenue recognition for usage-based SaaS companies and wants to reach Jordan, VP Finance at a usage-priced SaaS company.

"Hi Jordan, I'm building revenue recognition tooling for usage-based SaaS. You moved your company from seat pricing to usage pricing last year, and I'd like to ask how that changed your close. A 15-minute call, mid-month, no demo."

It names the decision, says why this person, sets a length and rules out the pitch. That is all it needs.

Write the one finance decision you want to understand, find three people who made it recently, and invite them this week.